Around the same time opera was developing as a genre, composers created a new form of orchestral music called the concerto (which is simply Italian for "concert.") The genre was pioneered by the French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, who worked for King Louis XIV.
The first type of concerto to develop was the concerto grosso, which creates a variety of textures by contrasting a small group of soloists, called the concertino, with the full orchestra, called the ripieno.
A second type of concerto developed in Venice, called the solo concerto, which replaced the concertino with a single virtuoso performer.