Volume 2: 1771 Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica!
Cantata
Cantata, in music, a song or composition, intermixed with recitatives, airs, and different movements, chiefly intended for a single voice, with a thorough bass, though sometimes for other instruments.
The cantata when performed with judgment, has something in it very agreeable; the variety of the movement not clogging the ear, like other compositions. It was first used in Italy, then in France, whence it passed to us.