There is no doubt about it: The concerto has all the dramatic oomph, all the blood, sweat,

tears, and
triumph o f the opera house from which it was born!
It’s got the individual voice, or - as in the case of double concerti, triple concerti, or concerti grossi –
multiple voices, ringing forth against the mass of the orchestra. Because of the singularity of the
soloists voice, it expresses a range and immediacy of expression which is only found in the genre of
opera. It is a metaphor for the empowered individual revelling in his individuality. The one against
the many, the solo against the collective, the individual against society. This relationship between
the soloist and the orchestra gives the concerto an extra dimension that underlines its theatricality.
It is as much about the performers as about the music itself. The various relationships between
soloist and orchestra, embodied collectively in the concerto repertoire, demonstrate almost every
human relationship we can imagine, from the most tender and gentle to the most violent and
confrontational as well as everything in between. From a performance perspective, the concerto
represents life lived at the edge, as the concerto affords composer an opportunity to explore the
extreme capabilities of solo performers and their instruments. Exploring the extremes of human
experience through instrumental virtuosity.

Words, meaning and background.

Concerto – it. concertare – The word concerto comes from the Italian verb concertare, meaning “to
join together” and “to be in agreement with.”
The earliest surviving music score bearing the name concerto was printed in Venice in 1587•a series
of compositions by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli entitled Concerti per voci e stromenti musicali
(“Concerti for Voices and Musical Instruments”). Clearly in its earliest musical usage the term was
used very loosely to mean a). any ensemble of mixed instruments and / or voices and b). a
performance by such an ensemble.
In English, such an ensemble would be called a consort and a performance a concert.
The past participle of the word concerto is concertato. It developed a different musical meaning: “to
fight” or “to contest with.” As in various groups within an ensemble fighting, contending or
contesting with eachother.

The growing secularisation of the 1500’s impacted hugely on the music of the time. The smooth
homogenous texture of the early 1500’s was being replaced by huge contrasts of sounds as
composers sought to create ever more magnificent, ever more viscerally powerful music. Music
written not to develop divine thought, but rather to excite the listeners’ passions. It’s all about bold
affect, striking and dramatic.

The style arose from the architectural peculiarities of the imposing Basilica San Marco di Venezia,
also known as St. Mark's, in Venice. Aware of the sound delay caused by the distance between
opposing choir lofts, composers began to take advantage of that as a useful special effect. Since it
was difficult to get widely separated choirs to sing the same music simultaneously (especially before
modern techniques of conducting were developed), composers such as Adrian Willaert, the maestro
di cappella of St. Mark's in the 1540s, solved the problem by writing antiphonal music where
opposing choirs would sing successive, often contrasting phrases of the music; the stereo effect
proved to be popular, and soon other composers were imitating the idea, and not only in St. Mark's
but in other large cathedrals in Italy. This was a rare but interesting case of the architectural
peculiarities of a single building influencing the development of a style which not only became
popular all over Europe, but defined, in part, the shift from the Renaissance to the Baroque era. The
idea of different groups singing in alternation gradually evolved into the concertato style.
Buccinate in neomenia tuba (“Blow the Trumpet in the New Moon,” c. 1600). It is scored for four
different choirs, totalling 19 different instrumental and voice parts! Let’s be aware of bold contrasts
between instrumental and vocal sonorities, as the choirs alternate with each other and play together
in various combinations.
- This music meant to be listened to in St. Mark’s Basilica and no recording and begin to approach
the effect of a live performance

Stile Concertato - a style of music came into being in Venice in the late 1500’s to early 1600’s called
the stile concertato.

Etienne Roger

Thanks to him that the concerto became popular in Northern and German-speaking Europe. Bach,
court organist, discovered works in 1713 in the library of the Duke of Weimar, by Vivaldi, Corelli etc.
Undoubtedly one of the most significant events in Bach’s creative life.

Middle-class worker who never made it big-time. Along with Mozart, the most prodigiously talented
composer in the history of music, constitutionally incapable of writing a bad piece of music.

Chamber music

characterized by the use of a small group of solo instruments, called "concertino"

or "principale", against the full orchestra, called "concerto", "tutti" or "ripieni.

The Form • A main body of material, called (confusingly) the ritornello. • The ritornello alternates
with transitional passages, usually for solo instruments or a small group of instruments. • The
movement ends with a repeat of the ritornello, whole or in part.
Ritorne
In a concerto (i.e., for soloists with orchestra), the “ritornello” is played by the tutti or the ripieno—
which means the full orchestra

The returns of the ritornello are typically modified. • They may be fragmented. • They may be in a
different key, or mode.
. • Sometimes terms like tutti are used as near synonyms with ritornello.

Solo passages occur between statements of the ritornello. • Typically they’re lighter, not particularly
thematic. • Also typically they feature display passages for soloists.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 • Bach apparently wrote this for himself as one of the soloists: • Flute •
Violin • Harpsichord

• Just prior to the final ritornello, there is a gigantic written-out (not improvised) cadenza (solo
passage) for the harpsichord. • It remains one of the great virtuoso keyboard passages in all music.

