Talk:Cantata

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Article originally from 1911 enc.

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Frankly, I don't see the point of pasting in stuff from the 1911 encyclopedia. You find it all over Wikipedia and some of it is really bad. In any case, it's all available on the web already so what's the point of reproducing it here?

BevRowe 18:22 Apr 3, 2003 (UTC)

I agree with you basically, but what we have here is better than nothing, I think (this perhaps isn't always the case with 1911 articles though). Feel free to write an article of your own to replace the 1911 text. --Camembert

You would say that, wouldn't you! I'm not qualified to do it. But I think my point about 1911 already being on the web is valid. BevRowe 18:43 Apr 3, 2003 (UTC)

I agree that this article is better than nothing, but its origin really does show, and not always in a good way. E.g.:

1. "The music was far more coherent than is possible in the Anglican church." (ok for 1911 Britannica, but parochial for wikipedia)

2. "There has, perhaps, been only one kind of cantata since Bach which can be recognized as an art form and not as a mere title for works otherwise impossible to classify." (very POV)

And finally:

3. "Brahms has probably said the last word on this subject." (POV and dated)

-- 67.174.192.178 07:30, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I just removed those three meaningless sentences, but the article still needs some heavy editing. Apus 13:06, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Bach's congregation did not sing along with the final chorale -- this is a Romantic-era myth that has long been dispelled and no serious Bach scholar argues that this occured. The problem is finding a cite for this. Because no serious Bach scholar believes it, they don't really bother taking the time to specifically refute it (as just one among many Romantic-era myths of Bach and his musical practices). However, I think the entire section that mentions that could be justifiably removed since it's mostly a NPOV defense of Bach's cantatas against phantom (uncited) allegations that the final chorale represents an anticlimax.