Konzert

Forms

Konzert n (genitive Konzertes or Konzerts, plural Konzerte)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian concerto, borrowed at the beginning of the 17th century.^[2][3][4] Pfeifer notes that German took the Italian word with a Latinised pronunciation.^[3] The Italian noun belongs to concertare (“to compete; to agree, arrange”), from Latin concertō (“to contend, vie”), formed with con- from certō (“to fight, contend”), which goes back through certus (“decided, certain”) to cernō (“to separate, decide”).^[2][5]

Kluge, the Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch and the Duden dictionary of foreign words take the Italian noun to mean properly a contest, of the voices or players.^[2][6][7] By contrast, Pfeifer and the Duden etymological dictionary start from the Church Latin sense “to work together”, which gave the Italian verb the meaning “to agree on something” and the noun the meaning “agreement”; in the 16th century the Italian words were applied to music, as “bringing the voices into harmony” and “harmony”, and then to a piece for several instruments and voices and its performance.^[3][4] The same word is Dutch concert, English concert, French concert and Swedish konsert.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word became known in Germany through Lodovico Viadana's sacred concertos of 1604 and was used from then on for pieces for several voices and instruments.^[6] In 1619 Michael Praetorius explains that the Italians call such a piece Concetto or Concerto and that in German it is ein Concert.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Praetorius also used the word for passages in which the best singers and players of an ensemble answer one another and compete, each trying to outdo the other; these solo performances, seen as a contest of the finest artists, explain the later use of Konzert for a whole musical performance.^[6] The verb konzertieren “to give a concert” was taken from Italian in the 17th century, and the adjective konzertant followed in the 19th.^[3][4]

Under the influence of French, konzertieren was used in the 18th and 19th centuries in administration for “to agree, arrange”.^[8][4] In the same way Konzert meant “agreement, accord”, above all in the catchword Europäisches Konzert for the concert of the great powers, taken from French and recorded in 1848 in Berthold Auerbach.^[6][8] The participle survives in konzertierte Aktion, a phrase coined in 1966 by the economics minister Karl Schiller after English concerted action or French action concertée.^[8][4] Hungarian borrowed koncert in 1753.^[9]

Timeline

• 1604 – Lodovico Viadana's sacred concertos make the Italian word known.^[6]
• 1619 – First German record, in Praetorius's Syntagma musicum.^[6][8]
• 17th century – konzertieren “to give a concert” is borrowed from Italian.^[3]
• 1753 – Hungarian koncert is first recorded.^[9]
• 1848 – Europäisches Konzert “the concert of Europe” appears in Auerbach.^[6]
• 19th century – The adjective konzertant is formed.^[3]
• 1966 – Karl Schiller coins konzertierte Aktion.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A concerto: a composition in several movements for one or more solo instruments and orchestra: ein Konzert für Violine und Orchester.^[10][1]
2. A concert: a performance of one or more pieces of music, usually in public: Am Samstag gehen wir ins Konzert.^[10][1]
3. (elevated) The interplay or concerted action of several forces, powers or factors: Das Land will im Konzert der großen Wirtschaftsnationen mitspielen.^[10][7]

Word family

• konzertieren
• konzertant
• Klavierkonzert
• Wunschkonzert

Related words

• Konzern
• English concert

Usage notes

Konzertierte Aktion, “concerted action”, was the name of the talks between government, employers and trade unions set up in 1966; the phrase was revived in 1991 for talks about the economy of the former GDR.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 530
3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 468
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
7. ^ a b Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
10. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag