Chorale setting
Chorale settings refer to a wide variety of musical compositions, almost entirely of
Although the bulk of them are German in origin, and predominantly
The
Not only the musical forms, but the individual tunes of the Catholic Church were replaced by reformers, although there was often a close relation between the original and the replacement. Composers, including Martin Luther himself, both composed new tunes for the German chorale texts and adapted specific plainchant melodies. These chorales were set musically in an extraordinary number of ways, from the time of the Protestant Reformation to the present day.
Chorale settings are of the following principal types:
- Chorale cantata
- Chorale canzona (usually called a Chorale ricercare)
- Chorale concerto
- Chorale fantasia
- Chorale fugue
- Chorale mass
- Chorale monody
- Chorale motet
- Chorale partita (usually interchangeable with chorale variations)
- Chorale prelude
- Chorale ricercare
- Chorale variations (usually interchangeable with chorale partita)
Boundaries between different items on this list can be vague, especially in the early Baroque. Some of these forms are exclusively instrumental (such as the chorale prelude, chorale fugue, chorale fantasia, chorale partita or variations, and chorale ricercare/canzona) while the others are a cappella vocal (some chorale motets) or for voices and instruments (chorale cantata, chorale concerto, chorale mass, chorale monody, some chorale motets). Many of the instrumental forms are almost exclusively for organ, the single most important liturgical instrument in Protestant church music from the Reformation until recent times. These organ settings can be called organ chorales.[1]
Some of these forms continue to be used by composers up to the present day, particularly the chorale prelude and the chorale mass.
Notes
- ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.]
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References
- Article on "chorale settings" and related subjects, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
- ISBN 0-393-09745-5