Editing Cantata (section)

==Historical context==
The term originated in the early 17th century, simultaneously with [[opera]] and [[oratorio]].{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 February 2022 |title=Cantata Definition: What Is a Cantata in Music? |url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cantata |website=MasterClass}}</ref> Prior to that, all "[[high culture|cultured]]" music was vocal. With the rise of [[instrumental|instrumental music]], the term appeared, while instrumental art became sufficiently developed to be embodied in [[sonata]]s. From the beginning of the 17th century until late in the 18th, the cantata for one or two solo voices with accompaniment of [[Figured bass#Basso continuo|basso continuo]] (and perhaps a few solo instruments) was a principal form of Italian vocal [[chamber music]].<ref>Timms, Colin, [[Nigel Fortune]], Malcolm Boyd, [[Friedhelm Krummacher]], [[David Tunley]], James R. Goodall, and Juan José Carreras. 2001. "Cantata", §I. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (professor of music)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan Publishers.</ref>

A cantata consisted first of a declamatory narrative or scene in [[recitative]], held together by a primitive [[aria]] repeated at intervals. Fine examples may be found in the church music of [[Giacomo Carissimi]]; and the English vocal solos of [[Henry Purcell]] (such as ''Mad Tom'' and ''Mad Bess'') show the utmost that can be made of this archaic form. With the rise of the [[da capo aria]], the cantata became a group of two or three arias joined by recitative. [[George Frideric Handel]]'s numerous Italian duets and trios are examples on a rather large scale. His Latin [[motet]] ''Silete Venti'', for soprano solo, shows the use of this form in church music.<ref>Tovey, Donald. Francis. ''In Musical Forms'', {{Full citation needed|date=April 2016}}<!--Place of publication, please.-->: Meridian Books, 1956; reprinted by arrangement by Oxford University Press.{{Page needed|date=April 2016}}</ref>