Cantata

            The cantata, named by Alessandro Grandi, is a composition for one or more voices with instrumental accompaniment. This form was important in the Baroque era, and can be either secular or sacred. The form of an Italian cantata is controlled by the text and follows the form of a recitative, arioso or aria-like writing. The composers and publishers accepted the word cantata around the early seventeenth century.
             The cantata took form in three main places: Rome, Bologna and Venice. Rome was the center of cantata composition in the seventeenth century. This was because the large aristocratic population could support many composers. It is hard to trace the early cantata because the manuscripts were undated. There were two main types of cantatas 1670. The first type is single aria called ariette corte and the second kind is in numerous sections with recitative, arioso and aria styles that follow the text. 1640 appears to be a turning point in the development cantata form. Strophic variation in the cantata dies away in the mid seventeenth century and ostinato basses took its place. In Bologna, composers were writing cantatas and improving the form. One of the most important composers was Cazzati. Other composers were Bononcini and Bassani. Bassani's and Scarlatti's cantatas were very similar, but Bassani used instruments other than continuo at accompany the voices. The composer Bononcini carried the cantata into the first part of the eighteenth century. His figured bass parts were complex, probably because he was a cellist. His recitatives were adventurous in the use of chromaticism; he was the most talked about composer of the area. In Venice the composers did not make a great presence in the cantata of the mid and late seventeenth century, because of opera. Barbara Strozzi did not write opera and was one the great composer of the cantata. The next major composer of cantatas in Venice was Legrenzi, in they late seventeenth century.