What is the difference between chorale and cantata?

Answer 1

Chorale has more than one meaning; one is a large choir, but a chorale as a piece of music would mean a large choir piece, or another meaning was made famous by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Bach Chorales (written for his choir in Germany), which are often used as excellent examples of "polyphony" and "voice-leading" meaning well-written 'songs' that have multiple voices and merge and flow well together. The Cantata is a classical form used by several composers including Bach and many others and generally features a core instrumental group (in modern parlance the so-called "rhythm section" of keyboard, bass and drums) and a larger ensemble like an orchestra, and usually a small vocal group and/or a large choir. In the cantata (which is Italian for song-piece) the small group and larger ensemble have creative interplay and the end result was/is often exciting and dramatic (the texts typically feature grand religious themes). J.S. Bach (1685-1750) unsurprisingly was known as the leading exponent of both the chorale and the cantata. He also wrote a lot of (Christian/Catholic) Masses, like Mozart did.

Answer 2

Not a great deal - except that in common usage a chorus is usually in an Opera and a chorale is usually somewhat religious in nature. They both consist of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. (although in an operatic context the lower female voices are referred to as mezzo sopranos but again it is just common usage)

Answer 3

A chorus sings as the general background everyone singing at once and together, whereas a choir has specific singers, singing specific pieces.