Carla's+notes-Cantata

= = __The cantata__

__Definitions of words:__ · Oratorio: “an extended musical composition with a text more or less dramatic in character and usually based upon a religious theme, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, and performed without action, costume, or scenery.” Piece of religious classical music. · Chamber music: is a form of classical music, for small group of instruments traditionally played in a palace chamber. Word “chamber” means it can be preformed in a small room. Chamber music has a cozy atmosphere, has been described as “the music of friends” · Recitative: passage sung like a speech. · Aria: opera song à “a melody sung solo or as a duet in an opera, oratorio, or cantata” · Chorale: group of singers specializing in particular style of music, especially church music.

Introduction: The cantata is the most important genre of vocal chamber music in the Baroque period. The word cantata literally means, “sung”, and is a religious piece that was sung in churches. It was originally adapted for the Lutheran service by German composeres Heinrich Schütz and Dietrich Buxtehude but slowly spread throughout Italy to become Italy’s favorite form of chamber music.

Description: The cantata is a vocal composition with instrumental accompaniment, and the music composition for voices and orchestra was based upon a religious text. The text was based upon the gospel of lessons for that day, and was to be sung in a church. They were always preformed without costumes, scenery or actions. The earliest cantatas varied in melody from verse to verse while repeating the “strophic bass” accompaniment, and is in a group of two or three arias with a recitative. The cantata is written in the form of a short oratorio, meaning a piece of religious classical music, and by the 17th century composers started to incorporate recitatives, ariosos, arias, duets, choruses, and instrumental //sinfonie// and //riornelli// only making the piece more intense and dramatic. The first important cantata composers were Claudio Monteverdi, Luigi Rossi, and Giacomo Carissimi. Carissimi (1605–1674) introduced more elaborate accompaniments, added choral sections, and adapted the cantata to the church. Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) standardized the form to two contrasting arias. It was a favorite form of Italian chamber music consisting of one or two voices, with harpsichord and maybe a few other solo instruments. The cantatas generally end with chorales, a group of singers specializing in particular style of music (especially church music), but in the modern times the cantata is exclusively applied to the chorale.

Analysis: Rome was the centre for the cantata in 17th century. Where Carissimi lived, one of the forms great masters. After circa 1700, Alessandro Scarlatti’s structure was standardized as two or three //da capo// arias separated by recitative (most for soprano and continuo). This type was cultivated by other Italians, like Bassani, G. Bononcini, Vivaldi, B. Marcello and by Handel during Italians visit (1705/6-10). Handel’s cantatas are distinguished from the Italians by tonal structure and dramatic power. Later development was largely in the hand of Neapolitan opera composers as Leo, Vinci and Pergolesi, in whose works full string accompaniment becomes the normal structure. In Germany, kantate was a primarily sacred genre, though the term itself was not generally used during Baroque period. This was a step towards the cantata as Tunder, Buxtehude and others, whose chorale settings are akin to true cantatas since use a closed form for each stanza, took multi-sectional form in psalm compositions. But mixing of texts, especially biblical and poetic, in what has been called the ‘concerto-aria’ cantata that decisively established the German form. Cantatas were composed in high numbers, for example Telemann and Graupner both wrote well over 1000 and were usually grouped in annual cycles. But the sacred cantata reached its highest point in the hands of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Bach composed 5 cycles of 59 cantatas each, one for every Sunday and for every Lutheran holiday of the year. Bach was know for his quality and diversity. With lesser composers genre becoming increasingly standardized, later 18th century petrifying structures and allegorical texts made it seem outmoded and fossilized. In France and England the secular cantata was essentially an 18th century genre, emulating Italian type. J.B Morin was credited with introducing French cantata in his first book (1706). He set the pattern for the next two decades, with three arias each introduced by recitative; in this time mythological and amatory texts were favored. English cantata’s started to become structured in the 18th century. J.C. Pepusch claimed his six //English cantatas// (1710) as the first of their kind; his two sets among the best. After 1740, Italian structure relaxed, and English light melody asserted itself. After Bach, the cantata started to decline but was occasionally composed by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. After 1800, they became more diverse, including a wide variety of forms. Composers of the cantata included Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, and Benjamin Britten.

Listening examples of the cantata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SgxJejqOCc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxihT6HYPDI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_K66xxNf2s&feature=related

References: //Cantata//. (2010, April 2). Retrieved April 8, 2010, from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantata

Boynick, M. (2000, October 10). //Cantata//. (S. Sadie, Editor) Retrieved Arpil 22, 2010, from Classical music pages: http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/g_cantata.html

Henderson, C. N. (2010). Cantata. Encyclopedia Americana. Retrieved May 1, 2010, from Grolier Online http://ea.grolier.com/article?id=0074650-00