Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Charley Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE Standard Cantatas THEIR STORIES, THEIR MUSIC, AND THEIR COMPOSERS _A Handbook_ By GEORGE P. UPTON AUTHOR OF "THE STANDARD OPERAS," "THE STANDARD ORATORIOS," "WOMAN IN MUSIC," ETC. CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG AND COMPANY 1888 Copyright By A. C. McClurg and Co. A.D. 1887 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 repetitions 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 "Damnation 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.