Shorter religious works

Cantata

Coming from the Italian word cantare, to sing, this is a shorter religious work than an oratorio; in fact, it can be thought of as a mini oratorio that usually lasts only 15 to 30 minutes. It usually contains similar ingredients to the larger work.  J S Bach from the Baroque period was the most prolific composer of cantatas, as in his post of church organist he was expected to produce these on a regular basis for performance in the churches of Leipzig, where he was appointed Cantor in 1723.  He wrote over 300 cantatas during this period, of which some 200 survive. Many of these contain all the oratorio ingredients, recitative, arias, choruses and, like his three Passions, chorales, all accompanied by an orchestra and continuo. First of all listen to a chorale (a German hymn tune) from an early cantata, sung by a quartet of voices rather than a choir, and notice the homophonic texture of the excerpt.

 Now listen to this example of a bass aria accompanied by an organ continuo with an oboe obbligato.  As the excerpt progresses a soprano voice enters singing a chorale tune in augmentation (the note values are much longer than in a normal performance of this tune).   It was quite a common feature for Bach to interweave a chorale tune through various parts of the cantata. In the first example you heard a soprano voice sing a chorale tune as a descant to a bass aria.  Now listen to another example where the solo tenor voice sings a chorale tune over an orchestral section. 

Motet

The name, derived from the French word ‘mot’, word, started to develop in medieval times and originally contained a mixture of religious Latin and vernacular (everyday) language. From the Renaissance period onwards it is the name associated with a short composition with Latin text for performance in a Roman Catholic church. Listen to an example by the English composer Thomas Tallis from the Renaissance period and notice the interweaving of the parts in a very imitative style typical of the church music of that time.

At the end of the Romantic period, Bruckner wrote a number of motets with rich harmony and often for an a cappella (unaccompanied) choir. Listen to this setting of ‘Ave Maria’ sung by an amateur choir.

Anthem

This was religious music for performance in the reformed or protestant church. After the Reformation of the church, started by Martin Luther in Germany in 1517, music for the reformed church started to appear about 50 years later. Listen to this English anthem, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ by Orlando Gibbons. Notice the polyphonic, a cappella style of the composition and the imitative entries through all the voices. Here is another example from the same period, 1550–1600, by the composer Thomas Weelkes. It combines homophonic writing at the beginning with polyphonic imitative writing, which was all the rage in that period.

Many of the best examples of anthems are from the 20th century and are by many of the great composers of that time. Listen to an excerpt from ‘I was Glad’ by Hubert Parry. Listen to the magnificent beginning on the cathedral pipe organ before the choir enters and note that this example, like the previous one, is sung by an English cathedral choir which uses boys’ treble voices instead of sopranos and altos.

Here is another example, by the English composer Vaughan Williams. After a short introduction on the organ a treble voice sings a solo before the rest of the choir enter with a cappella imitative singing.