concertino

[ kon-cher-tee-noh; Italian kawn-cher-tee-naw ]

noun

, Music.

, plural con·cer·ti·ni [kon-cher-, tee, -nee, kawn-che, r, -, tee, -nee].

1. a short concerto.
2. the group of solo instruments in a concerto grosso.
3. a section in a concerto grosso played by these instruments.

concertino

/ ˌkɒntʃəˈtiːnəʊ /

noun

1. the small group of soloists in a concerto grosso Compare ripieno
2. a short concerto

Word History and Origins

Origin of concertino¹

1720–30; < Italian, equivalent to concert ( o ) ( concerto ) + -ino diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of concertino¹

C19: from Italian: a little concerto

Example Sentences

The second program began with the world premiere of an eight-minute bassoon concertino, “Opus Serena,” by Valerie Coleman, and Courtney Bryan’s “Sanctum,” from 2015.

From Los Angeles Times

One day in Paris he visited Wanda Landowska, grande dame of the harpsichord, to show her a concertino he had written: “No sooner had I entered than she took the pins from her hair, which fell in waves to her waist. ‘Take it,’ she said.

From New York Times

And Ashley Hod — sometimes on, sometimes off, especially in complex turning sequences when you can smell the fear — was wonderfully unguarded and crisp in her solo in Jerome Robbins’s “Concertino.”

From New York Times

Some of the textures here seem not far removed from the Largo movement of Dessau’s much earlier, rarely heard Concertino — for violin, flute, clarinet and horn — which opens Ensemble Avantgarde’s album.

From New York Times

“Concertino,” which Robbins created for the 1982 Stravinsky Festival, is pleasing too, if chamber-sized and oddly shaped.

From New York Times