The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Standard Cantatas, by George P. Upton

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Title: The Standard Cantatas
Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers

Author: George P. Upton

Release Date: May 4, 2010 [EBook #32248]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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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 co