The ripieno (,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

for "stuffing" or "padding") is the bulk of instrumental parts of a

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

who do not play as soloists, especially in

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...

. These are the players who would play in sections marked ''

tutti ''Tutti'' is an Italian word literally meaning ''all'' or ''together'' and is used as a musical term, for the whole orchestra as opposed to the soloist. It is applied similarly to choral music, where the whole section or choir is called to sing. M ...

'', as opposed to soloist sections. It is most commonly used in reference to instrumental music, although it can also be used in choral music. An individual member of the ripieno is called a ripienista. In the

concerto grosso The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the ''ripieno'', ''tut ...

, it refers to the larger of the two ensembles as opposed to the group of soloists called the ''concertino''.''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 2nd Ed. (2001) In a

ripieno concerto The ripieno concerto is a somewhat later type of Baroque music, the term concerto here reverting to its earlier meaning of work for an ensemble. The word ''ripieno'' is from the Italian for "padding". The ' was sometimes referred to as a "" (or "" ...

, there is no dominant soloist, so it resembles an early symphony. It can also refer to the main body of orchestra in early orchestral music, although this use is today often disregarded. In band music, the term (or its variant spellings ''repiano'' and ''ripiano'') is used similarly to designate the players not at the leading desk, especially the clarinet and cornet players in

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the tit ...

s. The expression ''senza ripieni'' is an instruction to play without the ripienistas; this instruction is frequently found in works by

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

. The term can also be used to designate a pipe organ

mixture stop A mixture is an organ stop, usually of principal tone quality, that contains multiple ranks of pipes including at least one mutation stop. It is designed to be drawn with a combination of stops that forms a complete chorus (for example, principals ...

. Furthermore, the term can be used to refer to a fruit

sorbet Sorbet (), also called "water ice", is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, wine, liqueur, honey, etc. Generally sorbets do not contain dairy ingredients, while sherbets do. Etymology The word "sorbet" e ...

stuffed into its own shell such as limone ripieno. The similar term in French is ''givré''.

References

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