Baroque Concert: Formation of the Genre and Modern Research Approaches

Abstract

The purpose of the study is a comprehensive understanding of the Baroque concerto as a historical, stylistic and cultural phenomenon, identification of mechanisms for the formation of its form in the Italian tradition, assessment of the impact on the development of European classical and post-Baroque music through the prism of modern research approaches. Methodology. A comprehensive interdisciplinary approach and historical and musicological analysis were applied in the study of the Baroque concerto. The main attention is paid to the study of scores, individual parts and archival evidence of the composition of ensembles. This approach allows us to reconstruct the features of the texture, tonal organisation and rhetorical structure of concerts, as well as to trace the evolution of the genre at the junction of different national schools: Italian, German, French and English. The scientific novelty of the work lies in clarifying the concept of concert form as a result of the interaction of different local schools (Venetian, Bolognese, Roman); revealing the transnational nature of the Italian concerto, which in the first half of the 18th century becomes a genre of European musical thinking; as well as demonstrating the historical continuity of Baroque concert thinking from Mozart and Beethoven to the neoclassicism of the 20th century. Conclusions. The Baroque concerto appears as a polycentric genre that was formed at the intersection of Italian, German, French and English musical traditions. Its evolution took place through the interaction of different composer schools, forming a flexible and variable model of the concert style. Already from the end of the 17th century, the concerto combined a solo beginning and a collective game, rhetorical expressiveness and dramatic logic. The development of the genre included improving the structural organisation and interaction between instrumental groups, creating contrast, emphasising the solo voice and preserving the balance of the ensemble. The Baroque concerto served as a ‘cultural code’ of the era, reflecting aesthetic preferences and performing traditions. As a model of musical thinking, it influenced the further development of the European concert form, combining tradition with space for performance freedom.