d by the orchestra but also a counter-development by the orchestra
of material stated by the solo. This concerto is, on the other hand,
remarkable as being the last in which a blank space is left for a
cadenza, Brahms having in his friend Joachim a kindred spirit worthy of
such trust. In the pianoforte concerto in B flat, and in the double
concerto,[1] _Op. 102_, the idea of an introductory statement in which
the solo takes part before the opening tutti is carried out on a large
scale, and in the double concerto both first and second subjects are
thus suggested. It is unnecessary to speak of the other movements of
concerto form, as the sectional structure that so easily results from
the opposition between solo and orchestra is not of great disadvantage
to slow movements and finales, which accordingly do not show important
differences from the ordinary types of symphonic and chamber music. The
scherzo, on the other hand, is normally of too small a range of contrast
for successful adaptation to concerto form, and the solitary great
example of its use is the second movement of Brahms's B flat pianoforte
concerto.

Nothing is more easy to handle with inartistic or pseudo-classic
effectiveness than the opposition between a brilliant solo player and an
orchestra; and, as the inevitable tendency of even the most artistic
concerto has been to exhaust the resources of the solo instrument in the
increased difficulty of making a proper contrast between solo and
orchestra, so the technical difficulty of concertos has steadily
increased until even in classical times it was so great that the
orthodox definition of a concerto is that it is "an instrumental
composition designed to show the skill of an executant, and one which is
almost invariably accompanied by orchestra." This idea is in flat
violation of the whole history and aesthetics of the form, which can
never be understood by means of a study of averages. In art the average
is always false, and the individual organization of the greatest
classical works is the only sound basis for generalizations, historic or
aesthetic. (D. F. T.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Double and triple concertos are concertos with two or three solo
players. A concerto for several solo players is called a concertante.

CONCH (Lat. _concha_, Gr. [Greek: konche]), a shell, particularly one of
a mollusc; hence the term "conchology," the science which deals with
such shells, more used formerly when