concerto

What it means

1. entertainmentA piece of music for one or more solo instruments and orchestra.

   1 more example

   And the cello concerto was strikingly different on Sunday: at Weill, the ensemble included two violinists and one violist, cellist, bassist and lutenist, but on Sunday four more violinists, a second violist and a harpsichordist were added to give the ripieno sections of the fast movements a heftier punch than the smaller group delivered.

   2009 January 20, Allan Kozinn, “Shafts of Sun in Winter From the Italian Baroque”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022

In a sentence

And the cello concerto was strikingly different on Sunday: at Weill, the ensemble included two violinists and one violist, cellist, bassist and lutenist, but on Sunday four more violinists, a second violist and a harpsichordist were added to give the ripieno sections of the fast movements a heftier punch than the smaller group delivered.

2009 January 20, Allan Kozinn, “Shafts of Sun in Winter From the Italian Baroque”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022

Where it comes from

1. Italianconcerto
2. Englishconcerto

Borrowed from Italian concerto, deverbal from concertare. Doublet of concert.