What are cantatas?

instagram viewer

Cantatas are great compositions that combine music and song. But they have nothing to do with an opera, because cantatas are not about a plot, but about communicating a text or a statement.

Cantatas are often played and sung in church.
Cantatas are often played and sung in church. © Ulla_Trampert / Pixelio

General information about cantatas

  • The term comes from Latin, the verb "cantare" means "to sing". This basically explains the nature of this piece of music, cantatas are compositions for one or more voices with instrumental accompaniment.
  • Recitative - better known as spoken chant - arias and choirs or chorales are built into cantatas.
  • These different vocal forms can alternate several times in any order within a cantata with purely instrumental phases.
  • Cantatas were also very popular in the church, which is why church cantatas were composed in addition to secular ones.
  • A larger form of this form of music is the passion or the oratorio.
    • Fugue - definition in music

    The fugue is considered the queen in the composition. Bach in particular devoted himself extensively ...

  • The cantata only gained real importance in the first half of the 18th century. Century, in the time before and also later the interest in this form of music lost again.

These are different forms of composition

  • In the early baroque period, it was primarily the church cantatas that were written, and the composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote down many of these pieces. The cantata form he likes to use consists initially of an instrumental prelude and a subsequent opening chorus. After that, recitatives, arias and chorales alternate, the end always being the final chorale.
  • As the name suggests, solo cantatas are written for only 1 voice and orchestral accompaniment. Biblical texts were often chosen as the basis for this form and then accompanied by music.
  • The symphony cantata later developed from the cantata after Ludwig van Beethoven in his 9th Symphony accompanied the hymn of praise "Joy of beautiful gods spark" with his composition. What is also special about these symphony cantatas is the full occupation of the orchestra, which has fewer members in other forms of this music.
  • Later, more and more modern composers tried their hand at the cantata, the most important Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Phillip Telemann and later Felix Mendelssohn remained composers Bartholdy.

How helpful do you find this article?

click fraud protection