Although a concerto is usually a piece of music for one or more solo instruments accompanied by a full orchestra, several composers have written works with the apparently contradictory title Concerto for Orchestra. This title is usually chosen to emphasise soloistic and virtuosic treatment of various individual instruments or sections in the orchestra, with emphasis on instruments changing during the piece. It differs from sinfonia concertante in that it has no soloist or group of soloists that remains the same throughout the composition.
A well known concerto for orchestra is Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (1943), although the title had been used several times before. Goffredo Petrassi made the concerto for orchestra something of a speciality, writing eight of them since 1933. He finished the last one in 1972.
This list is chronological.
A concerto is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement preceded and followed by fast movements, became a standard from the early 18th century.
The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted into a prize: "For a distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year."
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra-modernism" into a distinctive style with a personal harmonic and rhythmic language, after an early neoclassical phase. His compositions are performed throughout the world, and include orchestral, chamber music, solo instrumental, and vocal works. The recipient of many awards, Carter was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his string quartets; he also wrote the large-scale orchestral triptych Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei.
Alan Hovhaness was an American composer of Armenian ancestry. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies and 434 opus numbers. The true tally is well over 500 surviving works, since many opus numbers comprise two or more distinct works.
Christian Lindberg is a Swedish trombonist, conductor and composer.
Stuart Oliver Knussen was a British composer and conductor.
A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble. Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly the earliest known concerto for solo clarinet; its score appears to be titled "Concerto per il Clareto" and may date from 1733. It may, however, be intended for soprano chalumeau. There are earlier concerti grossi with concertino clarinet parts including two by Johann Valentin Rathgeber, published in 1728.
Goffredo Petrassi was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.
A viola concerto is a concerto contrasting a viola with another body of musical instruments such as an orchestra or chamber music ensemble. Throughout music history, especially during the Baroque, Classical, Romantic eras, viola was viewed mostly as an ensemble instrument. Though there were a few notable concertos written for the instrument in this time period, these instances were quite rare and the instrument continued to be ignored. However, during the 20th century, the instrument was revitalized thanks to the work of a number of violists and composers, which led to the commission and composition of many more viola concertos, expanding the repertoire significantly.
Steven Edward Stucky was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.
The Group for Contemporary Music is an American chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in New York City in 1962 by Joel Krosnick, Harvey Sollberger and Charles Wuorinen and gave its first concert on October 22, 1962 in Columbia University's MacMillin Theatre. Krosnik left the ensemble in 1963. It was the first contemporary music ensemble based at a university and run by composers.
A number of concertos have been written for the oboe, both as a solo instrument as well as in conjunction with other solo instrument(s), and accompanied by string orchestra, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, concert band, or similar large ensemble.
Olli Mustonen is a Finnish pianist, conductor, and composer.
The ripieno concerto is a late Baroque music genre. The word ripieno is from the Italian for "padding," referring to the string orchestra and any wind or chord-playing instrumentalists who played no solo parts but would accompany the soloists in concerti and concerti grossi. The concerto ripieno was sometimes referred to as a "concerto a quattro" and was a composition for the ripieno alone, with either no solo parts or clearly subsidiary ones. Beginning with the six ripieno concertos, Op. 5 (1692), of Giuseppe Torelli, this genre enjoyed an efflorescence that extended until about 1740.
Kammermusik is the title for eight chamber music compositions by Paul Hindemith. He wrote them, each in several movements, during the 1920s. They are grouped in three opus numbers: Op. 24, Op. 36 and Op. 46. Six of these works, Kammermusik Nos. 2–7, are not what is normally considered chamber music – music for a few players with equally important parts such as a wind quintet – but rather concertos for a soloist and chamber orchestra. They are concertos for piano, cello, violin, viola, viola d'amore and organ. The works, for different ensembles, were premiered at different locations and times. The composer was the soloist in the premiere of the viola concertos, while his brother Rudolf Hindemith was the soloist in the premiere of the cello concerto. Kammermusik is reminiscent of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, also concertos for different solo and orchestra instruments, and in a neo-Bachian spirit of structure, polyphony and stability of motion.
The trumpet repertoire consists of solo literature and orchestral or, more commonly, band parts written for the trumpet. Tracings its origins to 1500 BC, the trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family.
This page lists classical pieces in the trombone repertoire, including solo works, concertenti and chamber music of which trombone plays a significant part.
This page lists classical pieces in the tuba repertoire, including solo works, concertenti and chamber music of which tuba plays a significant part.