Nickname of J.S. Bach's cantata no.211, Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, to a libretto by Picander (c 1735), referring to the growing fondness for coffee.
Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht
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Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht ("Be still, stop chattering") (aka The Coffee Cantata) (BWV 211) is a secular cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach between 1732 and 1734. Although classified as a cantata, it is essentially a miniature comic opera.
In a satirical commentary, the cantata amusingly tells of an addiction to coffee, a pressing social problem in eighteenth century Leipzig, where this work was premiered.
The cantata's libretto (written by Christian Friedrich Henrici) features lines such as "If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily, then in my torment, I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat"—a sentiment that would likely have been appreciated by the patrons of Zimmerman's Coffee House in Leipzig, where Bach's Collegium Musicum, founded by Georg Philipp Telemann in 1702, would have originally performed the work.
Bach wrote no operas: the cantata was written for concert performance[1], but is frequently performed today fully staged with costumes.
Contents |
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 1734 |
|---|---|---|
| The Narrator | tenor | |
| Schlendrian, (literally Stick in the Mud) | baritone | |
| Lieschen, daughter of Schlendrian | soprano |
Movements
| Movement | Title | Characters | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recitativo: Schweigt stille | Narrator | The narrator tells the audience to quiet down and pay attention, before introducing Schlendrian and Lieschen. |
| 2 | Aria: Hat man nicht mit seinen Kindern | Schlendrian | Schlendrian sings in disgust of how his daughter refuses to listen to him, even after telling her 1,000 times. |
| 3 | Recitativo: Du böses Kind | Schlendrian and Lieschen | Schlendrian asks his daughter again to stop drinking coffee, Lieschen defiantly tells her father to calm down. |
| 4 | Aria: Ei! Wie schmeckt der Kaffee süße | Lieschen | Lieschen sings a love song to her coffee |
| 5 | Recitativo: Wenn du mir nicht den Kaffee läßt | Schlendrian and Lieschen | Schlendrian starts giving ultimatums to his daughter, threatening to take away her meals, clothes, and other pleasures. Lieschen doesn't seem to care. |
| 6 | Aria: Mädchen, die von harten Sinnen | Schlendrian | In this sung monologue, Schlendrian tries to figure out what his daughter's weak spot is, so she absolutely couldn't want to drink coffee again. |
| 7 | Recitativo: Nun folge, was dein Vater spricht! | Schlendrian and Lieschen | Schlendrian threatens to prevent his daughter from marrying if she fails to give up coffee, Lieschen has a sudden change of heart. |
| 8 | Aria: Heute noch, lieber Vater | Lieschen | Lieschen thanks her father for offering to find her a husband, and vows to give up coffee if she can have a lover instead. |
| 9 | Recitativo: Nun geht und sucht der alte Schlendrian | Narrator | The narrator states that while Schlendrian goes out to find a husband for his daughter, Lieschen secretly tells potential suitors that they must let her drink her coffee if they care to marry her. |
| 10 | Trio: Die Katze läßt das Mausen nicht | Tutti | All three characters sing the moral of the story, "drinking coffee is natural". |
References
External links
- Cantatas, BWV 211-220: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
- Complete Libretto Text on Wikisource
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 | Bach: Secular Cantatas (Classical Album) |
| Johann Sebastian Bach |
| List of cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach |
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 | Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Bach: Secular Cantatas (Classical Album)
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- List of cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
