See also:

• CANTATA (Italian for a song or story set to music)

CANTATA (See also:

• ITALIAN

Italian for a See also:

• SONG

song or See also:

• STORY, JOHN (c. 1510-1571)
• STORY, JOSEPH (1779-1845)
• STORY, ROBERT HERBERT (1835-1907)
• STORY, WILLIAM WETMORE (1819—1895)

story set to See also:

• MUSIC

music)  , a vocal See also:

• COMPOSITION
• COMPOSITION (Lat. compositio, from componere, to put together)

composition accompanied by See also:

• INSTRUMENTS

instruments and generally containing more than one See also:

• MOVEMENT

movement . In the 16th See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, when all serious See also:

• MUSIC

music was vocal, the See also:

• TERM

term had no See also:

• REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason to exist, but with the rise of instrumental music in the 17th century cantatas began to exist under that name as soon as the instrumental See also:

• ART

art was definite enough to be embodied in sonatas . From the See also:

• MIDDLE

middle of the 17th till See also:

• LATE

late in the 18th century a favourite See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form of See also:

• ITALIAN

Italian chamber music was the See also:

• CANTATA (Italian for a song or story set to music)

cantata for one or two See also:

• SOLO, OR SOLO WHIST

solo voices, with See also:

• ACCOMPANIMENT (i.e. that which " accompanies ")

accompaniment of See also:

• HARPSICHORD, HARPSICON, DOUBLE VIRGINALS (Fr. clavecin; Ger. Clavicymbel, Kiel-Flugel; Ital. arpicordo, cembalo, davicembalo, gravecembalo; Dutch, davisinbal)

harpsichord and perhaps a few other solo instruments . It consisted at first of a declamatory narrative or See also:

• SCENE (Fr. scene, Lat. scaena, Gr. oflvil, a tent or booth, a stage or scene)

scene in recitative, held together by a See also:

• PRIMITIVE

primitive See also:

• ARIA (Ital. for " air ")

aria repeated at intervals . See also:

• FINE

Fine examples may be found in the See also:

• CHURCH
• CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
• CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
• CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
• CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
• CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)

church music of See also:

• CARISSIMI, GIACOMO (c. 1604–1674)

Carissimi; and the See also:

• ENGLISH

English vocal solos of See also:

• PURCELL, HENRY (1658-1695)

Purcell (such as Mad Tom and Mad Bess) show the utmost that can be made of this archaic form . With the rise of the Da See also:

• CAPO

Capo aria the cantata became a See also:

• GROUP

group of two or three arias joined by recitative . See also:

• HANDEL, GEORGE FREDERICK (1685–1759)

Handel's numerous Italian duets and trios are examples on a rather large See also:

• SCALE
• SCALE (1) A

scale . His Latin See also:

• MOTET

motet Silete Venti, for See also:

• SOPRANO (a variant of Ital. sovrano, supreme, sovereign, Late Lat. superanus, from super, above)

soprano solo, shows the use of this form in church music . The Italian solo cantata naturally tended, when on a large scale, to become indistinguishable from a scene in an See also:

• OPERA (Italian for " work ")

opera . In the same way the church cantata, solo or choral, is indistinguishable from a small See also:

• ORATORIO

oratorio or portion of an oratorio . This is equally evident whether we examine the unparalleled church cantatas of See also:

• BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN (1685–1750)
• BACH, KARL PHILIPP EMANUEL (1714-1788)

Bach, of which nearly 200 are extant, or the See also:

• CHANDOS, BARONS AND DUKES OF
• CHANDOS, SIR JOHN (?-137o)

Chandos Anthems of Handel . In Bach's See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case many of the larger cantatas are actually called oratorios; and the See also:

• CHRISTMAS (i.e. the Mass of Christ)

Christmas Oratorio is a collection of six church cantatas actually intended for performance on six different days, though together forming as See also:

• COMPLETE

complete an See also:

• ARTISTIC

artistic whole as any classical oratorio .

