Ripieno concerto? baroque period?

Question

Hii this book is just so confusing that i have to get some aid from real people. I am studying Baroque period of music and i just read about concertos. It says concertos comprises concerto grosso, where small group of solorists contrast the orchestra, and solo concerto, where one individual solorist contrasts the orchestra. Later in the chapter, it talks about another kind of concerto, ripieno concerto, and if i quote it , it says " ... ripieno concerto, in which the ripieno group plays without a solo instrument or instrumental group," so it is telling me since there is no solorists, there is no contrast between the orchestra and solorists and it disobeys the definition of concerto. Is it a special case or am i wrong? what is ripieno concerto after all?

the quote is from Experience Music! by Katherine Charlton and Robert Hickok

Answer 1

I understand your confusion. The word 'concerto' really came from - yes, you guessed it - 'concert', implying that the word was used to describe any music which was played in a concert.

A ripieno concerto is simply that - a concerto without soloists. You can think of it as almost like a Baroque symphony. Off the top of my head, I can only think of ONE famous ripieno concerto - the 3rd Brandenburg Concerto by J.S. Bach, scored for an unusual group of 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos and basso continuo with keyboard.

The writing in this particular concerto (I've played and coached it many times with my high school string orchestra) is pretty virtuosic, but is not soloistic - none of the parts are more important than the others.

Hope I helped.