The Standard Cantatas Part 1

The Standard Cantatas.

by George P. Upton.

PREFACE.

The "Standard Cantatas" is the third of the series in which the "Standard Operas" and "Standard Oratorios" have been its predecessors. Of necessity, therefore, the same method has been followed in the arrangement and presentation of the author's scheme. As in the works above mentioned, short sketches of the music and stories of the cantatas are presented, together with biographies of their composers, some of which are reproduced from the other volumes with slight changes, the repet.i.tions being necessary for the sake of uniformity. The sketches are prefaced by a comprehensive study of the cantata in its various forms, from its early simple recitative or aria style down to its present elaborate construction, which sometimes verges closely upon that of the opera or oratorio.

The word "cantata" is so flexible and covers such a wide area in music, that it has been a work of some difficulty to decide upon the compositions that properly come within the scheme of this volume. During the past two centuries it has been variously applied to songs, like those of the early Italian school; to ballads, like those of the early English composers; to concert arias, like those of Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn; to short operettas, dramatic scenas, cycles of ballads, and even to oratorios, whose subjects are more or less dramatic. It is believed, however, that the most important of the modern cantatas are included in the volume, and with them will be found several works, such as the "d.a.m.nation of Faust" and the "Romeo and Juliet" vocal symphony and others, which, though not in the strict cantata form, are nevertheless compositions belonging to the concert-stage for voices and orchestra, performed without scenery, costumes, or stage accessories.

The author has paid particular attention to cantatas by American composers, and has selected for description and a.n.a.lysis those which in his estimation rank the highest in musical merit. It would be manifestly impossible to include in a volume of the present size all the compositions by Americans which have been called cantatas, for their number is well-nigh "legion." Those have been selected which are creditable to American musical scholars.h.i.+p and are making a name for American music. It is possible some have been omitted which fulfil these conditions; if so, it is only because they have not come within the author's observation. The Appendix has been a work of great care, labor, and research, and wherever it was practicable the date of each cantata was verified.

Like its two predecessors, the "Standard Cantatas" has been prepared for the general public, which has not the time or opportunity to investigate such matters, rather than for musicians, who are presumed to be familiar with them. On this account the text is made as untechnical as possible, and description takes the place of criticism. The work is intended to answer the purpose of a handbook and guide which shall acquaint the reader with the princ.i.p.al facts and accomplishments in this very interesting form of composition. The favor so generously accorded to the "Standard Operas" and "Standard Oratorios" leads the author to hope that this volume will also be welcome to music-lovers, and will find a place by the side of its companions in their libraries.

G. P. U.

Chicago, September, 1887.

THE STANDARD CANTATAS.

THE CANTATA.

The origin of the cantata is a matter of controversy, but it is clear that it had its birth in Italy. Adami, an old writer, attributes its invention to Giovanni Domenico Poliaschi Romano, a papal chapel-singer, who, it is claimed, wrote several cantatas as early as 1618. The same writer also a.s.serts that the Cavalier da Spoleto, a singer in the same service, published cantatas in 1620. Hawkins a.s.serts in one chapter of his "History of Music" that the invention is due to Carissimi, chapel-master of the Church of St. Apollinare in Rome, who unquestionably did an important service for dramatic music by perfecting recitative and introducing stringed accompaniments; but in a subsequent chapter the historian states that Barbara Strozzi, a Venetian lady contemporary with Carissimi, was the inventor, and a.s.signs the year 1653 as the date when she published certain vocal compositions with the t.i.tle "Cantate, Ariette e Duetti," prefixed by an advertis.e.m.e.nt setting forth that having invented this form of music, she had published them as an experiment.

Burney takes notice of the claim made for Romano and Da Spoleto, but does not think it valid, and says: "The first time that I have found the term 'cantata' used for a short narrative lyric poem was in the _Musiche varie a voce sola del Signor Benedetto Ferrari da Reggio_, printed at Venice, 1638." This, as will be observed, disposes of the Venetian lady's claim, as it is antedated twenty years, and Burney states his facts from personal investigation. He mentions several cantatas written about this period, among them a burlesque one describing the leap of Marcus Curtius into the gulf. He concedes to Carissimi, however, the transfer of the cantata from the chamber to the church, and on this point nearly all the early writers are agreed.

