#kaffeekantate

[lessthansix]

[miguelangeldiazdiaz]

¿Te apetece un café? ¡Invitan #Bach y #TonKoppman! #Kaffeekantate Libros, música y... ¡un buen café! con #Balzac, #Cortázar, #GarciaMarquez, #NaguibMahfuz https://buff.ly/2LZDPqq https://www.instagram.com/p/BwUc0LyARM2/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=bgrka3xe8yzs

[elshalarossa]

J.S. Bach "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht" ("Kaffeekantate"), BWV 211

Sometimes when I feel sad, I remember that in the 1730's J.S. Bach wrote an entire Cantata in praise of coffee. It was so much fun, the church even banned it for awhile, saying it was blasphemous because the text had such intense words of devotion that they should only be written about God. Bach clearly understood the psyche of a coffee drinker.

The plot: A concerned father worries about the depths of his daughter's devotion to coffee, and forbids her to drink it. The girl, Lieschen refuses to give it up. She extols coffee as being “more delicious than a thousand kisses, and sweeter than muscatel wine”. He punishes her more and more severely, but she doesn't care-- it is only when her father refuses to allow her to marry that she concedes. And even then, Lieschen reveals to the audience that she will make it a part of the marriage contract that she be allowed her three cups a day.

One day, I will sing the soprano aria in a performance, somewhere. And if the opportunity doesn't present itself, I will make one. Because this is something I clearly need in my repertoire.

You can find a wonderful version of the whole thing on YouTube, in four parts: ein, zwei, drei, und fier.  And here's an English translation of the lyrics.  You're welcome.

[nord-milk]

 “If three times a day I can’t drink my little cup of coffee, then I would become so upset I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat.”   - Kaffeekantate, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)