The Baroque Concerto;
The baroque concerto is a type of music very common to the baroque era and no other, except for a recent resurfacing in the 20th century. Hints of concerto, both solo and grosso, can be heard in music from the renaissance period however it was only in the baroque period where it completely surfaced. There are two main types of concertos; Solo concertos and concerto grosso’s. Both have the accompaniment of an orchestra however the key different is in the solo instruments. A solo concerto has a single solo instrument while a concerto grosso has a group of solo instruments. The other similarity between the two is that that they both contain basso continuo.
Basso continuo (also known as figured base among other things) is a combination of a bassline with a melody. A stack of numbers underneath a note in the bassline indicates to the musician the chord and its possible variations e.g sharpened third or augmentation. Often meant for more chordal instruments such as organ, keyboard, harpsichord or lute, figured base is not always listed in numbers underneath the notes. It was actually very common of the baroque period for musicians to improvise their own melodies when given only a bassline.
The four seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, although containing aspects of a concerto grosso, is a solo concerto. Vivaldi was a gifted violinist and often displayed this in his works, especially in four seasons which features the solo violin accompanied with the orchestra throughout the piece. Although there are groupings of instruments, it isn’t a group of solo instruments as such, as these same instruments don’t repeat together later on in the piece. The violin however makes regular appearances as a solo instrument, which indicates that the form of concerto is a solo concerto.
Basso continuo (also known as figured base among other things) is a combination of a bassline with a melody. A stack of numbers underneath a note in the bassline indicates to the musician the chord and its possible variations e.g sharpened third or augmentation. Often meant for more chordal instruments such as organ, keyboard, harpsichord or lute, figured base is not always listed in numbers underneath the notes. It was actually very common of the baroque period for musicians to improvise their own melodies when given only a bassline.
The four seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, although containing aspects of a concerto grosso, is a solo concerto. Vivaldi was a gifted violinist and often displayed this in his works, especially in four seasons which features the solo violin accompanied with the orchestra throughout the piece. Although there are groupings of instruments, it isn’t a group of solo instruments as such, as these same instruments don’t repeat together later on in the piece. The violin however makes regular appearances as a solo instrument, which indicates that the form of concerto is a solo concerto.
Solo Concerto;A single solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra.
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Concerto Grosso;A group of solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra.
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