The cantata in its earliest form was a recitative, which speedily developed into a mixture of recitative and melody for a single voice, and was suggested by the lyric opera. Burney says:--

"The chief events were related in recitative. In like manner they received several progressive changes during the last century previous to their perfection. First, they consisted, like opera scenes, of little more than recitative, with frequent formal closes, at which the singer, either accompanied by himself or another performer on a single instrument, was left at liberty to show his taste and talents."

The form then changed to a single air in triple time, independent of the recitative, and repeated to the different verses as in a ballad, the melody being written every time, as the _Da Capo_ was not then in use.[1]

Choron defines the cantata as follows:--

"It is a little poem, which, considered in a literary sense, has no very determinate character, though it is usually the recital of a simple and interesting fact interspersed with reflections or the expression of some particular sentiment. It may be in all styles and all characters, sacred, profane, heroic, comic, and even ludicrous, representing the action or feeling of either a single or several persons. It even sometimes a.s.sumes the character of the oratorio."

As applied to recitative, the new form was variously called "recitativo,"

"musica parlante," or "stilo rappresentativo," one of the first works in which style was "The Complaint of Dido," by the Cavalier Sigismondo d'India, printed in Venice in 1623. The mixture of recitative and air was eventually called "ariose cantate;" and with this t.i.tle several melodies were printed by Sebastian Enno at Venice, 1655.[2]

The seventeenth century witnessed the rapid perfecting of the cantata in its early forms by the Italian composers. The best examples are said to have been those of Carissimi, of whom mention has already been made.

Several of them are preserved in the British Museum and at Oxford; among them, one written on the death of Mary Queen of Scots. Burney says:--

"Of twenty-two of his cantatas preserved in the Christ Church collection, Oxon., there is not one which does not offer something that is still new, curious, and pleasing; but most particularly in the recitatives, many of which seem the most expressive, affecting, and perfect that I have seen. In the airs there are frequently sweet and graceful pa.s.sages, which more than a hundred years have not impaired."

Of the thirteenth in this collection the same authority says:--

"This single air, without recitative, seems the archetype of almost all the _arie di cantabile_, the adagios, and pathetic songs, as well as instrumental, slow movements, that have since been made."

Fra Marc Antonio Cesti, in his later life a monk in the monastery of Arezzo, and chapel-master of the Emperor Ferdinand III., was a pupil of Carissimi, and devoted much attention to the cantata, the recitative of which he greatly improved. One of his most celebrated compositions of this kind was ent.i.tled, "O cara Liberta," and selections from it are given both by Burney and Hawkins. He must have been one of the jolly monks of old, for all his cantatas are secular in character, and he was frequently censured for devoting so much time to theatrical instead of church music. Luigi Rossi was contemporary with Cesti, and has left several cantatas which are conspicuous for length and pedantry rather than for elegance or melodious charm. Giovanni Legrenzi of Bergamo, the master of Lotti and Gasparini, published twenty-four cantatas in Venice between 1674 and 1679, which were great favorites in his time. The celebrated painter Salvator Rosa not only wrote the words for many cantatas by his musical friends, but it is known that he composed both words and music to eight. The texts of these works have preserved for posterity pictures more graphic than any he could paint of his misanthropical character; for when he is not railing against his mistress he is launching satires against Nature and mankind in general. In one of these he complains that the earth is barren and the sun is dark. If he goes out to see a friend, it always rains. If he goes on s.h.i.+pboard, it always storms. If he buys provisions at the market, the bones outweigh the flesh. If he goes to court--

"The attendants at my dress make sport; Point at my garb, threadbare and shabby, And shun me, like a leper scabby."

His only wealth is hope, which points to nothing better than "workhouse or a rope." In the heat of summer he has to trudge in winter clothes. He cannot even run away from misfortune. In a word, nothing pleases the poor painter, as is evident from the gloomy moral which "adorns the tale":--

"Then learn from me, ye students all, Whose wants are great and hopes are small, That better 'tis at once to die Than linger thus in penury; For 'mongst the ills with which we're curst, To live a beggar is the worst."

