The Baroque concerto grosso (c. 1675–1750)

Social function of the concerto grosso

The social function of the concerto grosso was explicitly stated in 1701 by Muffat, who was as articulate about the secular concerto grosso and its performance as Praetorius had been about the sacred vocal-instrumental concerto:

These concertos [in his Ausserlesene…Instrumental-Music or, Selected…Instrumental Music], suited neither to the church (because of the ballet airs and airs of other sorts which they include) nor for dancing (because of other interwoven conceits, now slow and serious, now gay and nimble, and composed only for the express refreshment of the ear), may be performed most appropriately in connection with entertainments given by great princes and lords, for receptions of distinguished guests, and at state banquets, serenades, and assemblies of musical amateurs and virtuosi.

The breeding ground of the concerto, therefore, was no longer the chapel but the court. From the standpoint of the local court administrator the concerto grosso offered certain economic as well as functional advantages, advantages that might even help to account for its predominance in Baroque instrumental music. The opposition of a full orchestra, playing relatively simple parts, to a few soli, playing more difficult, even virtuosic parts, made it possible to entrust the full-orchestra parts to relative novices in the court entourage, often to servants who could play in addition to their other duties. Thus, only a few solo parts had to be played by experts hired primarily as professional musicians. This practical advantage can be argued only while the distinction between simple and difficult parts prevailed. The distinction became less clear as the concerto matured, at least in works with one or more soloists.

Orchestration

Fundamental not only to the scoring but to the style, and even the musical structure of the Baroque concerto, was the opposition between the full orchestra, or concerto grosso (also called tutti, or ripieno), and the concertino (also called soli, or principale). A full complement of strings, usually two to four on a part, often sufficed for the “full orchestra,” in addition to the one to three instruments needed to play and realize the basso continuo. Usually at least a low melody instrument, bowed or blown, and a chordal instrument, plucked or keyed, were used for the basso continuo. The same trio setting that had been popular from the start of the century, typically two violins and a cello, often served as the concertino. When the concertino was not playing soli passages it figured as part of the concerto grosso. Illustrative of these typical settings is the celebrated Christmas Concerto (Opus 6, No. 8; 1714), by the Italian violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli. The basso continuo sometimes rested while the concertino played (a frequent procedure in Vivaldi’s concerti). One significant consequence of the tutti–soli relationship and its opposition of weighty and light masses of sound was a tendency to sharpen the contrast with the popular Baroque device of “terrace dynamics,” or blocks of contrasting loud and soft sound. This occurred especially in the echo effect of a soli passage played piano after a tutti passage played forte. To this dynamic contrast might be added the rhythmic contrast between steady, solid beats in the tutti and more intricate, quicker figures in the soli, growing out of that same tendency toward simplicity, on the one hand, and virtuosity, on the other. Furthermore, not only all of the melodic ornamentation but also most of the passagework were ordinarily given to the soli rather than the tutti. When the tutti strings were augmented by wind instruments and the concertino was reduced to two players or only one (resulting in the first solo concerti), all these oppositions became that much more pronounced. Attention may be called, too, to the artful highlighting of the contrasts through different spacing—that is, through varied alternations of the two groups, now frequent, now less frequent after longer passages.

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These several means of contrast provided by motive interplay hardly exhaust the sources of variety to be found in the Baroque concerto grosso. Much variety is achieved in another of its basic kinds of opposition or competition. This is the motivic (or imitative) interplay between parts that is so characteristic of the stile concertato, or concerted style.

Such interplay may occur either between tutti and soli choirs or entirely within a succession of single instrumental parts in the full orchestra. In fact, there are numerous Baroque “concerti” that thrive primarily on the latter style of continuity, without any tutti–soli designations at all (for example, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3). The employment of motivic interplay offers certain inherent contrasts of its own. These include shifts from one high or low range to another within a texture of interwoven melodies: rhythmic conflicts based on patterns that do not necessarily coincide with the regular musical metre; and an almost continuous change of key. The last is achieved by rapid successions of modulations (bridges from key to key) and drives to the cadence; i.e., building up of tension in the harmonies used, culminating and relaxing in the cadence, or stopping point. In fast movements, when the propelling force is not such motivic interplay, it is likely to be a force achieved by outright statements of musical figures based on chords and scales. Or it may be an unfolding succession of figures together with the harmonic drive to the cadence. In slow movements it is likely to be compelling progressions of chords, enhanced by melodic ornamentation and enlivened by continual suspensions, dissonances, and resolutions (i.e., by suspending single notes while the harmony around them changes; this creates dissonance, the tension of harmonies that seem to clash; the tension is “resolved” when the harmonies change again).

