GERMAN BAROQUE CANTATA. HEINRICH SCHÜTZ

Abstract

The German cantata is different from the cantatas of other countries, especially because it was cultivated mainly as a sacred genre and because its origins and development were to a large extent independent from the Italian models. The heterogeneous nature of the texts and of its musical structures also contrasts strongly with the simpler constituents of the Italian form and it takes a correspondingly complex vocabulary to describe it. In the modern use, the German word “Kantate” refers both to the secular Baroque type and to the type of the Protestant church music which reached its highest peak of development and accomplishment in Bach’s cantatas. The church cantata can be defined in terms of its function as the main music of the Lutheran Devine Service and in terms of its structure as a vocal piece which comprises a relatively independent number of movements. This definition covers both the older type (the 17th century) with its largely heterogeneous textual origins, and the newer type which uses mainly the madrigal poetry. The German music rose to unprecedented heights in the works of the masters of the dramatic concertato, among whom Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), who belongs to the few Baroque composers who combined the large European perspective with the aristocratic attitude of an artist with a considerable individuality.