Since the 1940s, a number of

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 ...

s have been written for the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

. Nearly all harmonica concertos are composed for the

chromatic harmonica The chromatic harmonica is a type of harmonica that uses a button-activated sliding bar to redirect air from the hole in the mouthpiece to the selected reed-plate desired. When the button is not pressed, an altered diatonic major scale of the key ...

. One of the few exceptions is the 2001 concerto for the 10-hole harmonica by

Howard Levy Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American musician. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, he "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century." In 1988, Le ...

. Such works include: *

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music f ...

: Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra, Op. 46 (1954, composed for

Larry Adler Lawrence Cecil Adler (February 10, 1914 – August 6, 2001) was an American harmonica player and film composer. Known for playing major works, he played compositions by George Gershwin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud ...

) * Milton Barnes - Concerto for Harmonica and Strings (for Tommy Reilly) *

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893 in Sydney – 10 April 1960 in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of ''Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the '' Storm Clouds Cantata'', fea ...

- Harmonica Concerto (1953, for Larry Adler) * Jean-François Marcoux - Harmonica Concerto Le sommeil des voeux (1990) et Harmonica concerto 'ôde à Siguer' et Le meilleur don de la conscience *

Robert Russell Bennett Robert Russell Bennett (June 15, 1894 – August 18, 1981) was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershw ...

- Concerto (1974) *

Jean Berger Jean Berger (; September 27, 1909 – May 28, 2002) was a German-born American pianist, composer, and music educator. He composed extensively for choral ensemble and solo voice. Early years Berger was born Arthur Schloßberg into a Jewish famil ...

- Caribbean Concerto (1940, for Larry Adler) *

Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher, teacher Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 2022.C ...

Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1962, for

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the ban ...

) *

Norman Dello Joio Norman Dello Joio (January 24, 1913July 24, 2008) was an American composer active for over half a century. Best known for his choral music, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1957. Life Dello Joio was born in New York City to Italian im ...

- Concertino for Harmonica and Orchestra (1948, for John Sebastian) * Brett Deubner - Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra * Walter Girnatis - Concertino *

Richard Hayman Richard Warren Joseph Hayman (March 27, 1920 – February 5, 2014) was an American musician who was the chief music arranger of the Boston Pops Orchestra for over 50 years, and served as a pops conductor for orchestras including the Detroit Symph ...

- Concerto (1978) *

Hugo Herrmann Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...

- Concertino (1948) *

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; born Alan Vaness Chakmakjian; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts ...

- Concerto No. 6, op. 114 (1953-4, for John Sebastian) *

George Kleinsinger George Kleinsinger (February 13, 1914, San Bernardino, California – July 28, 1982, New York City, New York) was an American composer most known for children's compositions, Broadway scores, and film/television scores. He is best known for a strin ...

- Street Corner Concerto (1942, for John Sebastian) *

Karl-Heinz Köper Karl-Heinz is a German given name, composed of Karl and Heinz but with a hyphen dash. Notable people with that name include: * Hilarios Karl-Heinz Ungerer, German Bishop * Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (born 1934), football coach and former player * Karl-H ...

- Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra, Op. 12 (1961, for Tommy Reilly) *

Serge Lancen Serge Jean Mathieu Lancen (5 November 1922 – 10 July 2005) was a French composer and classical pianist. Life Born in Paris, already in his earliest childhood Lancen developed an extraordinary interest in music. He completed the Conservatoire d ...

- Concerto (1958, for Larry Adler) *

Alan Langford Alan Langford was the pen name of Alan Owen (28 February 1928 – 9 February 2011) a British radio producer and composer of light music.Philip LaneAlan Langford biography ''Naxos Music'', accessed 16 November 2010 Born in London, he studied at ...

: Concertante for Harmonica and Strings (1981, for Tommy Reilly) *

- Concerto for Diatonic Harmonica and Orchestra - first concerto for 10-hole harmonica and orchestra *

Frank Lewin Frank Lewin (March 27, 1925 – January 18, 2008) was an American composer and teacher. Biography Frank Lewin was born March 27, 1925, in Breslau, Germany. He and his family escaped from Germany in 1939, spent a year in Cuba, and came to t ...

- Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1960, for John Sebastian) * Terje Rypdal: Modulations for Harmonica and Orchestra (1981, for Sigmund Groven) *

Henri Sauguet Henri-Pierre Sauguet-Poupard (18 May 1901 – 22 June 1989) was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux, he adopted his mother's maiden name as part of his professional pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies (1945, 1949, ...

- The Garden's Concerto (1970, for Claude Garden) *

Henning Sommerro Henning Sommerro (born 3 May 1952 in Surnadal Municipality) is a Norwegian musician, composer and professor at NTNU. Biography Sommerro grew up on the Sommerro farm at Skei in Surnadal Municipality. His name became widely known in 1977 when ...

: Concertino for Harmonica and Orchestra (2008. for Sigmund Groven) * Michael Spivakovsky - Concerto (1951, for Tommy Reilly) *

Siegfried Steinkogler Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

- Harmonica Concerto (2001, for Sigmund Groven) *

Vilém Tauský Vilém Tauský CBE (20 July 1910, Přerov, Moravia – 16 March 2004, London) was a Czech conductor and composer who, from the advent of the Second World War, lived and worked in the UK, one of a significant group of émigré composers and musici ...

- Concertino (1963, for Tommy Reilly) *

Alexander Tcherepnin Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (; 21 January 1899 – 29 September 1977) was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin (pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), and his sons, Serge Tcherepnin and Ivan Tcherepnin, a ...

- Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra, Op. 86 (1953, for John Sebastian) *

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has globally bec ...

- Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1955, for John Sebastian) * Meiro Sugawara - Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1978, for Joe Sakimoto) *

Graham Whettam Graham Whettam (7 September 1927 – 17 August 2007) was an English post-romantic composer. Biography Whettam was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, and studied at St Luke's College, Exeter. Though he never formally studied at a music school and wa ...

** Concerto Scherzoso, Op. 9 (1951, Larry Adler) ** Second Concerto, Op. 34 (for Tommy Reilly) *

Corky Siegel Mark Paul "Corky" Siegel (born October 24, 1943) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. He plays harmonica and piano. He plays and writes blues and blues-rock music, and has also worked extensively on combining blues and cla ...

** Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues – Chamber Blues (1994 – Alligator) ** Complementary Colors – Chamber Blues (1998 – Gadfly) ** Corky Siegel's Traveling Chamber Blues Show – Chamber Blues (2005 – Alligator) ** A good portion of Chamber Blues material is written as a harmonic concerto. i.e. Opus 7, Opus 8, Opus 12 Filisko's Dream, Opus 13 Unfinished Jump, Opus 17, Opus 18, Opus 19, Opus 20, Opus 21, Opus 22, Five Planets in Harmonica Convergence, .. all for Harmonica and String Quartet with East Indian Tabla is some cases.

References

Franklin Stöver - Duo-Concertante (2007) for 16-hole harmonica, 'cello & orchestra

External links

Classical Harmonica
* http://www.chamberblues.com * https://imslp.org/wiki/For_harmonica,_orchestra {{Authority control Concertos

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 ...