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 typi ...

s and

concertante Sinfonia concertante (; also called ''symphonie concertante'') is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra.Collins: ''Encyclopedia of Music'', William Collins Sons & C ...

works have been written for

cor anglais (English horn) The cor anglais (, or original ; plural noun, plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a Double reed, double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, mak ...

and string, wind, chamber, or full

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: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. English horn concertos appeared about a century later than

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

solo pieces, mostly because until halfway through the 18th century different instruments (the taille de hautbois
vox humana
and the

oboe da caccia The oboe da caccia (; literally "hunting oboe" in Italian), also sometimes referred to as an oboe da silva, is a double reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family, pitched a fifth below the oboe and used primarily in the Baroque period of Europe ...

) had the role of the tenor or alto instrument in the oboe family. The modern English horn was developed from the oboe da caccia in the 1720s, probably in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

. The earliest known English horn concertos were written in the 1770s, mostly by prominent oboists of the day, such as Giuseppe Ferlendis,

Ignaz Malzat Ignaz is a male given name, related to the name Ignatius. Notable people with this name include: * Franz Ignaz Beck (1734–1807), German musician * Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704), Bohemian-Austrian musician * Ignaz Brüll (1846–1907), ...

(and his non-oboist brother Johann Michael Malzat) and Joseph Lacher. Few of these works have survived. Among the oldest extant English horn concertos are those by Josef Fiala (a period transcription of a piece originally for viola da gamba) and Anton Milling. It is known that Milling's concerti were performed in 1782 by the Italian oboist Giovanni Palestrini. Many solos in orchestral works were written for the English horn and a decent amount of chamber music appeared for it as well. However, few solo works with a large ensemble were written for the instrument until well into the 20th century. Since then the repertoire has expanded considerably. Of the 270+ concertos listed below, only 35 predate the Second World War.

Solo concertos

Double and triple concertos

Sources

References and footnotes

See also