The cantata is a vocal composition with instrumental accompaniment, typically involving a choir. It originated in the early 17th century in Italy, where it began as a solo madrigal but later included multiple voices. Over time, the cantata took on different forms, from the chamber cantata to the church cantata to longer dramatic works of the 18th century. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote many sacred cantatas that were essentially short oratorios. The cantata was first defined in compositions by Alessandro Grandi in the early 1600s and was originally intended to be sung rather than played instrumentally.

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CANTATA
- Literally “sung”, derived from the word italian word “cantare”
-Is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment,
typically in several movements, often involving a choir
-The meaning of the term changed overtime, from single voice
madrigal of the early 17th
century, to the multi-voice “cantata da
camera” and the “cantata da chiesa” of the later part of the
century from the more substantial dramatic forms of the18th
century to the usually sacred texted 19th
century cantata, which
was effectively a type of short oratorio.
-Several cantatas were written for special occasions, such as
Christmas Cantata.

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HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
-The term originated in the early 17th
century simultaneously
with opera and oratorio. Prior to that all cultured music was
vocal. With the rise of instrumental music the term appeared ,
while the instrumental art became sufficiently developed to be
embodied in sonatas.
-From the beginning of the 17th
century until late in 18th
century, the cantata for one or two solo voices with
accompaniment of basso continuo (and perhaps a few solo
instruments) a principal form of Italian vocal chamber music.

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Differencefrom other musical forms
- The Italian solo cantata tended, when on a large scale, to
become indistinguishable from a scene in an opera, in the
same way the church cantata, solo, or choral, is
indistinguishable from a small oratorio or portion of an
oratorio.
ORATORIO
- Is a collection of six church cantatas intended for
performance on six different days, though together
forming as complete an artistic whole as any classical
oratorio.

5. 05CANTATA
- The word cantata first appeared in the italian composer
Alessandro Grandhi’s “ Cantade et Arie a voce sola” (Cantatas
and Arias for solo voice – published 1620-29)
-Originally a musical composition intended to be sung, as
opposed to a sonata, a composition played instrumentally; now
loosely, any work for voices and insturments.
-From its beginning in early 17th
century in Italy, both secular and
religious cantatas were written.
-Cantatas soon developed a dramatic character.

6. 05CANTATA
- The word cantata first appeared in the italian composer
Alessandro Grandhi’s “ Cantade et Arie a voce sola” (Cantatas
and Arias for solo voice – published 1620-29)
-Originally a musical composition intended to be sung, as
opposed to a sonata, a composition played instrumentally; now
loosely, any work for voices and insturments.
-From its beginning in early 17th
century in Italy, both secular and
religious cantatas were written.
-Cantatas soon developed a dramatic character.