In spite of all this variety there are consistencies of style in the scoring and musical textures just described. In addition, certain additional rhythmic and melodic traits help further to bring a sense of overall unity to the concerto grosso. With regard to rhythmic traits, a steady motoric pulse is likely to prevail throughout the fast movements. Also, true to the nature of the ever-present basso continuo, a steady running bass line is likely to underlie both the slow and the fast movements.

Theme and structure

With regard to melodic traits, one cannot ordinarily speak of “main and contrasting themes” as in the Classical and later concerto. One reason is the lack of individuality in the main thematic ideas. Corelli’s and Vivaldi’s themes, vigorous as they may be rhythmically, hardly stand out melodically from the remaining music. Like the musical context in which they occur, the themes themselves are likely to consist of chord notes, scales, or simple repeated notes. Frequently they are announced in unison (all parts playing the same notes) and thus lack a strong initial association with the harmonies of an accompaniment. Bach is exceptional for the individuality of his themes, especially in the finales, where they are usually out-and-out tunes, memorable and fetching (as in his Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042). The less a melodic idea stands out, the less it functions as a true “theme” or unifier when it recurs and the less it can contrast with any of the other melodic ideas.

Such relatively neutral themes and motives, which unfold more as supplements than as contrasts, seem to have satisfied most Baroque, especially North German, tastes, including the express preference for limiting any one piece or movement to but one “Affekt” (or characteristic emotion). In addition, and more important for musical continuity, the themes, such as they are, do tend to recur, not only at the more local level of melodic imitation and motivic interplay but also at certain strategic points in the musical structure. Their recurrence, most often at the three or four main tonal landmarks, imparts at least a vague overall outline of formal musical structure. In fact, these strategic recurrences, plus the melodic imitations, the passagework, and the adjunct musical themes that separate them, produce in a loose way the most prevalent structural principle of the fast movements. This is the rondo principle, which is based on the alternation of a refrain, or “ritornello,” with contrasting musical passages. In the more tuneful finales, or final movements, the sense of a rondo “ritornello” is most distinct (as in George Frideric Handel’s Opus 6, No. 11). Generally, the alternations of refrains and intervening episodes tally with alternations of the tutti and soli groups, respectively.

Recurring melodic ideas account for two other of the most frequent principles of musical structure in the concerto grosso, those of fugue and of variation. A fugue is based on the polyphonic treatment (through extensive melodic imitation) of a recurring subject, or theme. In fugal sections of a concerto grosso, tutti and soli unite as one group or alternate in expositions (statements of the subject) and episodes (passages in which the subject appears only fragmentarily, if at all). The fugal style occurs largely in fast movements and varies from loose applications, especially among the Italians, to strict ones, especially among the Germans. The variation process depends on continual variation of a constant factor, such as a theme or a group of harmonies. In the concerto grosso it occurs largely in slow movements; its constant factor is a simple, freely recurring bass line, or ostinato (a short, repeated motive or melody). The ostinato often sounds alone in the tutti and may be played in unison at the beginning and end of the movement. It serves as a foil for the soli parts, which sometimes enter successively on long tones and gradually unfold into decorative, expressive passages (as in Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 2). When the ostinato’s recurrences are free enough and the bass line and treble melody of the tutti stand out enough, the effect is that of an expressive aria (solo song, as in an opera) with a firm prelude and postlude (as in Vivaldi’s Opus 3, No. 8), providing one of the many hints of operatic influences in the concerto grosso. To these structural types—rondo, fugue, and variation—may be added especially the binary design, with each half repeated, that prevails in Baroque dances. In binary form, the music of the first half moves from the tonic key to a closely related key. The second half begins in the new key and progresses back to the original key. Dances abound in concerti grossi, not only in those that are primarily orchestral suites or groups of related dance pieces (as are many by Handel) but in others as well. For instance, the finale of Corelli’s Opus 6, No. 3, although headed only “Allegro,” is a fine example of a binary gigue (a courtly dance ultimately derived from the jig).

