concerto
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of concerto
1720–30; < Italian, derivative of concertare; see concert (v.)
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Explanation
A concerto is a classical music composition that highlights a solo instrument against the background of a full orchestra. Bach is one composer known for writing concertos. In a concerto, a piano, violin, flute, or other instrument plays solo parts that are backed up or highlighted by an orchestra. Most concertos have three sections or movements, and in the 19th century they were especially popular as a way to showcase virtuoso playing by the soloist. In Italian, concerto means "concert or harmony," from concertare, "to bring into agreement."
Vocabulary lists containing concerto
Music - Middle School
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Music - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The opening night concert will see Korean piano sensation Yunchan Lim playing Ravel's piano concerto in G Major, and star tenor Thomas Atkins transporting the audience to France, via George Gershwin's An American In Paris.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
Leading the pessimist concerto, Bloomberg News claimed that a “diving stock market” and $100-a-barrel crude could augur a financial crisis as catastrophic as the 2008-09 crash.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
In “Murmurs of Time,” Hussain created a kind of tabla concerto.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025
Toru Takemitsu called his tender, mistily opaque viola concerto “Ring Around Autumn.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2025
Corelli’s typical concerto grosso was divided into three sections of contrasting speeds - slow-fast-slow or fast-slow-fast - after the fashion of the earlier consort suites or setts.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
