The earliest publication to have used it is the Concerti di Andrea, et di Gio. The term concerto was originally used to refer to vocal and mixed vocal and instrumental forms. (ii) Early use of the term: the vocal concerto. It is unclear how widespread was the acceptance of this definition at this time, however. Michael Praetorius (Syntagma musicum, iii, 1618) offered this more erudite definition and Bottrigari (Il desiderio, ovvero De’ concerti di varij strumenti musicali, 1594) also showed himself to be aware of the
About the beginning of the 17th century writers began to recognize the other latinate meaning of ‘concerto’, that is, ‘strive, contend with’. Bononcini described himself on title-pages as ‘del concerto de gli strumenti dell’altezza serenissima di Modana’ (a member of the Duke of Modena’s orchestra). Thus Trabaci (Il secondo libro de ricercate, 1615) referred to a ‘concerto de Violini, o Viole ad Arco’ and from 1671 G.M. Here and in many later instances the word concertato can be approximately translated as ‘accompanied’ the meaning ‘ensemble’ or ‘orchestra’ survived throughout the 17th century.
A mixed ensemble of voices and instruments is implied by the description of the first intermedio for the marriage of Francesco de’ Medici (1565): ‘La musica di questo primo intermedio era concertato da …’ (there follows a list of instruments). Thus the first known musical application, ‘un concerto di voci in musica’ (Rome, 1519), clearly refers to a vocal ensemble, a ‘getting together’ of voices. The primary Italian meaning of concertare is ‘to arrange, agree, get together’, but both this and the other Latin definition (they are not mutually exclusive) were in use in the course of the form’s development. ‘Concerto’ probably comes from the Latin concertare, which can mean both ‘to contend, dispute, debate’ and also ‘to work together with someone’. BIBLIOGRAPHY ARTHUR HUTCHINGS/R (1), MICHAEL TALBOT (2), CLIFF EISEN (3), LEON BOTSTEIN (4), PAUL GRIFFITHS (5) Concerto 1. The instrumental concerto: origins to 1750. Bach and later composers, particularly Mozart, to develop into a form that ranks with the symphony and the string quartet in the range of its artistic expression. During its long history, the concerto has built on forms and procedures adopted by Corelli, Torelli, Vivaldi, J.S. In the late 18th century and during most of the 19th and the solo concerto was a prominent form of virtuoso display, while, in the same period, the concerto grosso fell out of public favour some of its aspects were subsumed by the short-lived form of the Symphonie concertante. Not until the beginning of the 18th century was it applied consistently (though not exclusively) to works in three movements (fast–slow–fast) for soloist and orchestra, two or more soloists and orchestra (concerto grosso) or undivided orchestra. Before 1700 the term was applied to pieces in a variety of forms for an even greater variety of performing media, voices as well as instruments it was also used in the sense of ‘ensemble’ or ‘orchestra’. An instrumental work that maintains contrast between an orchestral ensemble and a smaller group or a solo instrument, or among various groups of an undivided orchestra.