The number of movements in the concerto grosso varies more than in the later solo concerto or in the sinfonia, symphony, and sonata at any time after the concerto grosso’s emergence. But the average may be put at from three to five. Corelli and other Italian pioneers had led off with more movements (insofar as separate movements can be distinguished from mere sectional changes in their concerti). Vivaldi reduced the number, mostly by omitting an initial slow movement that his predecessors had probably derived from the French overture. Instead, Vivaldi largely settled on and, in fact, standardized the cycle at three movements in fast–slow–fast order. He may have been influenced by the same cycle in the Italian opera sinfonia (or overture). The Germans seem to have varied the number more, with the most movements likely to be made up of relatively short dances. Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos do follow the fast–slow–fast plan except that Number 1 adds two dances and No. 3 leaves out the slow movement, simply substituting in its place two slow chords that create a feeling of suspension. Handel’s Twelve Grand Concertos in Opus 6 contain four to six movements that vary considerably in order and type.

As usual in tonal music (music based on the system of major and minor keys), additional variety within unity is achieved in the cycle of concerto grosso movements through departure from and return to the home key. Much more often than in the suite, a slow inner movement is placed in a nearly related key. In the shortest, freest slow movements the tonality, or key orientation, sometimes remains uncertain and in flux, giving the sense of a bridge from the previous to the following movement (as in Vivaldi’s Opus 3, No. 10). Unlike the Baroque suite and sonata, in the concerto the use of interrelated musical themes is not a frequent means of linking the movements. But the concerto grosso is like these other cycles in its dynamic tendency to progress from the more serious to the lighter movements. Infrequently a “program”—a story or nonmusical image—lends further unity to the cycle, as it does in the four concerti of Vivaldi’s Opus 8 that are known collectively as The Four Seasons. Each of these concerti is tied closely to a sonnet describing one of the seasons. More often a special unity results from some unusual trait of musical style or use of an instrument. An example is the brilliant solo part given, exceptionally, to the “cembalo concertato” (i.e., a harpsichord that participates with the other instruments in the melodic discourse rather than, as is normal, confining itself to the realization of the basso continuo) in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.

Major contributions

Like the vocal-instrumental concerto before it, the concerto grosso originated and reached a first peak in Italy, then attained a further peak in Germany. French and English centres responded more than they contributed to it. Again, some of the main landmarks may be briefly noted. The 12 concerti grossi in Opus 6 by Corelli were not first published until 1714, the year after he died. Although they were preceded in print by other pioneer examples, like those of Torelli (from 1698), Tomaso Albinoni (from 1700), and even Vivaldi (from 1712), some of them may have been among the “several concertos” by Corelli that Muffat had already heard in Rome by 1682. Corelli still made the loose distinction, best known in the 17th-century sonata, between da chiesa and da camera—that is, church and court-style, or serious and light. The first eight of his concerti grossi are da chiesa (church-style), in four to seven movements, the last four da camera (court-style), in five movements. A trio setting of two violins and cello is specified for the concertino, and two violins, viola, and bass for the concerto grosso, “which may be doubled as desired.” Between the two groups the opposition is not an antiphony of musical ideas but only a change of musical texture and sonority in the continuous unfolding of the short, tasteful, well-proportioned movements.

Vivaldi’s more than 460 “Concerti” (written from about 1710 to 1740) bring the Italian contribution to full maturity, and they rank Vivaldi with his contemporaries Bach and Handel among the greatest masters of the concerto grosso. The maturity is marked by larger forms and broader musical architecture, including tighter organization of the rondo principle, and by more distinctive, energetic musical themes, at least rhythmically if not melodically. There is also greater brilliance and exploitation of idiomatic instrumental techniques, including bariolage (quick shifts from string to string) and broken chords for the solo violin. Another characteristic is the standardization, as noted earlier, of the three-movement cycle, fast–slow–fast. But if the cycle becomes standardized, with only infrequent exceptions, very little else is predictable about Vivaldi’s imaginative, resourceful concerti. Least predictable of all is the scoring, which makes highly varied combinations of string and wind instruments—for example, a tutti of strings with cello and bassoon as the soli; or two oboes, two horns, bassoon, and violin as the soli; or viola d’amore (a violin-like instrument) and lute as the soli.

