The term sinfonietta refers to two different concepts in music, one a type of composition, the other a type of performing musical group.
As a composition, a sinfonietta is a symphony which is reduced in some manner from the scale or grandeur of a typical symphony: it might be shorter in duration, lighter in overall theme and tone, or demanding a smaller or less diverse collection of instruments to perform. The term has no precise definition or set of standards codifying the form, and numerous composers such as Sergei Prokofiev have labeled pieces as sinfoniettas, which were more elaborate, bombastic, or demanding of performing group size, than pieces labeled symphonies. There are no standards of thematic purpose or atmosphere, in common among sinfoniettas, and this may be partially attributed to the age in which most pieces labeled sinfoniettas have been composed: the majority of sinfoniettas were written in the early 20th century by composers who were actively striving to pioneer new genres and norms in music. Accordingly, a certain sprawling diversity might be reasonable to expect from music sharing a label which only became popular to use during that era. This also means that when a sinfonietta has multiple movements, the movements do not necessarily adhere to the four movement structure which is standard for symphonies.
As a group, a sinfonietta is a symphony orchestra in miniature, having fewer of each typical orchestral instrument represented, and sometimes (but not always) also omitting instruments which are present only in ones or twos (such as grand piano) due to their overpowering acoustics. The Chicago Sinfonietta and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta are two well-known examples. The Chicago Sinfonietta usually has about seventy-five members at any given time, compared to the more than one hundred musicians featuring in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. A chamber orchestra, by comparison, would conventionally have between forty and fifty musicians.
The etymology of "sinfonietta" is not definitively attested, but its earliest known usage is by Swiss composer Joachim Raff in 1873, for his Opus 188: Sinfonietta in F major for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and 2 horns. While the term emulates Italian language conventions for the diminutive form of words, in this case "sinfonia," the word sinfonietta is not present as a standard term in the Italian musical lexicon, and most composers using the term have been from Russia, the United States, and European countries with primarily Germanic languages.
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