Secular Cantata  -  Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BMV 211


            Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BMV 211 ("Be Still, Stop Chattering") (c. 1732 - 1735)
                    The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and ChoirTon Koopman, conductor

           Play on YouTube  (25:00)        Lyrics in English


            This is a  sort of mini comic opera, often performed in costume.  AKA "The Coffee Cantata."  
            Bach wrote this cantata in between 1732 - 1735.   

            The libretto was written by Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander).
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            The cantata tells the story of a father who is worried because his daughter is addicted to 
            coffee.  They argue about her problem in a café as she states her love of coffee.  

            The father threatens the daughter he will withhold her new dress, a gold ribbon for her bonnet, 
            keep her from going to parties and out for walks, and keep her from looking out the window.

            To each of these the daughter replies "that's fine."  But when the father says she cannot get 
            married, she promises him she will never drink coffee again.

            But the café owner says he knows that she will not let suitors come to her house unless they 
            promise to put in the marriage contract that she can drink all the coffee she wants!
 
 



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Welcome to the course:  "The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach & his Sons"

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