Concerto
Soloist and orchestra cooperating and competing — the cadenza is the soloist's stage
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A concerto is a work for a solo instrument and orchestra, built on cooperation and contest: the orchestra supplies the body of sound and the contrast, the soloist foregrounds technique and personality. Baroque concertos often use the ritornello pattern of tutti–solo–tutti; from the Classical era on, concertos usually have three movements, the first in sonata form.
The cadenza is the concerto's special place: the orchestra stops and the soloist unfolds alone. Traditionally improvised, later written out by the composer; much of the "freedom" heard today is a composed freedom.
Read deeper → Concerto Form
Sources
- 协奏曲的体裁历史、利托奈罗与华彩段，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Concerto"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.