cantata
Americannoun
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a choral composition, either sacred and resembling a short oratorio or secular, as a lyric drama set to music but not to be acted.
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a metrical narrative set to recitative or alternate recitative and air, usually for a single voice accompanied by one or more instruments.
noun
Etymology
Origin of cantata
1715–25; < Italian, equivalent to cant ( are ) to sing ( see cant 1) + -ata -ate 1
Explanation
If you ever listen to classical music, you’ve probably heard a cantata — a piece of religious music made for voices and instruments. Johann Sebastian Bach was a famous composer of cantatas. He wrote hundreds, and you’ve probably heard them played at weddings, in a church, at a party thrown by a king (or in car commercials). The word comes from the Italian cantare, which means “sing,” and the singers are the focus of a cantata — whether it’s one person or a whole choir. Cantatas are often based on religious writing, but can be inspired by poetry and literature as well.
Vocabulary lists containing cantata
Ordinary Hazards
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Blended
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Abel's Island
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Ich habe genug,” Bach’s Cantata No. 82, is commonly rendered in English as “I am content.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 22, 2020
Bach’s Coffee Cantata Salastina presents the composer’s comical vocal work.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 14, 2019
The first Pulitzer prize for music went, in 1943, to William Schuman’s Secular Cantata No 2.
From The Guardian • Apr. 22, 2018
The Hubble Cantata, which came to the Kennedy Center on Thursday night as part of the ongoing celebration of the JFK Centennial, offers all of these things, and therefore sounds like a neat new project.
From Washington Post • May 25, 2017
On campus the big event was the Christmas Cantata, a musical program put on by the residents, followed by fancy food served in the cottages.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
