Sinfonia concertante

The sinfonia concertante is a concerto type for two or more soloists and orchestra that flourished between about 1770 and 1800, above all in Paris and Mannheim. Descended from the Baroque concerto grosso and the divertimento, it casts the solo group as partners in dialogue with the orchestra rather than adversaries, favouring brilliant, sociable virtuosity and songful slow movements. *Mozart*'s example for violin and viola, K. 364, is its acknowledged peak; *Haydn*, *J.C. Bach* and dozens of contemporaries supplied the Parisian market. The idea persists in later double and triple concertos and in *Prokofiev*'s cello work of that name.