A concertino is the smaller group of instruments in a concerto grosso. This is opposed to the ripieno which is the larger group contrasting with the concertino. The concerto grosso (plural concerti grossi) was a popular form of baroque music using an ensemble and usually having four to six movements in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno). ... Ripieno or tutti is the larger of the two ensembles in the concerto grosso. ...
Though the concertino is the smaller of the two groups, its material is generally more virtuosic than that of the ripieno. Further, the concertino does not share thematic material with the ripieno, but presents unique ideas. This contrast of small group to large group and one thematic group against another is very characteristic of Baroque ideology — similar to terraced dynamics where the idea is significant contrast.
The concerto grosso (plural concerti grossi) (Italian for big concert) was a popular form of baroque music using an ensemble and usually having four to six movements in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno).
The form was probably developed around 1680 by Alessandro Stradella, who seems to have written the first music in which a "concertino" and "ripieno" are combined in the characteristic way, though he did not use the term "concerto grosso".
Corelli's concertino consisted of two violins and a cello, with a string orchestra serving as ripieno, both accompanied by a basso continuo.
The sonorous acoustical environment of this basilica was the center of activity of the Venetians.
Giovanni Gabrieli clearly had Dalla Casa's group in mind for much of his music, and the Dalla Casas are presumed to have played in many the elaborate polychoral compositions of the time.
Being a smaller group of virtuoso instrumentalists playing in contrast to larger instrumental and vocal forces arrayed around them, and being in the center of a hugely influential stylistic movement, they functioned as an early form of concertino.