Coffee Cantata
Imagine yourselves for a while as students and philosophers in the early 18th century who, in the flickering candlelight of Leipzig’s legendary Café Zimmermann, listened to pleasing music as they treated themselves to an exotic luxury known as coffee.
Programme
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Suite No. 2 in B minor BWV 1067
- Georg Philipp Telemann: The Wonderful Constancy of Love, or Orpheus TWV 21:18 (excerpts)
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Doris’s aria “Hunderttausend Schmeicheleien” from the Shepherd Cantata “Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen” BWV 249a
- Georg Philipp Telemann: Vespetta and Pimpinone's duet “Nel petto il cor mi giubila” from the opera Pimpinone TWV 21:15
- Georg Philipp Telemann: Conclusion in E minor from the collection Tafelmusik TWV50:e5
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Coffee Cantata “Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht” BWV 211
Performers
- Collegium Marianum
- Hana Blažíková – soprano
- Ondřej Holub – tenor
- Roman Hoza – baritone
- Lenka Torgersen – violin
- Jana Semerádová – traverso, artistic director
According to legend, the beneficial effects of coffee beans were discovered by an observant Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi. Over time the delicious brew, for whose preparation these days you simply need a decent coffee machine and high-quality coffee beans, not only provided a physical boost but also a reason for people to come together and share thoughts, ideas and experiences. Thus the first cafés started to appear, places where people exchanged information so essential that these venues became known as “schools of the wise”. And these were places where music-making flourished as well!
One of the most celebrated coffee houses bearing the name of its founder and proprietor Gottfried Zimmermann was established in Leipzig in 1702. Why are we mentioning it? Because it was here that – thanks to the endeavours of the Collegium Musicum ensemble – the paths of two seemingly incompatible composers converged: Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). For each of them music held a different purpose. While Telemann wished to enchant and delight his audiences, Bach wanted people to touch God through music. Yet even he, immersed in the mysterious forces of ars combinatoria, came up with some surprises, as this Prague Spring programme demonstrates. First-rate Czech early music ensemble Collegium Marianum, headed by Baroque traverso player Jana Semerádová and a trio of superb singers, will transport you back three hundred years to allow you to discover Johann Sebastian Bach in “Telemannesque mode”, namely, full of lightness, wonderful humour and also business acumen! We could simply quote from the text of his Coffee Cantata, which saw its premiere – where else? – in Zimmermannsches Kaffeehaus: “If I cannot drink my little cup of coffee three times a day, then, to my torment, I will shrivel up like a piece of roasted goat!” Might this be a reference to the person who discovered coffee? In any event, this is a concert for anyone looking to enjoy some great music.
