Cantata << kuhn TAH tuh >> is a form of dramatic vocal music. A cantata may be composed for a single solo voice or for several solo voices and a chorus. The texts may have either religious or nonreligious themes. Accompaniment varies from full orchestra to a small ensemble consisting of a keyboard instrument and wind or stringed instruments. A cantata is similar to a short oratorio or to a brief opera without acting or scenery.
Loading the player...Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantatas originated in Italy during the early 1600’s. This style served as the basis for the form in other countries. After 1700, the Italian cantata followed a standard format: two or three songlike sections called arias connected by speechlike passages called recitatives.
In Germany, the emphasis was on church cantatas. During the 1600’s and 1700’s, the cantata became the most important musical component in Lutheran church services. These cantatas tended to be more serious, dramatic, and elaborate than Italian secular (nonreligious) cantatas. Most have Biblical texts or poetic paraphrases of such texts. During the early 1700’s, the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote nearly 300 cantatas, of which about 195 survive today. Many are chorale cantatas–that is, a cantata based on a specific Lutheran chorale melody.
