Concertante

What it means

Concertante, from Italian concertare (to compete, to work together), describes a style of writing in which one or more parts step forward as soloists from the orchestral texture, without any single instrument taking on the sole lead role of a classical solo concerto. The term also names a genre in its own right, the sinfonia concertante, in which two or more solo instruments interact with each other and alternate with the orchestra.

Musical use

Concertante passages occur in symphonies and chamber music whenever individual parts briefly gain soloistic weight, for example in slow movements featuring a prominent wind or string line. As a genre, the sinfonia concertante flourished in the late 18th century, notably in the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364, is among the best-known examples.

Concertante writing should be distinguished from the classical solo concerto, in which a single soloist is set against the full orchestra, and from the Baroque concerto grosso, in which a fixed small group of soloists, the concertino, is set against the full orchestra, the ripieno.

Performance practice

In concertante passages, listen closely to how the solo part and the orchestra give each other space: as a soloist in a sinfonia concertante, ensemble playing with your co-soloist or co-soloists matters just as much as your own virtuosic prominence.