Genesis of the Concerto for Orchestra

Vadim Rakochi

doi:10.7596/taksad.v9i1.2435

Abstract

The main goal of this article is to classify the origins of the concerto for orchestra and thus to determine its genesis. The methodologies applied include the analytical (study of literature), the functional (concerto for orchestra in the context of musical culture), and the historical (transformation of the genre due to the evolution of orchestral thinking) approaches. A mainstream tendency for synthesis of different styles within the disappearance of the very concept of ‘normal––un-normal’ regarding the orchestra should be mentioned as the first factor which caused the birth of the concerto for orchestra. No matter how important the changes in the orchestra’s functions and structure along with the fusion of different origins for the genesis of the concerto for orchestra were, it is true that it was not a single factor which influenced the genre transformations of the concerto. Search for new sounds and techniques to embody them, popularity of the chamber orchestra, strengthening and diversifying of the ‘inside-the-orchestra solo’, growth of theatricality in symphonic music, transformation of longstanding genres and amplification of the colorfulness in the orchestra are the principle reasons for the appearance of the concerto for orchestra in 1925. The review of Hindemith’s, Petrassi’s, Bartok, Tippett’s and Lutoslawski’s concertos demonstrates two different approaches to the synthesis. The conclusion of this article is that the rethinking of the ‘old’ genres within a tendency to synthesize different styles and to merge dissimilar music schools, folklore and ‘classical’ music in tandem with transformations that stroked the integrity of the orchestra as a whole, paved the way for the birth of the concerto for orchestra. The concerto for orchestra became one of the iconic genres of twentieth-century music and embodied ‘a positive vision of a world in a kind of harmony’ in a number of works.

Highlights

IntroductionEarly-twentieth century approaches to concerto strongly influenced late-twentieth century practices, including tradition and novelty in the concerto genre, inter-stylistic and inter-temporal fusions in concerto orchestra
Early-twentieth century approaches to concerto strongly influenced late-twentieth century practices, including tradition and novelty in the concerto genre, inter-stylistic and inter-temporal fusions in concerto orchestra. These practices were so promising and the interest in earlier music was so intense at the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries that it might be considered as revolutionary, because the synthesis of material of different origins became a fundamental factor in the emergence of neo-classicism, neo-romanticism, and other ‘neo’ trends in all contemporary music
Despite several short references to the concerto for orchestra in the works of some researchers on Tippett, Lutosławski, etc., there is no systematical consideration on the origins of this genre

Summary

Introduction

Early-twentieth century approaches to concerto strongly influenced late-twentieth century practices, including tradition and novelty in the concerto genre, inter-stylistic and inter-temporal fusions in concerto orchestra. Busoni’s open letter to Becker (1920) with the call to combine the principles of development and the logic of early music with the latest techniques of composition, and Stravinsky’s slogan “Back to Bach” (1924)—recall his Concerto for Piano and Winds, definitely inspired by Bach’s music— effectively demonstrate this tendency. The roots of this synthesis should be sought in an earlier period. Brahms offered a strong synthesis of the two styles’ origins by unifying the ‘classical’ orchestral structure with the ‘Romantic’ practice of different features of orchestration as integrated domains in the orchestra of his Second Piano Concerto

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion