In this work the author discusses the concept of the concerto grosso genre
associated with the Roman musical environment as it has been represented in the
specialist studies written over the last thirty years. Thanks to the close
examination of specific aspects connected with the transmission of the music in
the 17th/18th-century Roman milieu, and above all in connection with the
division of the orchestra into parts for concertino and concerto grosso, there
has been a growing tendency to reserve the expression concerto grosso for the
music of Roman provenance performed by a concertino and concerto grosso (or at
least transmitted with that division) and to adopt the concept of concerto
grosso for a genre or performance style specifically associated with the Roman
milieu, hence in a sense that is narrower than that encountered in the late-
18th-century theoretical literature of Germanic provenance. By examining the
peculiar features of the Roman orchestral repertoire of the early 18th-century
and endeavouring to establish whether common characteristics of transmission
(terminology, appearance in editions) are also accompanied by substantial
affinities in compositional terms, this study demonstrates the un-historical
nature of using the term concerto grosso to indicate a genre based on a style
of orchestration used in this repertoire. At the same time it makes a
significant contribution towards retracing the history and developments of
Italian instrumental music in the 17th-18th centuries. Italian text.
