In the very beginning of its career the cantata was successfully placed within the domain of church music by Carissimi, and during his lifetime and later the church-cantata in Italy had much the same form as that of the oratorio, to which it was so closely allied in spirit and function. But in Germany, under the influence of the intense religious feeling engendered by the stormy days of the Reformation, it took on the character almost of a national religious institution. Here it developed into a form of such magnificent proportions and significant influence that an extended exposition of some of the contributing causes and accompanying conditions may be pertinent. III German choral music, which in its early history means German church music, cannot be considered apart from certain fundamental national traits which are present in some degree even in the earliest folk-music of this nation and in the effusions of the mediæval minnesingers--traits which instinctively turned their artistic attention toward sincerity of poetic thought and utterance rather than sensuous beauty of melodic expression. An instinct for grasping fundamentals, a fervid devotion, and a rugged tenacity in following accepted ideals--these were qualities that made Germany a fit cradle for the Reformation and the German people the foremost defenders and stoutest preachers of the religious emancipation of the individual which Luther proclaimed with such far-sounding tones. The contrapuntal skill that German musicians had learned, along with the rest of Europe, from the Netherland masters, they did not use so much for the glorification of music or for æsthetic and formal considerations as for the enrichment and elucidation of the ideas and sentiments of the words. When the rest of Europe had capitulated to the ravishing sweetness and allurements of Italian melody, Germany listened somewhat incredulously, and even when this charmer was finally admitted into the inner courts of its musical household, it was compelled to assume a purified and chastened form. The essential characteristics of German musical art are well illustrated by the condition of music in Germany in the seventeenth century as compared with that of Italy. The secular impulse that had wrought such a revolution in Italian music and musical methods had made itself felt in Germany at an even earlier period, but in a very different manner. In the southern country it brought about an intense development of the dramatic element. This almost immediately reacted upon church music and left upon it an indelible impression, sadly weakening the Palestrina ideal of impersonality with the impingement of the strong personal, human element which the introduction of the solo inevitably emphasized, and which led, as has been pointed out, to a period of deterioration in Catholic church music.