Starting with Muffat’s concerti done under Corelli’s immediate guidance, the spread of the instrumental concerto from Italy to Germany was as direct and wide as that of the vocal-instrumental concerto had been. French influences in Germany were considerable, too, especially where the suite touched the concerto. This was often true in the large, resourceful, and highly varied output of the German Georg Philipp Telemann. In Bach’s approximately 25 concerti (about 1720–35) Italian influences are especially evident, quite apart from his unusual setting for harpsichord alone specifically entitled Concerto in the Italian Style. Again, Italian influence is reflected in the many concerti by Vivaldi and others that Bach transcribed and reworked for harpsichord or for organ. A rare opportunity to learn what mattered most to Bach in concerto structure is provided by a study of his changes in the Vivaldi models. Such changes include themes sharpened melodically and musical textures enriched by the addition of new melodic entries to contrapuntal passages or by more intensive interplay of musical motives. The designs of the musical forms themselves are pointed up by insertions of new musical material, deletions, and altered timing of phrases and entries. Bach summed up the Baroque concerto as he did the cantata, fugue, and other Baroque genres. Besides the transcriptions and the magnificent six Brandenburg Concertos, with all their own varieties of scoring, he left concerti in which the solo requirements are one violin; two violins; flute, violin, and harpsichord; violin and oboe; one harpsichord; two harpsichords; three harpsichords; and four harpsichords. The majority of the harpsichord concerti are further transcriptions and reworkings, some not yet tracked to their sources. For example, two of seven solo harpsichord concerti come from Bach’s own solo violin concerti, and the concerto for four harpsichords comes from Vivaldi’s Opus 3, No. 10, for four violins. These concerti, like the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 already noted, emphasize Bach’s priority in giving the harpsichord prominence as a concerto solo instrument.

Handel left around 35 concerti in all (about 1715–50), including three sets of organ concerti with oboe and strings; one set for strings and winds (Opus 3); one set in the tutti–soli setting for strings alone (Opus 6) that Corelli had used; and several concerti not in sets. Among the last are two works more properly classified in his day as trio sonatas (works usually for two violins and basso continuo but sometimes for orchestra). Transcriptions and reworkings figure in many of Handel’s concerti, as in Bach’s. Handel’s concerto style, like that of his chief contemporary in England, the Italian violinist-composer Francesco Geminiani, is more progressive than Bach’s in its frequent French dance influences and in its more open, less complex musical textures. Although imposing fugues can be found, the prevailing atmosphere in Handel’s concerti is more often that of light, wide-spaced chamber music. Thanks to his unmatched skill, imagination, good timing, and almost childlike enthusiasm, there is also a feeling of extraordinary vitality, robustness, and breadth in the concerti, especially in the finest of the sets, the Twelve Grand Concertos (that is, concerti grossi as translated then), Opus 6. The exploitation of the tutti–soli opposition is less in Opus 3, although the instrumental scoring is more restricted in Opus 6. But in both sets the variety of instrumental combinations is exceptional, even from movement to movement. In Opus 3, No. 2, for example, the soli change from two oboes and two violins to solo oboe, then to two oboes doubling two violins and a viola, further to two oboes and two violins not doubled, and finally to two oboes and cello. Much as Bach had transcribed concerti for organ alone to serve as introductions to cantatas, so Handel played his own original and transcribed concerti for organ and orchestra as introductions and entr’actes in his oratorios. These organ concerti were widely copied by minor followers of Handel in England. Nothing in France close to Handel’s level can be pointed to until near the end of the era, when a violinist and composer, Jean-Marie Leclair, produced his solo concerti.

In the opening of this article “concerto” was defined as it is thought of first today—that is, in the sense that has prevailed since about 1750. Essential to that definition is the interrelation of orchestra and soloist, not soli. Whereas a concertino of soli had been the norm before 1750, with a single soloist being a variant or reduction of the concertino idea, the single soloist became the norm after 1750. As a result two or more soloists became the exception in what has since become known as “double concerto,” “triple concerto,” and so on. Because the concerto since 1750 has been likened to the sonata (again, as in the opening definition), it is often distinguished as the “sonata concerto,” although the same could have been done with at least as much justification, especially because of the confusions of terms noted earlier, for the concerto before 1750. More justified, in spite of all the exceptions, might be the designations “solo concerto” for the later type and “orchestral concerto” (or concerto grosso) for the earlier type. The concerto grosso may be said to have dissolved into the solo concerto and the sinfonia concertante. The second term was Mozart’s designation for certain concerti with more than one soloist, but it has also been used for symphonies that still reveal the imitative interplay of the concerto grosso or that employ the tutti–soli rondo principle. There are differences between the earlier solo part, which was a minimal concertino, and the later solo part, which was a self-sufficient adversary to the orchestra. There is also a difference in scoring between the two types of concerto, for at the time that the concerto grosso was being replaced by the solo concerto the basso continuo was falling into disuse. In addition there is a difference of degree, with a sharp increase of independence and virtuosity in the soloist’s part in the later form of the concerto.