Expert: David Froom - 11/4/2010

Question
is 'concerto for strings' part of the genre 'classical'?
and when/where did the concerto for strings originate?
and in concerto for strings, is there only the strings in it of is there a harpsichord (earlier years)/piano (current year) in it asa well?
thank you for your help.

Answer
Until the 20th century, concerto (which comes from the Italian word that simply means "concert") meant a soloist or a group of soloists featured against a larger group of accompanying instruments.  In the Baroque period (1600-1750), towards the later part of this time, the concerto developed into something that was usually a small orchestra or small chamber group (see Baroque concerto or concerto grosso in an encyclopedia like Wikipedia).  In the Classical period (1750-1820), this more commonly became the Classical concerto, which most often had a single soloist, usually violin or piano (though others exist, like trumpet or cello) featured in a highly prominent role in front of a larger orchestra.  There are a few concertos for more instruments (Beethoven has a concerto for piano trio and orchestra).  In the Romantic era (1820-1900), the soloist took on an increasingly dramatic role.

The music for the soloist in the Classical and Romantic periods was typically highly virtuosic, and usually featured, at some point in many of the movements, a solo passage (the soloist all alone) called the cadenza.  

In the 20th century, there still were these kinds of concertos, but, in the early decades, composers also began to use the term concerto to denote virtuosity.  Virtuosity didn't mean it would be called a concerto, but something called concerto that wasn't soloist with orchestra could mean this.  

And so, you have pieces like, for example, Bartok's Concerto for two pianos and percussion (a total of 4 players), Stravinsky's Concerto for two pianos (just two players, no orchestra), Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.  As the 20th century went on, there were Concerto for Strings by a number of people (just string orchestra with no soloists), Chamber Concerto (a virtuosic piece for chamber group), and so on.  

You have to remember that there are no word police.  Composers can call their works whatever they like.  

Also, to clear up any misunderstanding, "Classical" with a capital C usually means 1750-1820, while "classical" with a small c usually means the whole style of music going back to the 700s and extending through today.  The distinctions between classical music and other kinds of music are less clear until the 20th century -- though there was always some kind of folk music, popular musics like jazz, rock, country, blues, etc. are a phenomenon of the time of radio and recording.

Hope this helps,

David Froom