The essential point, however, in Bach's church cantatas is that they formed See also:

• PART

part of a church service, and moreover of a service in which the organization of the music was far more coherent than is possible in the See also:

• ANGLICAN

Anglican church . Many of Bach's greatest cantatas begin with an elaborate See also:

• CHORUS (Gr. xopbs)Z

chorus followed by a couple of arias and recitatives, and end with a See also:

• PLAIN (O. Fr. plain, from Lat. plenum)

plain See also:

• CHORALE (from the Lat. chorales, sc. cantus; the final e is added to show the Ger. pronunciation choral)

chorale . This has often been commented upon as an example of Bach's indifference to artistic See also:

• CLIMAX, JOHN (c. 525–600 A.D.)

climax in the See also:

• WORK

work as a whole . But no one will maintain this who realizes the See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place which the church cantata occupied in the Lutheran church service . The See also:

• TEXT (Lat. textum, woven fabric, from texere, to weave)

text was carefully based upon the See also:

• GOSPEL (O. Eng. godspel, i.e. good news, a translation of Lat. bona annuntiatio, or evangelium, Gr. evayyeXwv; cf. Goth. iu spillon, " to announce good news," Ulfilas' translation of the Greek, from iu, that which is good, and spellon to announce)

gospel or lessons for the See also:

• DAY (O. Eng. dreg, Ger. Tag; according to the New English Dictionary, " in no way related to the Lat. dies")
• DAY, JOHN (1574-1640?)
• DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789)

day; unless the cantata was See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short the See also:

• SERMON (Lat. sermo, a discourse)

sermon probably took place after the first chorus or one of the arias, and the See also:

• CONGREGATION (Lat. congregatio, a gathering together, from cum, with, grex, gregis, a flock, herd)

congregation joined in the final chorale . Thus the unity of the service was the unity of the music; and, in the cases where all the movements of the cantata were founded on one and the same chorale-tune, this unity has never been equalled, except by those 16th-century masses and motets which are founded upon the Gregorian tones of the festival for which they are written . In See also:

• MODERN

modern times the term cantata is applied almost exclusively to choral, as distinguished from solo vocal music . There has, .perhaps, been only one See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of cantata since Bach which can he recognized as an art form and not as a See also:

• MERE
• MERE, ADALBERT (1838-1909)

mere See also:

• TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title for See also:

• WORKS

works otherwise impossible to classify . It is just possible to recognize as a distinct artistic type that kind of See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early 19th-century cantata in which the chorus is the vehicle for music more lyric and See also:

• SONG

song-like than the oratorio See also:

• STYLE
• STYLE (from Gr. a-6'1ms, a column; a different word from that used in literature, see below)

style, though at the same See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time not exclude See also:

• ING

ing the possibility of a brilliant climax in the shape of a See also:

• LIGHT

light See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order of See also:

• FUGUE (Lat. fuga, flight)

fugue . See also:

• BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN (1770-1827)

Beethoven's Glorreiche Augenblich is a brilliant " pot-See also:

• BOILER

boiler " in this style; See also:

• WEBER, CARL MARIA FRIEDRICH ERNEST VON (1786–1826)
• WEBER, WILHELM EDUARD (1804-1891)

Weber's Jubel Cantata is a typical specimen, and Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht is the classic . Mendelssohn's " See also:

• SYMPHONY

Symphony Cantata," the Lobgesang, is a hybrid work, partly in the oratorio style . It is preceded by three symphonic movements, a See also:

• DEVICE

device avowedly suggested by Beethoven's ninth symphony; but the See also:

• ANALOGY (Gr. avaXo-yLa, proportion)

analogy is not accurate, as Beethoven's work is a symphony of which the See also:

• FOURTH

fourth movement is a choral See also:

• FINALE (Ital. for " end ")

finale of essentially single See also:

• DESIGN (Fr. desiin, drawing; Lat. designare, to mark out)

design, whereas Mendelssohn's " Symphony Cantata " is a cantata with three symphonicpreludes .

The full lyric possibilities of a See also:

• STRING

string of choral songs were realized at last by See also:

• BRAHMS, JOHANNES (1833–1897)

Brahms in his Rinaldo, set to a text which See also:

• GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON (1749-1832)

Goethe wrote at the same time as he wrote that of the Walpurgisnacht .. The point of Brahms's work (his only experiment in this genre) has naturally been lost by critics who expected in so voluminous a composition the qualities of an elaborate choral music with which it has nothing whatever to do . Brahms has probably said the last word on this subject; and the remaining types of cantata (beginning with Beethoven's Meeres-stille, and including most of Brahms's and many notable English small choral works) are merely so many different ways of setting to choral music a poem which is just too See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long to be comprised in one movement . (D . F .