concerto, plural concerti or concertos, since about 1750, a musical composition for instruments in which a solo instrument is set off against an orchestral ensemble. The soloist and ensemble are related to each other by alternation, competition, and combination. In this sense the concerto, like the symphony or the string quartet, may be seen as a special case of the musical genre embraced by the term sonata. Like the sonata and symphony, the concerto is typically a cycle of several contrasting movements integrated tonally and often thematically. The individual movements are usually based on certain recognized designs, including sonata form,
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