[German Version]

The term cantata now refers especially to the polyphonic church music with multiple movements as specified by J.S. Bach and whose text is based on ¶ the proprium of the Sundays and festival days of the church year. In contrast to the sonata (a “sounding” instrumental piece), the cantata is a choral piece that developed in the 17th century largely in Italy as secular music. Textually, non-strophic, so-called madrigal poetry is used for arias and recitatives. In Germany, cantatas are closely linked to the development of Protestant church music (IV, 4). The motet-like f…