Chorale monody

In music, a chorale monody was a type of a sacred composition of the very early German Baroque era. It was for solo voice and accompanying instruments, usually basso continuo, and was closely related to the contemporary Italian style of monody. Almost all examples of chorale monodies were written in the first half of the 17th century.

A chorale monody used the text of a chorale, but rarely if ever used the chorale tune, at least not in a recognizable form. It was also related to the concertato madrigal, another contemporary Italian form (Marshall 2001).

Composers

Composers of chorale monodies included:

• Johann Schein
• Heinrich Schütz

References

• Bukofzer, Manfred (1947). Music in the Baroque Era. New York, W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-09745-5
• Marshall, Robert L. (1980). "Chorale monody". In Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. iv (1 ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 322.
• Marshall, Robert L. (2001). "Chorale monody". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• ____. "Chorale settings" in ibid., iv, 323-338.