concertato

Concertato refers to a Baroque-era musical texture and stylistic approach in which several groups—voices or instruments—participate together in an interactive, contrastive relationship. Rather than a single melody with accompaniment, different lines carry independent musical importance and often engage in dialogue. The continuo bass typically provides harmonic unity, while timbre, register, and dynamics create contrast.

Originating in Italy in the early 17th century, concertato is associated with the stile concertato, a defining feature of early Baroque practice. It grew out of the shift from Renaissance polyphony toward expressive, text-driven music. Composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli employed ensembles of choirs and instruments to dramatic effect, sometimes even spatially separated, in sacred works. Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries extended the technique to madrigals, cantatas, operas, and sacred music, using contrasts between groups of singers and between vocal lines and instruments.

Although not a formal genre, concertato became a guiding principle in the period’s music, influencing the development of later Baroque forms such as the concerto grosso, which also emphasizes contrasts between small and large ensembles. In musicology, the term is used to describe works in which multiple groups share the musical material and interact in a unified musical argument. Notable early examples include Gabrieli’s polychoral motets and Monteverdi’s early cantatas and operas that employ concerted textures.