cantata

[ kuhn-tah-tuh ]

noun

1. a choral composition, either sacred and resembling a short oratorio or secular, as a lyric drama set to music but not to be acted.
2. a metrical narrative set to recitative or alternate recitative and air, usually for a single voice accompanied by one or more instruments.

cantata

/ kænˈtɑːtə /

noun

1. a musical setting of a text, esp a religious text, consisting of arias, duets, and choruses interspersed with recitatives

cantata

1. A musical composition for voice and instruments and including choruses, solos, and recitatives .

Word History and Origins

Origin of cantata¹

1715–25; < Italian, equivalent to cant ( are ) to sing ( cant ¹ ) + -ata -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of cantata¹

C18: from Italian, from cantare to sing, from Latin

Example Sentences

“Bach Duet,” made in 1974 and not performed since the mid-70s, is set to Bach’s 78th cantata, “Jesu, der du meine Seele.”

From New York Times

The call of a shofar, the ancient instrument usually made from a ram’s horn and best known for its use in Jewish worship, opens “The Gates of Justice,” a grand 1969 choral cantata by the eminent jazz musician Dave Brubeck, Chris’s father.

From New York Times

Brubeck wasn’t an expert in Jewish music, but he had open ears and curiosity; the shofars Chris Brubeck brought to U.C.L.A. as alternatives were ones he had found in his father’s house and presumed were research materials for the cantata.

From New York Times

I expected him to lean into that quality during the Bach cantata’s first aria, in which the melody is relatively high, but Williams’s Simeon, consumed by the music’s dusky beauty, was already preparing himself for death.

From New York Times

When the players had a clear, distinctive musical character to embody — a blithe movement from the Telemann quartet or the slumber aria from Bach’s cantata — they tackled it with focused collaboration.

From New York Times

Related Words

• arrangement
• concerto
• drama
• melody
• music
• piece
• poetry
• setup
• symphony
• theme
• tune
• writing