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Romantic period 1810–1905 approximately
During this period many important concertos were written and as the period progressed various changes took place to the shape or form of the movements of the concerto.
As the orchestra grew in size, the nineteenth century concertos grew in length with Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 twice the length of some of the concertos of Mozart.
The double exposition of the Classical period was replaced with a single exposition with the soloist usually entering at the very beginning of the movement and sharing the development of the thematic material with the orchestra. Listen to the start of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5.
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Cadenza
The cadenza became more of an integral part of the movement, was written by the composer and often appeared before the recapitulation. This example is the cadenza from the Schumann Piano Concerto, started in 1841, comes at the end of the movement. In this case the orchestra plays a dramatic dominant 7th chord as the cadenza begins and the piano ends with trills as the orchestra re-enters at the end.
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In Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 of 1868 the cadenza appears in the middle of the movement and moves seamlessly from the orchestra to the cadenza and back to the orchestra.
Movements
The three movement pattern of the previous period became less distinct as composers tried out new ideas. In the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, a single note from the end of the first movement is held on by a bassoon to link with the very beautiful and famous slow movement. Listen to this link.
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Listen to a further example, again from the Bruch’s Violin Concerto. The end of the first movement slows down and joins seamlessly to the solo violin part at the start of the second movement.
There was much more flexibility in tempo within movements reflecting the emotion which was expressed in the music. Listen to the beginning of the Schumann Piano Concerto and notice the rubato in all the playing.
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(right) Schumann 1810 - 1856
Orchestration
In many respects the concerto can be described as a competition between the soloist and the orchestra. As the romantic period progressed this became more and more the case as orchestras became bigger and bigger and the soloist had to compete with a much larger sound. Listen to the start of Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto of 1875 and to the dramatic entry from the piano.You don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
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During the Romantic period composers generally concentrated their efforts on writing concertos for piano and violin although there are notable celloconcertos by Schumann, Dvorak and Elgar.
Listen to a short excerpt from the beginning of Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Notice in particular the use of vibrato in the solo line.
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