Xiaofan+Wang+-+Baroque+Cantata

**Baroque Cantata**

 **Brief introduction of Cantata （Description)**
Cantata is a religious style of music for both singers and instruments. It often includes more than one movement. Cantata did not exist before 16th century. It often starts with choral or sinfonia and ends with choral; recitative. Solo and ensemble are contained in Cantata, and they also have important function in Cantata.

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History ** **（Analysis） ** Cantata is from Italian word Cantare, which means singing.

__**The secular cantata **__
Cantata early was a secular song cycle in Italy and its topics were about countryside, love, and etc. This kind of Italian early secular Cantata was often solo and accompanied by Lute or Thorough Bass. Later on, Cantata developed into multiply voice parts. This one or two voice parts’ indoor Cantata was popular in Italy from middle 17th Century to late 18th Century.

Cantata first appeared in song collections named Cantade et arie which is composed by various Venetian in 1620s. The use of strophic variation was one of the earliest examples of Cantata. A division later began to appear within sections that were set syllabically without much of repetition. The balanced was more tuneful and aria like. Another generation was led by large group of Roman composers, for example Rossi and Carissimi. They made longer and grouped setting with much alteration between the incipient recitative and aria in the period. They also used an intermediate stage like Arioso. A lot of these work involved verse, pastoral amorous character. But some work alters like Carissimi's piece. It provided dramatic treatment of historical themes with clear imagery and unusual change of melody and harmony.

One of composers that famous that time was Alessandro Stradella who developed cantata by gaining more substance. In his works, instrumental was more involved with ritornello; also aria became clearer formal patterns.

By the year 1700 cantata were being compromised. Clear-cut of 3 pairing alteration were made between rapidly declaimed recitatives. It was made this way to appeal connoisseurs. Scarlatti’s cantata is established on the complexity of melody and harmony with richness of orchestration. His piece was a model for later on composers. By the year 1707-1709 Handel wrote many distinguished cantatas. Aspect included lyrical, dramatic, and some for voice and continuo. Because of the popularity of Cantata, lots of composer became famous like Giovanni Bononcini, Antonio Caldara , and Attilio Ariosti. 

During the middle of 17th century, the sacred cantata was produced in Germany. J.S.Bach was the peak of composing cantata.
The Germany’s sacred cantata was based on chorale, which formed by Martin Luther. This kind of cantata is unique comparing to the secular cantata and the sacrad cantata in Italy

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== Bach’s earlier religious cantata was called motet or concerto. Chorus and ensemble were the most important aspect. One famous piece can be the 4th cantata. You can recognize Bach using the structure of similar piece. Every phrase became a movement’s theme with variation. ==

==Bach’s endured his most creative time when he composed over one hundred cantata to demonstrate germen religion with subtle structure. Within every structure, Cantata’s middle part consists of lines that normally contrast the theme’s solo or chorus. The main contrast exists in the starting phrase. A majority part of cantata’s starting/ending phrase are lines from bible, it’s usually brought out with chorus. Most of these choruses include ritornellos. Some cantata ends with everyone joining the chorus, and some cantata starts with a prelude. ==

==Bach’s piece focused on solo more than everyone did before him., he constantly used solo aria in his piece. Bach even created solo cantata, like Cantata No. 82, "Ich habe genug". Bach was probably the climax of the “cantata era”. ==

==As the secular cantata develops, solo motet to a sacred text gradually arose. It is particular value to churches. This was favored by students at the Italian conservatories. In the early 18th century, the opera-style motets of Vivaldi a preference is evident for a tripartite structure. It is pretty much like aria-recitative-aria with a final alleluja setting. ==

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Reference: Trumpet (n.d.) ,Baroque Music - Part Two<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt; font-weight: normal;">, //Trumpet//. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt; font-weight: normal;">Retrieved <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt;"> April 24th, 2010, from http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M151/Baroque_Music2.html. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt; font-weight: normal;"> Arts.jrank.org (n.d.), cantata, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt; font-weight: normal;">//arts.jrank.org//. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt; font-weight: normal;">Retrieved April 24th, 2010, from http://arts.jrank.org/pages/1122/cantata.html. ===<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14.4pt; font-weight: normal;"> Wikipedia (n.d.), Cantata, //Wikipedia//. Retrieved April 24th, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantata .===