Coffee Cantata and Wedding Cantata
Comprising music by J.S. Bach and works from Telemann’s “Tafelmusik”
The name Bach conjures up images of heavy church music, or sometimes the Brandenburg Concertos. It is so easy to forget that Bach, Telemann and their Baroque contemporaries were not at all averse to musical jokes.
It has been forgotten that Bach wanted to go to the court of Dresden rather than Leipzig, and the fact that he could have quite unholy thoughts up in the organ gallery with his betrothed is more than just an amusing anecdote, it also shows the composer’s other, more worldly side.
Telemann, his contemporary, was supposed to become Cantor at St. Thomas’s, but declined. Not because he wanted to give preference to Bach, but rather because he felt more comfortable at the overflowing tables of the Princes.
In this programme, the Theater Kontra-Punkt dedicates itself to works by the two most famous representatives of the Baroque.
The thoroughly humorous content involving interpersonal relationships, vice and love provides the pattern for the pieces that are normally seen only as concert items.
In this production, singers become actors in historical costumes, move throughout the hall, play around the public, and turn the performance into a special tonal experience.
Realisation
Since only the musicians have a set position and the actors are free to move around, there is no need for a specially appointed theatre area.
The programme largely does away with sets, too - the room itself is meant to be just that, which is why the choice of a presentation area with plenty of atmosphere is of key importance.
This programme offers instrumental and vocal chamber music with a lavish line-up.
An overall presentation of the Baroque involving its most prominent representatives, Bach and Telemann.