Concerto << kuhn CHEHR toh >> is a musical composition played by one or more solo instruments and an orchestra. A concerto resembles a symphony in form. But most concertos have only three movements (sections), and most symphonies have four.
Loading the player...Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, 3rd Movement
The concerto developed from the concerto grosso of the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. The concerto grosso featured a group of soloists playing with an orchestra.
During the late 1700’s, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote concertos in three movements. In the first movement, the orchestra states many of the work’s themes before the soloist begins. Near the end of the movement is the cadenza, in which the soloist plays alone and displays his or her technical skill. In the second and third movements, the soloist and orchestra play together. The second movement is slow, and the third is fast.
During the 1800’s, two types of concertos became popular. One was the symphonic concerto, in which the soloist and orchestra participate equally. Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms composed concertos of this type. The other type was the virtuoso concerto, in which the orchestra accompanies the soloist. Niccolo Paganini, Franz Liszt, and Frédéric Chopin wrote virtuoso concertos. Composers of the 1900’s generally followed Mozart’s form. These composers include Béla Bartók, Sergei Prokofiev, and Igor Stravinsky.
