Get the Inside Story: Coffee and Dead Canary

Who are the composers?

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)

Georg Phillip Telemann (1681 – 1767)

Nicholas Bernier (1664 – 1734)

What is Coffee and a Dead Canary?

Coffee and a Dead Canary is a curated program by Erin Helyard comprising Baroque musical gems; Bach's Coffee Cantata, Telemann's Canary Cantata, and Bernier's Le Caffé.

Bach's Coffee Cantata (BWV 211) is a tiny comic opera featuring three characters:

Lieschen (Soprano)
Bright, witty and utterly devoted to her daily cup, Lieschen is determined not to let anyone stand between her and her beloved coffee. Her playful defiance and sharp tongue make her a heroine for anyone who has ever clung to a cherished indulgence.

Herr Schlendrian (Baritone)
Lieschen’s increasingly frustrated father, Herr Schlendrian is convinced that coffee is the root of all mischief. Armed with a succession of threats, bargains and increasingly desperate schemes, he sets out to cure his daughter of her obsession–with unintended consequences.

The Narrator (Tenor)
Guiding the audience through the twists and turns of the story, the Narrator introduces the characters, comments on the action and delivers the cantata’s delightfully ironic conclusion.

What is the story?

text

Café Zimmermann

Named after its enterprising proprietor Gottfried Zimmermann, Café Zimmermann was a bustling coffeehouse in Leipzig, Germany, that became one of the most famous cultural hubs of the Baroque era. In an age when coffeehouses were emerging as vibrant centres for intellectual and social life, Zimmermann’s establishment served as the primary home for the Collegium Musicum, a talented ensemble of university students and professional musicians directed by Johann Sebastian Bach from 1729 to 1741. Far removed from the rigid constraints of the church or the royal court, this lively venue allowed Bach to experiment with secular, instrumental, and comic music–most famously debuting his brilliant, satirical Coffee Cantata (Kaffeekantate, BWV 211) and various harpsichord concertos within its walls. Concerts were held weekly (and outdoors in a lush coffee garden during the summer months), offering Leipzig's middle class a unique, bourgeois space where the intoxicating aroma of freshly brewed coffee perfectly intermingled with cutting-edge musical innovation.

What will it look like on stage?

TBC

The Collegium Musicum
Founded in 1702 by Georg Philipp Telemann while he was a university student in Leipzig, The Collegium Musicum was a lively music society, bringing together professional musicians, university students and enthusiastic amateurs to perform the latest instrumental and vocal works. Directed by J.S. Bach from 1729, it provided a vibrant setting for public concerts and musical experimentation, including the first performances of several of his secular cantatas, among them the celebrated Coffee Cantata.
Unlike church performances, these concerts were public, sociable occasions that attracted, merchants, intellectuals and music lovers from across the city.