Conclusion

Abstract Like opera, the cantata was late in taking root in French soil. Nearly a L century was to elapse before French composers followed the lead given by the Italians in the early seventeenth century, by which time men like Carissimi and Scarlatti were bringing the form in their country to its height. Inspired by models such as theirs, the French cantata, unlike the tragedie-lyrique, did not evolve through the transformation of an existing national form but was born, so to speak, fully fledged. Thus, some of its earliest examples are mature works. In this respect we are reminded strongly of the Italian-inspired English madrigal, the history of which has a number of points in common with the eighteenth-century French cantata.