A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

for solo

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

with

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. These pieces have been written since the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

era if not earlier. However, unlike instruments such as the violin, the cello had to face harsh competition from the older, well-established

viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

. As a result, few important cello concertos were written before the 19th century – with the notable exceptions of those by

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

, C.P.E. Bach,

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

and Boccherini. Its full recognition as a solo instrument came during the

Romantic era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

with the concertos of Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Lalo and Dvořák. From then on, cello concertos have become more and more frequent. Twentieth-century composers have made the cello a standard concerto instrument, along with the already-rooted piano and violin concertos; among the most notable concertos of the first half of the century are those of

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

, Prokofiev,

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

and Hindemith. Many post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

composers ( Shostakovich, Walton, Ligeti, Britten,

Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionism in music, Impressionistic ...

, Lutoslawski and Penderecki among others) have written at least one. One special consideration composers must take with the cello (as well as all instruments with a low range) is with the issue of projection. Unlike instruments like the violin, whose high range projects fairly easily above the orchestra, the cello's lower notes can be easily lost when the cello is not playing a solo or near solo. Because of this, composers have had to deliberately pare down the orchestral component of cello concertos while the cello is playing in the lower registers.

Selected list of cello concertos

Cello concertos near the center of the "repertoire". The original list of cello concertos has been moved to List of compositions for cello and orchestra. *

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German composer and musician of the Baroque and Classical period. He was the fifth ch ...

**Cello Concerto in A minor (Wq 170) **Cello Concerto in B-flat major (Wq 171) **Cello Concerto in A major (Wq 172) *

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor (music), conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced ...

** Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 22 (1945) * Luigi Boccherini **Cello Concertos 1-12 including: *** Cello Concerto in D major, G. 479 *** Cello Concerto in B-Flat major, G. 482 * Fritz Brun ** Cello Concerto in D minor (1947) *

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer who was one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century. He combined elements of European modernism and American " ...

** Cello Concerto *

Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...

** Cello Concerto (1921) * Antonín Dvořák ** Cello Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. posth ** Cello Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Opus. 104 (1894–1895) *

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

** Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (1918–1919) * Gerald Finzi ** Cello Concerto, Op. 40 (1955) *

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

** Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 (2001) **Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 2 Naqoyqatsi (2002/2012) *

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

** Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major ** Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major **Cello Concerto No. 3 in C major (lost) **Cello Concerto No. 4 in D major (spurious, written by Giovanni Battista Costanzi) **Cello Concerto No. 5 in C major (spurious, written by David Popper) **Cello Concerto in G minor (doubtful, lost) *

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

**Cello Concerto in E-flat major, Op. 3 (1916) ** Kammermusik No. 3 for cello and 10 instruments, Op. 36/2 (1925) **Cello Concerto in G (1940) *

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

**Cello Concerto (1934) *

Dmitri Kabalevsky Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky ( ; – 14 February 1987) was a Soviet composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue of Russian gentry descent. He helped set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow and remained one of its leading figures during ...

**Cello Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 49 (1949) **Cello Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 77 (1964) *

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenians, Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Music of the Soviet Union#Classical music of the Soviet Union, Soviet composers. Khachaturian was born and rai ...

** Cello Concerto in E minor (1946) **Concerto-Rhapsody in D minor (1963) * Erich Wolfgang Korngold **Cello Concerto in C major, Op. 37 (1950) * Milan Kymlicka **Cello Concerto * Édouard Lalo ** Cello Concerto in D minor (1876) *

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

** Cello Concerto (1966) *

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanow ...

** Cello Concerto (1969–70) * Bohuslav Martinu (1890 - 1959) ** Cello Concerto No. 1 (1924) ** Cello Concerto No. 2 (1945) * Peter Mennin **Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1956) * Georg Matthias Monn (1717 - 1750) **Cello Concerto in G minor *

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

**Cello Concerto, K. 206a (1775, lost) * Nikolai Myaskovsky ** Cello Concerto in C minor, Op. 66 (1944) *

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...