In 1703 Giambatista Ba.s.sani, of Bologna, published twelve cantatas devoted to the tender pa.s.sion, and all of them set to a violin accompaniment,--a practice first introduced by Scarlatti, of Naples, who was one of the most prolific writers of his day. The cantata was Scarlatti's favorite form of composition, and hundreds of them came from his busy pen, which were noted for their beauty and originality. The accompaniments were written for the violoncello as well as for the violin; those for the first-named instrument were so difficult and yet so excellent that those who could perform them were often thought to have supernatural a.s.sistance.[3] Contemporary with Scarlatti was Francesco Gasparini, a Roman composer and harpsichord player of such eminence that Scarlatti sent his son Domenico, who afterwards became famous by his musical achievements, to study with him. Gasparini wrote twelve cantatas,--not so scholarly but quite as popular as those by Scarlatti.

As a return for the compliment which Scarlatti had paid him, Gasparini sent him a cantata, which was the signal for a lively cantata-correspondence between them, each trying to outdo the other.

Following Gasparini came Bononcini, whose contentions with Handel in England are familiar to all musical readers. He was the most prolific cantata-writer of all the Italians next to Scarlatti, and dedicated a volume of them, in 1721, to the King of England. He also published in Germany a large number which show great knowledge of instrumentation, according to the musical historians of his time. Antonio Lotti, his contemporary, wrote several which are particularly noticeable for their harmony. His pupil Benedetto Marcello, the ill.u.s.trious psalm-composer, excelled his master in this form of music. Two of his cantatas, "Il Timoteo" (after Dryden's ode) and "Ca.s.sandra," were very celebrated. He was of n.o.ble family, and is famous even to this day by his ma.s.ses, serenades, and sonnets, and by his beautiful poetical and musical paraphrase of the Psalms, which was translated into English, German, and Russian. The Baron d'Astorga, whose "Stabat Mater" is famous, wrote many cantatas, but they do not reach the high standard of that work. Antonio Caldara, for many years composer to the Emperor at Vienna, published a volume of them at Venice in 1699. Porpora, who was a rival of Handel in England as an opera composer, published and dedicated twelve to the Prince of Wales in 1735 as a mark of grat.i.tude for the support which he had given him in his disputes with the testy German.[4] After Pergolesi, who made himself famous by his "Stabat Mater," and published several cantatas at Rome, and Handel, who wrote many, which were eclipsed by his operas and oratorios, and are now hardly known, this style of the cantata languished, and gradually pa.s.sed into the form of the concert aria, of which fine examples are to be found in the music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. After the death of Pergolesi, Sarti and Paisiello made an attempt to revive it, and in so doing prepared the way for the cantata in its beautiful modern form. In the latter's "Guinone Lucina," written for the churching of Caroline of Austria, Queen of Naples, and in his "Dafne ed Alceo" and "Retour de Persee" the melody is intermixed with choruses for the first time.

Thus far the Italian cantatas have alone been considered; but it must not be supposed that this form of composition was confined to Italy. In France it was also a favorite style in the early part of the eighteenth century. Montclair, Campra, Mouret, Batistin, Clerambault, and Rousseau excelled in it. M. Ginguene, in the "Encyclopaedia Methodique," says of these composers and their works:--

"They have left collections in which may be discovered among all the faults of the age, when Italian music was unknown in France, much art and knowledge of harmony, happy traits of melody, well-worked ba.s.ses, and above all recitatives in which the accent of declamation and the character of the language are strictly observed."

In Germany, however, the cantata at this time was approximating to its present form. Koch, a celebrated musical scholar of the early part of the present century, says:--

"The cantata is a lyrical poem set to music in different, alternating compositions, and sung with the accompaniment of instrumental music.

The various melodies of which the whole is composed are the aria, with its subordinate species, the recitative or accompaniment, and the arioso, frequently also intermixed with choruses."

Heydenreich, another writer of the same period, says:--

"The cantata is always lyrical. Its distinctive character lies in the apt.i.tude of the pa.s.sions and feelings which it contains to be rendered by music. The cantata ought to be a harmonious whole of ideas poetically expressed, concurring to paint a main pa.s.sion or feeling, susceptible of various kinds and degrees of musical expression. It sometimes may have the character of the hymn or ode, sometimes that of the elegy, or of a mixture of these, in which, however, one particular emotion must predominate."

