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concerto

concerto

32 7.5
A piece of music for a solo player and an orchestra in several parts
  • noun
  • /kənˈtʃɛrtoʊ/
translation icon : concierto
  • Still, like Elgar's Cello Concerto, it will become a central part of the classical music Canon.
  • Piano Concerto
  • Violin Concerto
  • Mozart concerto

And also on the supposedly high end of, you know, is your Dvorak concerto better?

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Examples

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky is playing his new concerto.

  • The first two pieces on the program, Cuban Overture and Concerto in F, were also composed by Gershwin.

    Academic text (1998)
  • But meanwhile the concerto we just played will be played again.

  • This is the "Concerto in D".

  • Mom, I just finished the third movement of that concerto I was working on.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • In the living room, Ben was listening to his favorite Shostakovich piano concerto while reading.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • In April, two phenomenal high school musicians won the 2008 Marine Band Concerto Contest.

    Academic text (2008)
  • We've got Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.

  • Now I can maybe place first when I play Beethoven's Piano Concerto at the spring recital!

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The orchestra performed Mozart's concerto for piano and orchestra beautifully.

Synonyms

concerto grosso
vsconcerto
  • Specialized
9.4

A piece of Baroque music for orchestra with a small group of soloists

uses a single solo performer rather than a small group

Compounds

concerto grosso
  • Specialized
9.4

A piece of Baroque music for orchestra with a small group of soloists

How Complex

symphony
72 5.6
concerto
32 7.5
sonata
9 7.8
sonatina
8.4
song
1.0

Surface Forms

concerto singular
concertos plural

Etymology

Concerto comes from an old Italian word and before that Latin concertare, made from con- 'together' and certare 'to compete', and it is the same root as English concert. So a concerto is a piece where a soloist and the orchestra 'come together', with the soloist often standing out like a friendly 'contest' with the group.