Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Be still, stop chattering) (aka The Coffee Cantata) (BWV

BWV

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number, is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions...

 211) is a secular cantata

Bach cantata

Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....

 written by Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 between 1732 and 1734. Although classified as a cantata, it is essentially a miniature comic opera

Comic opera

Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...

.

In a satirical commentary, the cantata amusingly tells of an addiction to coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

, a pressing social problem in eighteenth century Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, where this work was premiered.

The cantata's libretto (written by Christian Friedrich Henrici

Picander

Picander was the pseudonym of Christian Friedrich Henrici , a German poet and librettist for many of Johann Sebastian Bach's Leipzig cantatas...

) 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

Collegium Musicum

The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in German and German-Swiss cities and towns during the Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century...

, founded by Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...

 in 1702, would have originally performed the work.

Bach wrote no operas: the cantata was written for concert performance, but is frequently performed today fully staged with costumes.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 1734
The Narrator	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Schlendrian, (literally Stick in the Mud)	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Lieschen, daughter of Schlendrian	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

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".

Recordings

• J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 4 - Anne Grimm, Paul Agnew
  Paul Agnew
  Paul Agnew is a Scottish operatic tenor.Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the Consort of Musicke, the Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen and the Gothic Voices, before embarking on a solo career in the early 1990s.Closely associated with William...
  
  , Klaus Mertens
  Klaus Mertens
  Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Professional career:Klaus Mertens took singing lessons while attending school...
  
  , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
  Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
  The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in Amsterdam.The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor, organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in...
  
  , Ton Koopman
  Ton Koopman
  Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
  
   conductor. Label: Antoine Marchand

External links

• Complete Libretto Text on Wikisource