The church cantata, according to Du Cange, dates back to 1314; but subsequent writers have shown that the term prior to the seventeenth century was used indiscriminately and without reference to any well-defined style of vocal music, and that as applied to church compositions it meant the anthem such as we now have, although not as elaborate. The n.o.blest examples of the sacred cantata are those by Sebastian Bach, three hundred and eighty in all, over a hundred of which have been published under the auspices of the Bach-Gesellschaft. They are written in from four to seven movements for four voices and full orchestra, usually opening with chorus and closing with a chorale, the intermediate movements being in the form of recitatives, arias, and duets. The text of these cantatas is either a literal transcription of the Gospel or of portions of it. In the latter case the Gospel of the Sunday for which the cantata was written is introduced entire in the body of the work as the nucleus around which the great composer grouped the remaining parts. For instance, the cantata for s.e.xagesima Sunday turns upon the parable of the sower, and this being the Gospel for the day is made its central point. In like manner the cantata for the fourteenth Sunday after Trinity has for its subject the story of the ten lepers, which is introduced in recitative form in the middle of the work. The astonis.h.i.+ng industry of Bach is shown by the fact that for nearly five years he produced a new cantata for each Sunday, in addition to his numerous fugues, chorales, motets, magnificats, ma.s.ses, sanctuses, glorias, and other church music. The artistic sincerity and true genius of the old master also reveal themselves in the skill with which he finished these works for the congregation of St. Thomas,--few of whom, it is to be feared, had any conception of their real merit,--and in the untiring regularity with which he produced them, unrewarded by the world's applause, and little dreaming that long years after he had pa.s.sed away they would be brought to light again, be published to the world, and command its admiration and astonishment on account of their beauty and scholars.h.i.+p.[5] Before pa.s.sing to the consideration of the cantata in its present form, the following abridged description of those written by Bach, taken from Bitter's Life of the composer, will be of interest:--

"The directors who preceded Bach at Leipsic used to choose the cantatas or motets to be sung in the churches quite arbitrarily, without any regard to their connection with the rest of the service. But Bach felt that unless these elaborate pieces of music were really made a means of edification, they were mere intellectual pastimes suitable for a concert, but an interruption to divine wors.h.i.+p; and he thought that they could best edify the congregation if their subjects were the themes to which attention was specially directed in the service and sermon of the day. He therefore made it a rule to ascertain from the clergymen of the four churches the texts of the sermons for the following Sunday, and to choose cantatas on the same or corresponding texts. As most of the clergy were in the habit of preaching on the Gospel of the day, the service thus became a harmonious whole, and the attention of the congregation was not divided between a variety of subjects. The clergyman of highest standing at Leipsic, Superintendent Deyling, a preacher of great eloquence and theological learning, co-operated heartily with Bach in this scheme. A series of cantatas for every Sunday and festival for five years--about three hundred and eighty in all--was composed by Bach, chiefly during the first years of his stay at Leipsic. Unfortunately many of these are lost; but one hundred and eighty-six for particular days, and thirty-two without any days specified, still remain. Their music is so completely in character with the subject of the words as to form a perfect exposition of the text. In some the orchestral introductions and accompaniments are made ill.u.s.trative of the scene of the text; as for instance in one on Christ's appearing to His disciples in the evening after His resurrection, the introduction is of a soft, calming character, representing the peacefulness of evening and of the whole scene.

Another, on the text 'Like as the rain and snow fall from heaven,' is introduced by a symphony in which the sound of gently-falling rain is imitated. In others the instrumental parts and some of the voices express the feelings excited by meditation on the words. Sometimes, in the midst of a chorus in which the words of the text are repeated, and, as it were, commented on, a single voice, with the accompaniment of a few instruments, breaks off into some well-known hymn in a similar strain of thought or feeling."

