Symphonia concertante

The symphonia concertante , or in Italian sinfonia concerting , is a musical Forme born with the traditional time with the crossing of the Symphonie and Concerto:

It is a form concerting because she is written for one or more Soliste S and an orchestra.
It is a symphonic form because the parts soloists are not in opposition or conflict with the orchestra, so that work “sounds” like a symphony with passages solo.

History

traditional Period

Until the period baroque, the difference between a “Concerto” and a “Symphony” or “sinfonia” was not clear; a sinfonia could be the opening of a scenic work, and Vivaldi composed of the concertos without soloists and similar to symphonies. The form nearest to a symphonia concertante was then the Concerto grosso.

The traditional period saw, in addition to the disappearance of the concerto grosso, the final formation of the symphony and the concerto. In the last decades of the 18th century, type-setters constituted with the one intermediate kind, such as for example those of the school of Mannheim. Johann Christian Bach (“Bach of London”), published in Paris of symphonia concertantes (under this French name) as from the years 1770.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, influenced by the school of Mannheim starting from 1777 and probably by the work of Johann Christian Bach, attempted to illustrate the kind and is the author of three “symphonia concertantes”, the first being most known:

the Symphonia concertante for violin, viola and orchestra in major E flat , K. 364 (1779), only completed and authenticated.
the Symphonia concertante for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and orchestra in major E flat , K. 297b, known by an arrangement, of doubtful authenticity.
the Symphonia concertante for violin, viola, violoncello and orchestra in major the , Anh. 104, fragment in a movement.

Joseph Haydn, although author of more than hundred symphonies and concertos for many instruments, composed only one symphonia concertante, the Symphonia concertante for violin, violoncello, oboe, bassoon and orchestra in major B flat (1792), classified today like its Symphony nº 105 (Hob. I: 105). It draws however more its form of the Concerto grosso, in what it opposes a group of soloists to an orchestra, which treatment of the kind by Mozart, more marked by the symphony.

Ludwig van Beethoven seems to have avoided the kind, although its “Triple Concerto”, the Concerto for piano, violin, violoncello and orchestra in major C , can be brought closer about it.

romantic Period

Few “symphonia concertantes” were made up after the traditional period. However, certain romantic works are with the crossing of the forms symphonic and concerting, in dimensions obviously broader than traditional works:

Harold in Italy (1834), a symphony for viola and orchestrates Hector Berlioz.
the Spanish Symphony (1874) of Edouard Lalo, with a violin.
the macabre Dance , COp 40 (1874), of Camille Saint-Saëns, with a violin.
the Djinns (1884) of César Franck with a piano.
the Symphony nº 3 with organ in minor C , COp 78 (1886), of Saint-Saëns; it uses a Orgue whose sound is partly integrated in that of the orchestra, but which plays several times in solo. Moreover, one piano with four hands is used in the second part of the second movement.
Of max Bruch, the Scottish Imagination , COp 46 (1880) with solo violin, Kol Nidrei , COp 47 (1880-1881), with violoncello, and the Serenade for violin and orchestra in major the , COp. 75,1899-1900.
the Symphony on a mountain song French known as “ Cevennes ”, COp 25 (1886), of Vincent d' Indy, with a piano.
Shéhérazade (1888) of Nikolaï Rimski-Korsakov, with violin.

At the 20th century, certain type-setters réapproprièrent the kind, for example:

Joseph Jongen and his Symphonia concertante for organ and orchestra , COp 81 (1926).
Karol Szymanowski and its Symphonia concertante for piano and orchestra , COp 60 (1932).
Frank Martin and his Small Symphonia concertante for toothing-stone, harpsichord, piano and two string orchestras , COp 54 (1944-1945).
Sergueï Prokofiev and its Symphony-Concerto for violoncello and orchestra as a semi minor , COp 125 (1950-1952).
Peter Maxwell Davies and his Symphonia concertante for wind quintet, drinking cups and string orchestra (1982).

Peter Schickele, under his pseudonym of P.D.Q. Bach, also composed a Symphonia concertante of satirical nature.

Close kinds

the Symphony and the Concerto.
the Concerto for orchestra, in which the soloists change throughout work.

References and sources

Source

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