baroque What do you think of my cantata?

Hello, i am new in this forum! i hope you are all doing well.

i wrote a cantata and I would like to hear what you think, thanks in advance!

it took me a lot of time to write it, this is the first cantata I ever wrote. I used cantamus and musescore 4 with sound fonts to write this down.

Hello @Elad_Hevron,

Welcome to the forum!!

The Sinfonia is very much like an opening movement of a concerto gross or orchestral suite. I love its driving rhythm. It would be great to see the movement modulate to other key areas other than the tonic minor and it’s relative major! I think it will begin with the full choir of a first movement of a cantata and the instrumental sinfonia is a surprise for me.

The first aria sounds very baroque with the singing and instrumental interlude back and forth. I think even though it’s for alto, the melody can go to upper register in climactic passages.

For the recitative I’m more used to one with harpsichord and continuo 🤪, and I think the meter can be in unmeasured time signature to imitate the spoken nature of a recitative!

I like your melisma in the second Aria. Again I would love the second sinfonia to be a chorale, but I love this more than the first sinfonia! It’s more fluent and virtuosic here and you explore more keys here, for example the tonic major.

For the second recitative I feel like it’s more like a third aria! I usually love recitativo secco rather than recitativo accompagnato. The ending aria sounds nice in relative major key. But I would want an ending chorale as well!

1 hour ago, Elad_Hevron said:

it took me a lot of time to write it, this is the first cantata I ever wrote. I used cantamus and musescore 4 with sound fonts to write this down.

It must have taken a lot of effort to write an 18 minute cantata, congrats on this! Despite what I’ve said above, it’s quite an achievement to write this!

P.S. It’s very nice to see you commenting on other members’ pieces; keep going!! Thx for joining us and sharing your work here!

Henry

19 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hello @Elad_Hevron,

Welcome to the forum!!

The Sinfonia is very much like an opening movement of a concerto gross or orchestral suite. I love its driving rhythm. It would be great to see the movement modulate to other key areas other than the tonic minor and it’s relative major! I think it will begin with the full choir of a first movement of a cantata and the instrumental sinfonia is a surprise for me.

The first aria sounds very baroque with the singing and instrumental interlude back and forth. I think even though it’s for alto, the melody can go to upper register in climactic passages.

For the recitative I’m more used to one with harpsichord and continuo 🤪, and I think the meter can be in unmeasured time signature to imitate the spoken nature of a recitative!

I like your melisma in the second Aria. Again I would love the second sinfonia to be a chorale, but I love this more than the first sinfonia! It’s more fluent and virtuosic here and you explore more keys here, for example the tonic major.

For the second recitative I feel like it’s more like a third aria! I usually love recitativo secco rather than recitativo accompagnato. The ending aria sounds nice in relative major key. But I would want an ending chorale as well!

It must have taken a lot of effort to write an 18 minute cantata, congrats on this! Despite what I’ve said above, it’s quite an achievement to write this!

P.S. It’s very nice to see you commenting on other members’ pieces; keep going!! Thx for joining us and sharing your work here!

Henry

 

Dear henry,

I am amazed that you have lisened to my entire cantata! thank you for that, it means a lot for me. i appreacite that you also gave me criticsm, i have much much to learn, you were right on many points and gave me some good insights. it was my first cantata that i ever written. the second recitative cannot be ARIA because theres not really a structure, there no ABAB form + the text is a continuion of the exposition, i mean thats the point of recitativo. anyways, it really means a lot for me that you have listened, i compose a lot of italian baroque style, although the cantata is german style which i am less good at.

thank you for listening to my music, im sure gonna upload more contet in the future.

God bless you and your family.

I listened to the entire Cantata ... very enjoyable with lovely melodies and rhythms.  How did you incorporate that lovely voice?  What VST package did you use?  Or did someone sing the line?

I really like this cantata. You do a lot of things really well: the bass line is nice and melodious, you have very catchy ritornello themes, the macro structure of all of your arias & sinfonias make musical sense, there's a great deal of variety between the movements in terms of the core musical ideas, and you have a great sense of rhythm - all of the pieces have an excellent driving energy. It's clear that you have the Baroque spirit in you!

The biggest thing I personally find lacking throughout is more adventurous melody and harmony writing. I find myself wanting more use of chords in first & second inversions, suspensions, seventh chords, appoggiaturas, more frequent modulations and use of chromatic chords etc. - all the usual musical devices that spice up your work and give it lots of colour (Disclaimer: having listened to Bach all my life, I am not familiar with the Italian Baroque, so perhaps this is my complaint with the idiom as a whole rather than your music specifically).

Two other definite issues: the "recitative(s)" here ought to be called "arioso(s)". Assuming this is a solo cantata, I also think the tessitura & range of your alto should be more consistent throughout the cantata. Compare what he/she has to sing in the first aria vs the last, as an example.

All of the music I compose is in the Baroque style too, so perhaps you may be interested in this?

21 hours ago, muchen_ said:

I really like this cantata. You do a lot of things really well: the bass line is nice and melodious, you have very catchy ritornello themes, the macro structure of all of your arias & sinfonias make musical sense, there's a great deal of variety between the movements in terms of the core musical ideas, and you have a great sense of rhythm - all of the pieces have an excellent driving energy. It's clear that you have the Baroque spirit in you!

The biggest thing I personally find lacking throughout is more adventurous melody and harmony writing. I find myself wanting more use of chords in first & second inversions, suspensions, seventh chords, appoggiaturas, more frequent modulations and use of chromatic chords etc. - all the usual musical devices that spice up your work and give it lots of colour (Disclaimer: having listened to Bach all my life, I am not familiar with the Italian Baroque, so perhaps this is my complaint with the idiom as a whole rather than your music specifically).

Two other definite issues: the "recitative(s)" here ought to be called "arioso(s)". Assuming this is a solo cantata, I also think the tessitura & range of your alto should be more consistent throughout the cantata. Compare what he/she has to sing in the first aria vs the last, as an example.

All of the music I compose is in the Baroque style too, so perhaps you may be interested in this?

 

My good sir, thank you for listening, first of all, it means so much that there are people out there who have the capacity to listen to an 18 m piece of music.

i agree that the music lacks the adventurous feeling, harmony, and rhythm changes, I guess that is where I need to improve. you see, the Italian baroque is very flat, meaning that you have a lot of melodic sequences and the harmony is a bit in the key, which is hard to explain over text ;D I have a lot to improve... its my first cantata after all.

if I will write a cantata again I will implement the tips you have provided me, I will listen to your music gladly.

thanks again.