Concertone by Mozart, for 2 violins

April 19, 2010 at 05:00 PM ·

Hi, my friend and I are giving a joint concert - we're each playing a sonata plus a few showpieces each, and then we will close the second half with the Concertone in C for two violins and piano by Mozart. My question is, what is a concertone? A "mini concerto" is a concertino, and a concertante is...something else, and many composers wrote Sinfonia Concertante's, as it was a popular form back in those days. But what is a Concertone? I was thinking it might not even be a musical form, it might have something to do with an instrument. Anyone here ever heard a concertina? I think it's like an accordion. So many Mozart intended the Concertone to be a multi-voiced piece with the violins imitating an accordion (although they did not have accordions then.) The word seems to be a hybrid of two words, concert and tone...any ideas? No one really plays this piece anyway...it's out there and in print, but I've never heard any performances or recordings of it. I've looked online for definitions but there doesn't seem to be one. Thanks...hopefully someone knows the answer.

Replies (2)

Tom Holzman

April 19, 2010 at 06:35 PM ·

I think mini-concerto is about as close as you will come to defining it. While Concertone might not be the technically correct term, mini-concerto is an accurate description of what it actually is.