Triple concerto

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A triple concerto (Italian: Concerto triplo, German: Tripelkonzert) is a concerto with three soloists. Such concertos have been composed from the Baroque period, including works by Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach and Telemann, to the 21st century, such as two works by Dmitri Smirnov. The most famous example is Beethoven's Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano. His combination of solo instruments, a piano trio, was often used also in later works.[ not verified in body ]

Contents

History

Many works in the genre concerto grosso were composed for three solo instruments, including Corelli's concerti grossi, Op. 6, for a trio (concertino) of two violins and cello. 1714. Antonio Vivaldi wrote several concertos for the same combination of instruments, published for example in L'estro armonico in 1711. Based on Italian models, Johann Sebastian Bach composed concertos for multiple instruments, including his Fourth Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1049, with solo parts for violin and two recorders, [1] his Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1050, featuring violin, flute and harpsichord, [1] the Concerto, BWV 1044, for the same soloists, [1] and two concertos for three harpsichords and string orchestra. [2]

Georg Philipp Telemann wrote 17 concertos for three instruments, many of them for two identical woodwind instruments, such as flutes or oboes, with a different third instrument such as violin or bassoon, others for three identical instruments, such as three violins, and for three different instruments, such as flute, violin and cello, published for example in his Tafelmusik collection.

Baroque Era

Arcangelo Corelli's twelve concerti grossi, Op. 6, each of them for a soloist group (concertino) consisting of two violins and cello, were published posthumously in 1714. After that publication, the concerto grosso qualification was used to indicate various types of baroque concertos with multiple soloists. Antonio Vivaldi's L'estro armonico , published in 1711, also contained a number of concertos for two violins and cello, however without concertos for multiple soloists being indicated as concerto grosso in this earlier publication. The difference in Corelli's and Vivaldi's approach towards concertos for multiple soloists, as well in style as regarding the name that was used for them, has been explained as relating to differences in music traditions in Rome (where Corelli lived) and Venice (where Vivaldi lived). This did not prevent that later music historians would often, retro-actively, describe Vivaldi's concertos for multiple instruments as concerti grossi. Whatever the naming and style differences, both Corelli and Vivaldi set two violins and a cello as the standard group of soloists for triple concertos of the first quarter of the 18th century.[ citation needed ]

Johann Sebastian Bach knew Italian concertos primarily through the Venetian composers, and thus also did not use the concerto grosso qualifier for his concertos for multiple soloists. Nonetheless also his concertos for multiple instruments were retro-actively called concerti grossi. Philipp Spitta, Bach's 19th-century biographer, qualified these extant concertos for three soloists as concerti grossi: [3]

Section 53 of the Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis (TWV) lists 17 concertos for three soloists and orchestra by Georg Philipp Telemann. Most of these concertos are for two identical woodwind instruments, such as flutes or oboes, with a different third instrument such as violin or bassoon. Telemann also wrote triple concertos for three identical instruments and for three different instruments: for instance, his Tafelmusik collections contain a concerto for three violins (TWV 53:F1), and one for flute, violin and cello (TWV 53:A2). [4]

Classical and early Romantic Eras

The most popular triple concerto, commonly called Triple Concerto (Tripelkonzert), is Beethoven's Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano.

Later developments

Triple concerto compositions

Examples of triple concertos include Johann Sebastian Bach's Triple Concerto, BWV 1044, with solo parts for violin, flute and harpsichord, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Concerto No. 7 for three pianos, Ludwig van Beethoven's Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano, and Dmitri Smirnov's Triple Concerto No. 2 for violin, harp and double bass.

In the following table, the compositions are initially sorted by a year of composition or publication, followed by composer, title, the three instruments, the kind of orchestra, and notes, such as a link to a reference.