Handel in his younger days wrote many cantatas for the church, though they are now but little known. The entire list numbers one hundred and fifty. On his return from England to his post of chapel-master at Hanover in 1711 he composed twelve, known as the Hanover cantatas, for the Princess Caroline, the words written by the Abbe Hortentio Mauro, to which no objection was offered by Handel's master and patron, notwithstanding he was a Lutheran prince. Several written in England are still preserved in the royal collections. On Holy Week of the year 1704, the same week in which Reinhardt Kaiser brought out his famous Pa.s.sion oratorio, "The Bleeding and Dying Jesus," Handel's Pa.s.sion cantata was first produced. Kaiser's work had been denounced as secular by the pastors, because it did not contain the words of Holy Scripture. Handel's was founded on the nineteenth chapter of St. John, and thus escaped the pulpit denunciation. This cantata is sometimes called the First Pa.s.sion Oratorio, the second having been written at Hamburg in 1716.[6] In 1707 Handel was in Florence, where he wrote several cantatas, and thence went to Rome, where he produced some church music in the same form, notably the "Dixit Dominus," for five voices and orchestra; "Nisi Dominus," also for five voices; and "Laudate pueri," for solos and full orchestral accompaniment. The famous anthems written for the private chapel of James Brydges, Duke of Chandos, familiarly known as the Chandos Anthems, are in reality cantatas, as each one is preceded by an overture and in its structural form comprises solos, choruses, and instrumentation for full band and choir. It is also noteworthy that it was during Handel's residence at the Duke's palace at Cannons that he wrote his first English oratorio, the legitimate successor of the Chandos Anthems, and the precursor of the great works destined to immortalize his name.

The cantatas left by Haydn are mainly secular in character; but it may well be imagined that during the days of his early married life, when his fanatical and termagant spouse was forcing him to write so much music for the priests and monks whom she entertained so sumptuously below-stairs while he was laboring above, more than one cantata must have come from his pen, which would have been preserved had he not reluctantly parted company with them to pacify his wife.

The term "cantata," as it is now used, is very elastic, and covers a range of compositions which are too large to be considered as dramatic arias or ballads,--though ballads are sometimes written for various voices and orchestra,--and too small to be called operas or oratorios. It can best be defined, perhaps, as a lyric narrative, sacred, didactic, or dramatic in character, set to music for the concert stage only, being without _dramatis personae_ in the theatrical acceptation of those words.

Its general form is that of the oratorio, being for solo voices, usually the quartet, full chorus, and orchestra, though its shortness as compared with the oratorio adapts it to performance by a small chorus, and sometimes with only piano accompaniment. Among the most perfect forms of the modern cantatas are such works as Mendelssohn's "Walpurgis Night,"

Sterndale Bennett's "May Queen," Max Bruch's "Odysseus" and "Frithjof's Saga," Cowen's "Sleeping Beauty," Gade's "Comala," Hiller's "Song of Victory," Romberg's somewhat antiquated "Song of the Bell," Sullivan's "Golden Legend," Randegger's "Fridolin," and Dudley Buck's "Don Munio"

and "Light of Asia." But besides such as these there are numerous other works, not usually cla.s.sed as cantatas, which clearly belong to the same musical family; such as Berlioz's "d.a.m.nation of Faust," Brahms's "Triumphlied," Mendelssohn's settings of various Psalms, Handel's "Acis and Galatea" and "Alexander's Feast," Hofmann's "Melusina," Liszt's "Prometheus," Rheinberger's "Toggenberg," Schubert's "Song of Miriam,"

Schumann's ballads and "Advent Hymn," and Weber's "Kampf und Sieg." These and others of the same kin are drawn upon as ill.u.s.trations and for a.n.a.lysis in the pages which follow.

Considering the possibilities of the cantata, its adaptability to every form of narrative, and the musical inducements it holds out, particularly in these days, when a new opera or oratorio must be of extraordinary merit to suit the public, it is somewhat remarkable that no more of them are written. Mr. Charles Barnard has made this point very aptly and forcibly in a short article printed in the "Century" for January, 1886, in which he urges the cantata form of composition upon our writers, and makes many excellent suggestions.[7] It is certainly an inviting field, especially to American composers, among whom but three or four have as yet produced works of this kind possessing real merit.

[1] Its first use is to be found in the opera of "Enea," performed at Genoa in 1676. Before 1680 it was universally adopted.

[2] It is noteworthy that in this volume occur for the first time the musical terms "adagio," "piu adagio," "affetuoso," "presto," and "allegro." In the "Cantate da Camera a voce sola," published at Bologna (1677) by Gio. Bat. Mazzaferrata, the terms "vivace,"

"largo," and "ardito" are also found for the first time.