Many post- World War II composers ( Shostakovich, Walton, Ligeti, Britten, Dutilleux, Lutoslawski and Penderecki among others) have written at least one. Twentieth-century composers have made the cello a standard concerto instrument, along with the already-rooted piano and violin concertos among the most notable concertos of the first half of the century are those of Elgar, Prokofiev, Barber and Hindemith. From then on, cello concertos have become more and more frequent. Its full recognition as a solo instrument came during the Romantic era with the concertos of Schumann, Saint-Saëns and Dvořák. As a result, few important cello concertos were written before the 19th century – with the notable exceptions of those by Vivaldi, C.P.E. However, unlike instruments such as the violin, the cello had to face harsh competition from the older, well-established viola da gamba.

These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments.

Vivaldi cello concerto in e minor