Page 98 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained
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96 ITALIAN BAROQUE SOLO CONCERTO
The concerto
The main attraction of the
concerto for composers
and musicians is the sheer
dramatic potential of the
form, as soloist and orchestra
alternately compete and
collaborate with one another.
Many composers have been
inspired to write concertos
by the talents of particular
performers, such as the
cellist Antonín Kraft, for
whom Haydn wrote his
Cello Concerto No. 2 in D
and Beethoven his Triple
Concerto. Mozart wrote his
famous Horn Concertos for
the horn player Joseph four to six times, culminating in
Leutgeb. Concertos soon The score of “Spring” from The
became a showcase for a final orchestral restatement of Four Seasons, part of L’estro armonico
(Harmonic Inspiration), a collection of
virtuoso performers, such the ritornello. 12 concertos whose lively flamboyance
as the violinist Paganini and The solo sections, meanwhile, transformed the stately form.
the pianists Liszt and Chopin. can also be seen in opera. Baroque
Around the turn of the 20th operas gave new prominence to the
century, Rachmaninov wrote aria, which allowed singers to show moods and states of mind, as
his piano concertos—and off the power, range, and expressive their titles made clear—for
Dvorak and Elgar their much- nature of their voices. Similarly, example, Il piacere (Pleasure),
loved cello concertos. Later, the solo sections of concertos L’inquietudine (Anxiety), L’amoroso
fans of the concerto grosso allowed instrumental soloists to (The Lover), and Il riposo (Rest).
included Michael Tippett in display their virtuoso skills. In an Le quattro stagioni, however, along
his Fantasia Concertante on age characterized by theatricality, with a cycle of three concertos
a Theme of Corelli. Vivaldi brought a dose of dramatic called La Notte (Night), took this
virtuosity to the concerto. a step further, and used the music
to relate a simple musical narrative
Four Seasons known as a “programme,” a form
Vivaldi allowed his theatricality that was taken up by many
free rein in The Four Seasons, first composers in the Romantic era.
published in Amsterdam in 1725. In the published version, Vivaldi
Earlier versions of the pieces had made the programme explicit by
been circulating for a number of including four sonnets of unknown
years in manuscript form, and were authorship, often theorized to have
already widely known and admired. been written by Vivaldi himself.
Le quattro stagioni represented These sonnets each tell the story
the first four in a collection of 12 of one of the four seasons. The
violin concertos entitled Il cimento sonnet for spring, for example,
Violinist Nigel Kennedy records dell’armonia e dell’inventione (“The starts by describing how birds
The Four Seasons with the English Contest of Harmony and Invention”), salute the new season “with joyous
Chamber Orchestra in 1989. The all written between 1723 and 1725. song” and how brooks fanned by
recording sold more than two
million copies. Many of Vivaldi’s concertos sought soft breezes flow “with sweet
to evoke or describe particular murmurings.” All this Vivaldi
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