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Scan 190
Harvard Dictionary Of Music, 1944
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1CONCERTO
3castro ([address hidden], c. 1703), dall'Abaco (Concerti da chiesa, c. 1712), and others.
5Of greater importance is the concerto grosso, which must be considered the classical type of the Baroque concerto, and which is characterized by the use of a small group of solo players (concertino) in contrast to the full orchestra (concerto) [see *Concerto grosso].
7The solo concerto, i.e., the concerto for a single soloist, is the latest of the three types. Although solo-technique was extensively used in the concerto-canzonas, the first examples showing this style applied to the form of the Baroque sonata are contained in the Sinfonie e concerti . . . op. 2 (1700?) by Tomaso Albinoni. His concerti (also in his opp. 5, 7, 9) are usually in three movements and contain short solo passages, mostly in the character of figurative transitions. An important progress was made by the great master Giuseppe Torelli (d. 1708) who holds a central position in the development of all the various types of Baroque concerto. In his op. 6 (Concerti musicali a 4, 1698) and still more in his op. 8 (Concerti grossi . . . , 1709; cf. HAM, no. 246; SchGMB, no. 257) the solo violin obtains equal importance with the orchestra. Torelli's idea was continued by Alessandro Scarlatti (1659–1725; cf. HAM, no. 260) and particularly by Antonio Vivaldi (c. 1680–1743) whose numerous violin concertos (Estro armonico op. 3, op. 4, op. 6, op. 7) became quickly famous owing to the solistic exploitation of the instrument and to a new style of rhythmic precision which pervades his compositions. Practically all his concertos are in three movements, quick, slow, quick, a scheme which became the standard form of the concerto to the present day. His style soon became the model of concerto style. Bach (together with J. G. Walther) transcribed a number of Vivaldi's concertos for the organ (or harpsichord) alone, and Bach also made, in his famous Italian Concerto (1735), an original contribution to the somewhat self-contradictory type of the concerto for a single player only who, in turns, represents the orchestra and the soloist. It should be noted that pieces such as the introduction to his English Suites nos. 3 and 5 are also "Italian concertos," at least, first movements thereof.
9Bach also wrote the first concertos for harpsichord and orchestra, starting with transcriptions of violin concertos (by himself, Vivaldi, and others). Among his 18 concertos for one to four harpsichords (with orchestra) only the one in C major for two harpsichords and the two for three harpsichords are original compositions. Handel's 18 organ concertos (publ. 1738, '40, '60) belong to the last examples of the Baroque solo concerto. Here, as also in his harpsichord suites, he mixes sonata movements with others of a dance character (minuet, muette, siciliano). In Italy the violin concerto remained the favored type, and violinists such as Francesco Maria Veracini (c. 1685–1750?), Carlo Tessarini (b. 1690), Pietro Locatelli (1693–1764), and Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) gradually worked away from the true Baroque style of the Vivaldi concerto and towards a new type characterized by more melodious, though frequently sentimental, themes, by a clearly homophonic structure, and by forms foreshadowing that of the classical concerto.
11(c). 1750–80. In this period of transition from the Baroque concerto to the classical concerto the initiative falls to German composers, mainly to the three sons of J. S. Bach. Ph. Em. Bach's concertos follow in their first movements a scheme which clearly shows the trisection exposition — development — recapitulation, with the exposition played twice, first by the orchestra, then by the soloist, and with the recapitulation being shortened. While his exposition still lacks a second theme, this is usually found in the concertos by Johann Christian Bach (1735–82) which, more than any other, are the true predecessors of Mozart's piano concertos. Haydn's numerous concertos (20 for piano, 9 for violin, 6 for cellos, and others) seldom rise above the average level, and lack the inspiration which pervades his quartets and symphonies. Only
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