cantata

In music, a work in three or more movements, using one or more vocal soloists, and sometimes a chorus. It is usually accompanied by an ensemble or small orchestra, and can be sacred or secular. The word comes from the Italian, meaning ‘sung’, as opposed to sonata (‘sounded’, ‘played’) for instruments. The first printed collection of sacred cantata texts dates from 1670. The most well-known composer of sacred cantatas was Johann Sebastian Bach, with Alessandro Scarlatti being a major master of the secular form.