origins of the names: swk's PCs

concerto (It; Fr., concert; Ger., Konzert),

1. orig. (late 16th to early 18th cents.), work for one or more voices with instrumental accompaniment, either for figured bass or with addition of other instruments. Bach used word for several of his church cantatas;
2. work for several instruments, supported by figured bass and offering opportunities for contrast(17th, early 18th cents.), esp.;
3. concerto grosso, orchestral work in several movts., with passages for group of solo instruments(concertino) as contrast to tutti for main body(concerto grosso). Favourite solo group consisted of 2 violins and cello(accompanied, like tutti, by figured bass), but many other combinations are found;
4. solo concerto(ie for one instrument with orchestra) dates from early 18th cent., when violin was most favoured solo instrument. Keyboard instruments, being used to play figured bass accompaniment, were not at first thought of as suitable for playing solos in concertos. By late 18th cent., solo concerto had become normal type, and many keyboard concertos were written. Works of same character for more than one solo instrument were also written. By Mozart's time, figured bass for keyboard instrument had ceased to be indispensable, but harpsichord or piano normally played with orchestra, even in concertos for keyboard instrument.
   Solo concerto had obvious similarities with operatic aria. Hence contrasts between ritornelli for full orchestra and solo sections were normal, and opportunities for improvised display were offered at cadence before final ritornello. Mozart, however, achieved much closer integration of soloist and orchestra, and his example has been followed by many subsequent composers;
5. word concerto has also been used by modern composers in sense similar to 2. above, ie composition for instrumental ensemble, though without implication of figured bass;
6. Bach's Concerto in the Italian Style is for solo harpsichord, which imitates style of solo concerto with orchestra by contrasting between soloist and tutti.

nocturne,

1. night-piece. Name introduced by John Field - from whom Chopin adopted it - for piano pieces with cantabile melody, often elaborately ornamented, over arpeggiated or chordal accompaniment.

suite,

1. before c 1750, composition consisting of group of dance movts., all in same key. Prototypes of baroque suite were pairs of groups of dance pieces in keyboard and lute music of 16th cent. In early 17th cent. some German composers published instrumental dances in sets of 4 or more; some or all of dances were related thematically, forming what is known as `variation suite'.
   Later, in 17th cent. Froberger's keyboard suites had order allemande-courante-sarabande, with or without gigue after allemande or courante. Ballet-suites varied in number and type of dances according to nature of ballet. When Froberger's suites were published in 1693 they were disposed in order allemande-courante-sarabande-gigue, which was adopted by Bach and Handel. In addition, Bach's suites and partitas contain one or more dances of French type(Galanterien), eg bourree, gavotte, minuet, passepied, after sarabande, or occasionally, in partitas, after courante. Bach's English Suites and Partitas also contain prelude, which may be in quite extended form.
   Each of Francois Couperin's suites for harpsichord(which he called Ordres) consists of considerable number of movts. which have title of dance or descriptive idea eg Les Abeilles, L'Enchanteresse. Another type of French suite, modelled on overture and set of dances which came at beginning of opera and opera-ballet of Lully, was adopted by German composers, eg Georg Muffat Telemann(Musique de Table) and Bach, and called Ouverture. As in Bach's 4 Overtures(now generally called Orchestral Suites), dances are French and vary in number and type.
   There were dance movts. in divertimenti of mid 18th cent. and minuet became one of movts. of sonata, but use of word `suite' was not resumed until late in 19th cent., when was used with more generalized meaning of composition consisting of any group of instrumental movts., frequently drawn from ballet or incidental music.

partita,

1. division. In 17th cent., term meant variation. It is not clear why German composers in late 17th cent. began to use it in sense of suite, as Bach did. Term is still sometimes used by composers today.

The definitions above are cited from:
Sir Jack Westrup and F. Ll. Harrison, revised by Conrad Wilson: Collins Dictionary of Music, Collins Sons, 1988.

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