Triple Concertos
YearComposerTitleKeySolo 1Solo 2Solo 3OrchestraNotes
1721 Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 G major harpsichord violin flauto traverso strings
1721 Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 D major violin recorder recorder strings and bc
1730's Johann Sebastian Bach Triple Concerto, BWV 1044 A minor violinfluteharpsichordstrings
1770 Antonio Salieri Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Cello D major oboeviolincelloorchestra
1776 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 7 F major pianopianopianoorchestra
1804 Ludwig van Beethoven Triple Concerto C major violincellopianoorchestra
1933 Bohuslav Martinů Concertinoviolincellopiano string orchestra [5]
1938 Gian Francesco Malipiero Concerto a treviolincellopianoorchestra
1977 Dmitri Smirnov Triple Concerto No. 1 saxophone piano double bass orchestra
2002 Lera Auerbach Serenade for a Melancholic Seaviolincellopianoorchestra
2003 Dmitri Smirnov Triple Concerto No. 2 violin harp double bass orchestra
2016 Wolfgang Rihm Trio Concertoviolincellopianoorchestra

Reception

Related Research Articles

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 concerto grosso is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists and full orchestra. This is in contrast to the solo concerto which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra.

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The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach is a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721. The original French title is Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments, meaning "Six Concertos for several instruments". Some of the pieces feature several solo instruments in combination. They are widely regarded as some of the greatest orchestral compositions of the Baroque era.

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A harpsichord concerto is a piece of music for an orchestra with the harpsichord in a solo role. Sometimes these works are played on the modern piano. For a period in the late 18th century, Joseph Haydn and Thomas Arne wrote concertos that could be played interchangeably on harpsichord, fortepiano, and pipe organ.

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The Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043, also known as the Double Violin Concerto, is a violin concerto of the Late Baroque era, which Johann Sebastian Bach composed around 1730. It is one of the composer's most successful works.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keyboard concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach</span>

The keyboard concertos, BWV 1052–1065, are concertos for harpsichord, strings and continuo by Johann Sebastian Bach. There are seven complete concertos for a single harpsichord, three concertos for two harpsichords, two concertos for three harpsichords, and one concerto for four harpsichords. Two other concertos include solo harpsichord parts: the concerto BWV 1044, which has solo parts for harpsichord, violin and flute, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, with the same scoring. In addition, there is a nine-bar concerto fragment for harpsichord which adds an oboe to the strings and continuo.

A double concerto is a concerto featuring two performers—as opposed to the usual single performer, in the solo role. The two performers' instruments may be of the same type, as in Bach's Double Violin Concerto, or different, as in Brahms's Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra.

The Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis, abbreviated TWV, is the numbering system identifying compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann, published by musicologist Martin Ruhnke.

The Triple Concerto, BWV 1044, is a concerto in A minor for traverso, violin, harpsichord, and string orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach. He based the composition on his Prelude and Fugue BWV 894 for harpsichord and on the middle movement of his Organ Sonata BWV 527, or on earlier lost models for these compositions.

The concerto transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach date from his second period at the court in Weimar (1708–1717). Bach transcribed for organ and harpsichord a number of Italian and Italianate concertos, mainly by Antonio Vivaldi, but with others by Alessandro Marcello, Benedetto Marcello, Georg Philipp Telemann and the musically talented Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. It is thought that most of the transcriptions were probably made in 1713–1714. Their publication by C.F. Peters in the 1850s and by Breitkopf & Härtel in the 1890s played a decisive role in the Vivaldi revival of the twentieth century.

<i>Brandenburg Concerto</i> No. 5 Instrumental work by J S Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his fifth Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1050.2, for harpsichord, flute and violin as soloists, and an orchestral accompaniment consisting of strings and continuo. An early version of the concerto, BWV 1050.1, originated in the late 1710s. On 24 March 1721 Bach dedicated the final form of the concerto to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Spitta 1899, III: p.  143.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Spitta 1899, III: pp.  146–149.
  3. ↑ Spitta 1899, III: pp.  142–149.
  4. ↑ Georg Philipp Telemann: Catalogue TWV – 53: Concerto pour 3 instruments solo avec orchestre at www.musiqueorguequebec.ca
  5. ↑ Barnett, Rob (June 2003). "Review of 1997 Recording of Martinů Trio Concertino". MusicWeb. Retrieved 2007-11-03.

Sources

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