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In spite of the popularity of operatic and concert music, major European composers continued to write music for worship. Roman Catholic and Anglican church music composers at times wrote in the old polyphonic style of Palestrina. Most of them more commonly employed independent instrumental forces with voices in compositions that revealed the influence of opera and the new polyphony. This concerted vocal music is often of a light texture, and was less intense and complicated than music of comparable Lutheran composers, especially J. S. Bach.
Antonio Lotti (ca.1667-1740), also of Venice, wrote in the old polyphonic style of Palestrina. He also composed settings of the Mass, Psalms, and other liturgical texts in concerted style. Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) set the first 50 Psalms of the Bible in cantata form in a variety of styles. Marcello mixed old and new means, that featured elements of chant, polyphony, and opera. He also wrote 10 Mass settings, 15 motets and other liturgical works. Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) of Vienna, was a famous musical theorist and prolific contrapuntal composer. He wrote at least 80 Mass settings and many liturgical motets, such as Introits, Graduals, and Offertories. Most of his works were in the old polyphonic style, but a number included independent instrumental parts. He wrote 50 Church Sonatas performed in the Mass in place of the Gradual. He was the author of Gradus ad Parnassum (1725), which remains the basic text on 18th Century polyphonic composition. Bach held that text in his personal library. Antonio Caldara (ca.1670-1736), also of Vienna, was a composer who loved intricate polyphony. He wrote a total of more than 3,000 works. Among them were several Mass settings, liturgical compositions, and a Magnificat that Bach personally adapted for performance. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), who thrived in the Anglican Protestant environment, wrote sacred choral works with instruments for Church of England worship. They included ceremonial music, pieces for state weddings and funerals, miscellaneous occasional anthems, and liturgical settings of the Te Deum and Jubilate for Morning Prayer. He also wrote the 11 impressive Chandos Anthems for chorus, soloists, and instruments. French opera composer Andre Campra (1660-1744) wrote more than 50 liturgical motets and two books of Psalm settings, mostly in a light and buoyant style with polyphonic passages. François Couperin (1668-1733), the most famous member of a French musical clan comparable to the Bachs, wrote some of his strongest music for the church. His motets, Psalms, and Lessons from Jeremiah for Tenebrae on Good Friday in Holy Week were highly expressive settings for one or more solo voices with instruments. His celebrated organ Masses consists of introductions to various sections of the liturgy, versets that provided for organ alternation with chant, and music to cover lengthy liturgical action, such as the Offertory. Naples opera composer Giovanni Batista Pergolesi (1710-1736), wrote many Mass settings for voice and instruments. Pergolesi was remembered especially for his Stabat mater for two solo voices and instruments. Bach incorporated this into his own library less than 10 years after it was published. Bach was aware of the music of composers of non-Lutheran backgrounds and learned much by copying and studying them. His personal copies of sacred works of 27 such composers were contained in the St. Thomas library.
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Antonio
Vivaldi (1678-1741) of Venice, whose church music formed a small part
of his total output, wrote Mass, Magnificat, Te Deum, Psalm,
and hymn settings as well as liturgical motets in the new polyphonic style
with its associated operatic characteristics. Bach was well acquainted
with Vivaldi’s work. That was established by his extensive transcriptions
of the Italian’s concertos. 