JS. BACH “THE COFFEE CANTATA”
"Black as the devil, hot as
hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love."
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (1754-1838)
speaking of the perfect cup of
coffee.
"Without my morning coffee I'm
just like a dried up piece of roast goat."
"Ah!
How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier
than a thousand kisses,
sweeter than muscatel wine!
sweeter than muscatel wine!
I must
have my coffee..."
(1732, an aria from Lieschen in Bach's "Kaffee-Kantate")
How Bach managed to
write such beautiful (and intense) music with shaky, caffeine-addled hands is a
mystery, but it's a good thing he did: Nicknamed "The Coffee Cantata," is a comedic love note to the one
of the German composer's favorite beverages, penned (one assumes during
sleepless nights) between 1732 and 1734.
Bach owned a few coffee makers and was a big coffee lover himself. The consumption of this beverage was apparently illegal during Bach's time, since the profits for its sales went to foreign hands, as opposed to the profits for beer sales, which would stay in Germany, so the King was rightfully upset about people drinking coffee.
Bach owned a few coffee makers and was a big coffee lover himself. The consumption of this beverage was apparently illegal during Bach's time, since the profits for its sales went to foreign hands, as opposed to the profits for beer sales, which would stay in Germany, so the King was rightfully upset about people drinking coffee.
"Die Katze
läßt das Mausen nicht"
by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
"The Coffee
Cantata", is actually more a mini comic opera, but is classified as a
secular cantata. It tells the story of Schlendrian,
whose daughter Lieschen is addicted
to coffee. He eventually forbids her to marry unless she gives up coffee, but
as he is out searching for a husband for her, she tells her suitors that she
will only marry them if they allow her to drink coffee!
In an effort to rid his
daughter of the evil drink, he progressively forbids her her luxuries. Lieschen
refuses to give it up, saying that coffee is “more delicious than a thousand kisses, and sweeter than muscatel
wine”. It is only when Schlendrian refuses to allow her to marry that
she relents. But even then, as the father goes off to find a husband, Lieschen
reveals that she will make it a part of the marriage contract that she be
allowed her three cups a day.
