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A concert aria is normally an aria or operatic scene (scena) composed for singer and orchestra, written specifically for performance in concert rather than as part of an opera. Concert arias have often been composed for particular singers, the composer always bearing that singer's voice and skill in mind when composing the work.
The term also refers to insertion arias for operas, that is those that were written as additions to the score after its initial completion or as possible substitutions for other arias. These are sometimes performed in concerts because they are no longer required for their original purpose, though they were not, strictly speaking, composed for performance in concert.
The concert arias of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart most frequently performed today, but there are many examples by other composers, such as:
- "Son qual nave ch'agitata" by Riccardo Broschi (written for the famous castrato Farinelli)
- "Ermina" by Juan Arriaga[1]
- "Ah! perfido" by Ludwig van Beethoven
- "Der Wein" for soprano and orchestra by Alban Berg
- "Scena di Berenice" by Joseph Haydn
- "Infelice!" by Felix Mendelssohn[2]
- ^ Garrett 2011, p. 8.
- ^ Garrett 2011, p. 5.