The types of music played

Concerto (Extract from Mozart’s Horn Concerto No 4)

A concerto is a piece of music which maintains a contrast between an orchestra and a single – or solo – instrument or a small group of instruments.

Many composers wrote concertos for themselves to demonstrate their brilliance at playing an instrument and as a composer, so they were often written with the aim of introducing new and novel ideas to audiences. As a result there are probably fewer pieces which fit the “conventional” format than those which divert from it in some way. Nevertheless, the general scheme of concertos is that they are divided into three main sections – or movements – and the most common way these are arranged is:

The first movement forms a grand introduction and at first only the orchestra plays, building eventually to the entry of the soloist. A slow movement follows, allowing highly expressive playing, and the whole concerto is then rounded-off with a spirited final movement.

Symphony (Extracts from Mozart’s Symphony No 40 in G minor)

A symphony is a large-scale piece of music written for an orchestra. The word is from the Greek syn (together) and phone (sounding) and for about 150 years, from 1750-1900, it was the most important type of composition for orchestras. In overall duration a symphony can last between about 20 minutes and 1½ hours and it is one of the grandest kinds of musical construction – like a cathedral or other great building but constructed from sounds. This means that rather than taking-up space, like a building, it fills an area of time.

Just as buildings can usually be divided into different sections – walls, roof, different rooms etc. – which combine to make a whole structure, the same principle applies with symphonies. The whole symphony can be divided into a number of sections which in turn can be divided into smaller parts.

Usually there are four main sections – or movements – and they nearly all contain smaller sections which are repeated, just as a room in a house has walls, all of which will be similar. The layout of these movements usually follows the following pattern:

The first movement is composed to catch your attention in some way, perhaps grand in style, perhaps dashing. It might start with a slow and solemn introduction or it might take your breath away with lots of fast music.

The second movement usually makes a complete contrast: almost always a slower type of music it is generally more reflective in style.

The third movement will be a short dance movement in triple time – meaning that movement is in threes – and the fourth movement or finale will provide a balance to he first movement; where the first movement is grand the last is usually dashing and vice versa.

This is the rough plan of most symphonies but not all composers stick to this scheme; sometimes they change the number and order of the movements and sometimes they run directly from one to another without any break in the music.

Polka (Johann & Josef Strauß’s Pizzicato Polka)

A lively dance in two-time for couples. It originated in Bohemia and became one of the most popular ballroom dances of the 19^th century.

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