church oratorios and his masses (which belong to an allied class) number 15 or more. Among these are many of his greatest works, and it is evident that into them was put much of his choicest thought and feeling, since they offered an outlet at once for his musical skill and his sincere religious nature.
The word 'cantata' has been variously used. In the 16th century it
meant simply any vocal work as distinguished from one for instruments.
In Italy, for about a century from about 1650, it meant specifically a solo
scena, secular or sacred, in which recitatives and arias alternated, often
with elaborate accompaniments for a solo instrument. This was clearly
an offshoot from the prevalent opera. This form became popular in the
services of the Catholic Church, and all the leading composers from
Carissimi onward used it, often abundantly. Its artistic importance,
however, was not great, since it had little independent development.
In Germany, on the other hand, the word cantata came to be applied in the 17th century to a work in which Bible passages delivered by a solo voice in recitative or arioso were interspersed with congregational chorales or with choruses in similar style. The first impetus here came from Schütz of Dresden. The effort was usually to unite some thread of story or some logical series of ideas with expressions of devotion or meditation. The peculiarity of the whole lay in its congregational point of view, and herein it differed radically from the operatic Italian cantata. In its correspondence to the warm Protestant piety of the German people it was often intensely subjective and even extravagantly sentimental.
The new interest in the opera about 1700 throughout Germany reacted promptly upon this immature form of cantata. Hence arose a demand for poetical texts specially prepared for semi-dramatic musical treatment and at the same time connected with the special character of the Sundays and other days of the Lutheran calendar. The first noted poet was Erdmann Neumeister (d. 1756), a clergyman of Weissenfels and Sorau, who wrote five complete annual cycles (1704-16), starting from the free style of the Italian poetical madrigal, but exemplifying many variations of handling. Similar texts were soon attempted by others outside the church circle, as from 1711 by Salomo Franck of Jena and Weimar (d. 1725), and from 1724 by Christian Friedrich Henrici (nom-de-plume, Picander) of Leipsic (d. 1764). The musical setting of such texts at once became common with musicians and decidedly popular.
Bach's handling of the cantata varied much in different cases,
and the elements emphasized came from many sources. Thus
the recitatives and arias are of operatic origin, the chorales from
the Protestant service, the form of the preludes and often of
other numbers from chamber music, and the polyphonic choruses
and accompaniments built on the lines of organ composition.
But his genius succeeded in fusing these diverse elements into
