68: The Concerto

Our next form is one which originated in the Baroque period but which has maintained preeminence for centuries to a degree almost unmatched by any other form: the concerto. A concerto, in simplest terms, is a work for (almost always one) soloists plus orchestra; almost always in 3 movements organized as fast-slow-fast. That basic concept has remained for centuries as a means of showing off the capabilities of both the person playing the instrument and of the instrument itself. 

Concerti, especially in the Classical era and later, frequently have at least one “cadenza”. A cadenza is a time— almost always preceded by a cadential 6/4— for the soloist(s) to shine with minimal accompaniment by the orchestra. Usually, the cadenza is written making heavy use of the principal theme(s) of the movement in which it appears, giving those themes as flamboyant a treatment as possible. It used to be the case that cadenzas were also seen as opportunities for the players to showcase their mastery not only of playing music already written, but also of the art of improvisation. Modern performances sometimes still use cadenzas improvised on the spot, but there are several very well-established cadenzas written for the major concertos written for each instrument by the masters of yesteryear. 

Just like almost anything that’s been around since the Baroque era, the scope of the concerto has greatly expanded in the centuries since. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” is a set of four concerti for violin plus strings (2 more violins, viola, cello) and harpsichord; each movement is between 2 and 5 minutes long; and the concerti are each a total of about 10 minutes long, each— so all 12 movements usually take a combined 40 minutes or so. Beethoven’s violin concerto, from about 80 years later, is considered one of the greatest solo concertos ever written, and it— one concerto— is as long as all four of the Four Seasons combined. Each movement is at least as long as one entire Vivaldi season, if not two (in the case of the first movement of the Beethoven). There are probably at least double the number of string players in the Beethoven as compared to the Vivaldi, and there are winds and percussion in the Beethoven but not the Vivaldi, so the later orchestra is significantly larger than the earlier one. 

The following are my some of my favorite recordings of each:

The Beethoven (with a bonus Bach encore): Beethoven Violin Concerto
The whole Vivaldi set: The Four Seasons

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