10 minutes in this (rather fast) recording: • Nine ritornelli • Nine solos, including a long “Central
Solo” which acts as an interlude of sorts • One super spiffy cadenza
VII. The fifth Brandenburg concerto also gives the impression of being part concerto grosso and part
solo concerto, because of its dominant harpsichord part. The harpsichord is particularly dominant in
the first movement, where it has an incredibly difficult, three-minute long cadenza. The story goes
that Bach had purchased a new harpsichord for the court at Anhalt-Cöthen and used this first
movement to “break it in.” (For an in-depth discussion of this movement, see Professor Greenberg’s
Teaching Company course entitled How to Listen to and Understand Great Music.) A. We hear the
extraordinary harpsichord cadenza and the subsequent statement of the ritornello theme that
concludes the movement. Musical selection: Bach, Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in D Major, BWV
1050 (c. 1721), movement 1, harpsichord cadenza and conclusion. B. The Brandenburg no. 5 is the
first concerto ever composed with a solo keyboard part. In this work, Bach cut the harpsichord free
from its role as an accompanying instrument. In doing so, Bach de facto invented the solo keyboard
concerto, a genre with which he continued to experiment for the rest of his career.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in G Major, BWV 1050

In 1719 Bach visited Berlin on an errand. It is there that he met Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. The
following year Bach's first wife (Maria Barbara) died; shortly thereafter, Bach found that retaining his position in
Cöthen was losing its appeal, for a number of reasons, among which, reportedly, is Princess Friderica's displeasure
for Bach's music. (Friderica was the new wife of Bach's employer, Prince Leopold.)
Perhaps as a plea for employment, Bach collected a group of his works, and sent the score entitled "Six Concertos
for Several Instruments" to Christian Ludwig. Whether Christian Ludwig responded or not is not known, but we
do know that Bach did not move to Berlin for his next position.

Because the collection was dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg, these works are generally referred to
collectively as the "Brandenburg Concerto". They otherwise have little in common. the instrumentation, keys, and
themes change from one concerto to the next.

There are, nonetheless, certain similarities which arise from their being concertos by the same composer. Among
Bach's influences in instrumental writing were a group of Italian composers who were Bach's approximate
contemporaries (or very near predecessors, separated by very few years), including (most especially) Vivaldi. We
know that Bach studied Vivaldi's concertos, because he re-scored some of them himself. From Vivaldi and other
Italian composers Bach learned the concerto grosso format, where a large ensemble (tuti, or ripieno) alternates
with a soloist or solo group (concertino). This creates contrasts in texture, dynamics, and sometimes melody. The
ripieno plays the opening section, which establishes a recurring theme (ritornello) for the movement. The
episodes which fall between statements of the ritornello are performed by the concertino; these passages are more
virtuosic, and may sound improvised, even when they are written out. Often, the melodic material comprising the
episodes is based on motives from the ritornello, but after a short time, the theme is developed in a new direction.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major is scored for flute, solo violin, obbligato harpsichord, and strings. It is
interesting to note that in the ripieno, Bach writes only one violin part, rather than two, as is generally his norm.
The harpsichord is given special prominence in this concerto, being elevated from its usual role to serve the
supportive capacity, as well as being the unifying timbre throughout the work (the harpsichord is always
present) and - most importantly - it accepts a virtuosic position as a featured soloist. This may be the first time
that the harpsichord was treated as a soloist. The concerto is set in a typical fast-slow-fast arrangement. The
opening allegro is the longest among all movements of the six Brandenburgs.

The opening theme is an example of the kind of theme known as Fortspinnungtypus. This kind of theme usually
contains three parts: 1) the theme clearly establishes the tonality (which occurs here through the elaboration of a
D major triad); 2) the actual Fortspinnung (continuation) moves away from establishing the tonality, and
frequently uses sequence; and 3) a conclusion, which contains a clear, strong cadence.
The first episode (concertino section) introduces the first new idea: descending, stepwise eighth notes, which
might appear to slow down the motion, were it not for the continuous activity of the harpsichord. (The beginning
of this passage can be seen in the musical example immediately above.) The slowing effect of the eighth notes is
countered by an accelerating effect in the next phrases when Bach includes sixteenth-note triplets in the solo lines.

The brief return of the ripieno accompanies a brief shift to the relative minor key of B minor. The acceleration
affect continues in the next episode with thirty-second note scale passages in the harpsichord; such small note
values are something Bach normally reserves for slow tempos, not an allegro. In a subsequent, rather long,
episode, the feeling relaxes, as Bach drops back to constant sixteenth notes (as at the opening), with solo flute and
solo violin exchanging phrases (and measures) on a rocking idea:

Bach helps relax the feeling by slowing the harmonic rhythm at the same time as he pulls back to lulling effect of
the constant sixteenths and repeated rhythms of the flute and violin. This middle section has the feeling of a
development, especially when the opening material and key returns later in m. 121.

Bach pulls a major surprise a short time after the opening material returns - a cadenza of sorts, for solo
harpsichord. There is considerable build-up to this moment, with the activity and intensity increasing in the
harpsichord part leading up to this (from about m. 140 onward); the ripieno sections lessen their contributions,
perhaps distracted by the activity in the harpsichord, until they finally drop out (m. 154) and the harpsichord
continues alone. There is some debate as to whether this solo passage really constitutes a cadenza or not, but I
believe most modern listeners will view it as such - the harpsichord plays alone, a virtuosic passage of some length
leading ultimately to a big cadence, at which point the tutti returns (m. 219) to bring closure to the movement.
The second movement contains the marking "affetuoso", and is notable for the intimacy that results from Bach's
scoring of only the solo instruments (flute, violin, and harpsichord).

The third movement combines the use of a ritornello with a fugue. The solo instruments introduce the fugue
subject (includes two statements in the harpsichord, one in the bass, and one in the treble), and complete the
exposition. The ripieno enters in m. 29 with additional statements of the subject, and from here on the subject
recurs occasionally as a ritornello (and at other times as the jumping-off-point for the soloists in a new episode),
while serving as a unifying theme throughout the movement.

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