Visitors to the Philharmonic Halls are familiar with the special, upbeat atmosphere that prevails during an instrumental music concert. What attracts attention is how the soloist competes with the whole orchestra band. The specificity and complexity of the genre is that the soloist must constantly prove the superiority of his instrument over others participating in the concert.
The concept of an instrumental concert, specifics
Basically, concerts are written for instruments rich in their sound capabilities - violin, piano, cello. Composers try to give the concerts a virtuoso character in order to maximize the artistic possibilities and technical virtuosity of the selected instrument.
However, an instrumental concert involves not only a competitive nature, but also precise coordination between performers of solo and accompanying parts. It contains conflicting trends:
- Revealing the capabilities of one instrument in contrast to the whole orchestra.
- Perfection and consistency of the full ensemble.
Perhaps the specifics of the concept of "concert" has a double meaning, and all because of the dual origin of the word:
- Concertare (from Latin) - “compete”;
- Concerto (from Italian), concertus (from Latin), koncert (from German) - “consent”, “harmony”.
Thus, an “instrumental concert” in the general sense of the term is a piece of music performed by one or more solo instruments with orchestral accompaniment, where a smaller part of the participants opposes the larger or the orchestra completely. Accordingly, instrumental "relationships" are built on partnership and rivalry in order to provide each of the soloists with the ability to demonstrate virtuosity.
History of the genre
In the XVI century, the word "concert" was first used to refer to vocal and instrumental works. The history of the concert, as a form of ensemble play, has ancient roots. Joint performance on several instruments with an explicit extension of the soloing “voice” is found in the music of many peoples, but initially it was polyphonic spiritual compositions with instrumental accompaniment, written for cathedrals and churches.
Until the middle of the XVII century, the concepts of “concert” and “concert” related to vocal and instrumental works, and in the second half of the 17th century strictly instrumental concerts had already appeared (first in Bologna, then in Venice and Rome), and this name was assigned to chamber works for several instruments and changed its name to concerto grosso ("big concert").
The Italian violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli is considered the first founder of the concert form, he wrote a concert in three parts at the end of the XVII century in which there was a division into solo and accompanying instruments. Then, in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the concert form continued to develop, where the most popular were piano, violin, and cello.
Instrumental concert in the XIX-XX century
The history of the concert, as a form of ensemble play, has ancient roots. The concert genre has come a long way in development and formation, subject to the style trends of the time.
The concert experienced its new birth in the works of Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Rubinstein, Mozart, Servet, Handel and others. Vivaldi's concert piece consists of three parts, of which the two extreme are fast enough, they surround the middle - slow. Gradually, taking a solo position, the harpsichord is replaced by an orchestra. In his works, Beethoven brought the concert closer to a symphony, in which the pieces merged into one continuous composition.
Until the eighteenth century, the orchestral composition was, as a rule, random, for the most part stringed, and composer's work depended directly on the composition of the orchestra. In the future, the formation of permanent orchestras, the development and search for a universal orchestral composition contributed to the formation of the concert genre and symphony, and the performed musical works were called classical. Thus, speaking of the instrumental performance of musical classics, they mean a concert of classical music.
Philharmonic Society
In the 19th century, symphonic music was actively developing in the countries of Europe and America, and state philharmonic societies conducive to the development of musical art began to be created for its widespread public propaganda. The main objective of such societies, in addition to propaganda, was to promote the development and organization of concerts.
The word "philharmonic" comes from two components of the Greek language:
- phileo - to love;
- harmonia - "harmony", "music".
Today the Philharmonic is an institution, as a rule, a state one, which sets itself the task of organizing concerts, promoting highly artistic musical works and performing skills. A concert at the Philharmonic is a specially organized event aimed at introducing classical music, symphony orchestras, instrumental musicians and vocalists. Also in the Philharmonic you can enjoy musical folklore, including songs and dances.