**Pro et Contra, concerto for cello and orchestra (1966) * Krzysztof Penderecki **Cello Concerto No. 1 (1972) **Cello Concerto No. 2 (1982) * David Popper ** Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 8 (1865) ** Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 24 (1862) ** Concerto No. 3 in G major, Op. 59 (1888) ** Concerto No. 4 in B minor, Op. 72 (1900) ** Concerto in C major, WoO (1894, mis-attributed to Joseph Haydn) *

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

** Cello Concerto, Op. 58 ** Symphony-Concerto, Op. 125 (revision of Op. 58) ** Cello Concertino in G minor, Op. 132 (incomplete) (1952) * Behzad Ranjbaran ** Cello Concerto (1998) * Einojuhani Rautavaara ** Cello Concerto No. 1 (1968) ** Cello Concerto No. 2 ''Towards the Horizon'' (2010) *

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

** Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 (1872) ** Cello Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 119 (1902)

*

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

** Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 (1850) *

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...

**Cello Concerto No. 1 (1985/1986) **Cello Concerto No. 2 (1990) *

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

** Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 (1959) ** Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major/minor, Op. 126 (1966) * Carl Stamitz (1745-1801) **Cello Concertos 1-3 *

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

** Cello Concerto (1866) * Giuseppe Tartini ** Cello Concerto in A major ** Cello Concerto in D major * Henri Vieuxtemps **Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 46 (1877) **Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 50 (1879) * Heitor Villa-Lobos ** Cello Concerto No. 1 (1915) ** Cello Concerto No. 2 (1953) *

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

**At least 25 Cello Concertos (RV 398-399 / 400-408 / 410-424) * William Walton ** Cello Concerto (1956) * Mieczysław Weinberg **Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1948) *

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

**Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1994) **Heartwood: Lyric Sketches for Cello and Orchestra (2002) *

Isang Yun Isang Yun, or Yun I-sang (; 17 September 1917 – 3 November 1995), was a Korean-born composer who made his later career in West Germany. Early life and education Yun was born in Sancheong (Sansei), Korea under Japanese rule, Korea in 1917, ...

**Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1975/76) *

Maury Yeston Maury Yeston (born October 23, 1945) is an American composer, lyricist and music theorist. Yeston has written the music and lyrics for several Broadway musicals and is also a classical orchestral and ballet composer. Among his Broadway music ...

**Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1966/67)

Selected list of other concertante works

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

** Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello in C major Op. 56 (1803) * Howard Blake **Diversions for cello and orchestra (1985) * Ernest Bloch **'' Schelomo'', Rhapsodie Hebraïque for violoncelle et grand orchestre (1916) *

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

** Double Concerto in A minor for Violin and Cello, Op. 102 (1887) * Frank Bridge **

Oration Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

** Cello Symphony Op. 68 (1963) *

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin ...

**'' Kol Nidrei'' Op. 47 (1880) * Henri Dutilleux **'' Tout un monde lointain...'' (1970) * Antonín Dvořák **Rondo in G minor, Op. 94, 189

**'' Silent Woods (Dvořák), Silent Woods'', Op. 68, B. 182 (transcribed from Op. 68, no. 5 for piano four hands) * Gabriel Fauré ** Elégie for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 24 * Sofia Gubaidulina **'' The Canticle of the Sun'' (1996) *

** Sinfonia Concertante for Oboe, Bassoon, Violin & Cello, Hob. I/105 (1792) * Olivier Messiaen ** Concert à quatre for Piano, Cello, Flute and Oboe (1990–1992) *

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

** Double Concerto for Saxophone, Cello and Orchestra (1997) *

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

**''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', Op. 35 (1897) *

Toru Takemitsu TORU or Toru may refer to: *TORU, spacecraft system *Tōru (given name), Japanese male given name *Toru, Pakistan, village in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan *Tõru Tõru is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Es ...

**Scene: for cello and string orchestra (1958) **Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (1975) **Orion and Pleiades for Cello and Orchestra (1984) *

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

**'' Variations on a Rococo Theme'', Op. 33 (1876-1877) *

**Double Concerto for Violoncello, Bassoon and Strings in E minor, RV 409 **Double Concerto for 2 Violoncellos in G minor, RV 531 *

**Highwood's Ghost for Cello, Harp, and Orchestra (2018)

References

{{Authority control Cellos

Selected list of cello concertos

Selected list of other concertante works

See also

References