Bach drama

Leonardo García Alarcón and Cappella Mediterranea combine their musical and theatrical talents to bring two of Bach’s secular Cantatas to the stage. These works were inspired by Greek mythology and unfold like one-act plays, featuring characters like Pallas, Pan, Zephyr, Aeolus and Phoebus. They reveal to us a different, lesser-known side of Bach – one that emerged in Leipzig’s famed coffeehouse, Café Zimmermann.

“This evening, the Argentine conductor invited us to discover a lively, flamboyant and even mischievous Bach, showcasing the versatility of a composer who was at the root of his own musical career.”

Pierre-Damien Houville

The Café Zimmermann side of Bach

Was Johann Sebastian Bach an opera composer? Not quite… but almost! The two cantatas presented by Leonardo García Alarcón in Saint-Denis are a series of arias, duets and choruses, interspersed with recitatives that pitch characters against one another both musically and verbally. The first cantata (BWV 201) features an amusing artistic joust between Phoebus and Pan, who quarrel over who makes the most beautiful music. The second cantata (BWV 205), which was written in honour of a university professor (Auguste Müller), proves to be a vibrant plea for peace. Bach wrote these two drammi per musica for an unusually large orchestra. In the calmer sections, we can recognise the graceful and noble tenderness of his most beautiful sacred arias, but he also surprises us with his playfulness and comedic instincts in the contest between Phoebus and Pan.

Artists

Sophie Junker, soprano – Momus, Pallas
Kacper Szelążek, countertenor – Mercurius, Pomona
Fabio Trümpy, tenor – Tmolus
Mark Milhofer, tenor – Midas
Alejandro Meerapfel, baritone – Pan
Thomas Dolié, baritone – Phoebus, Aeolus

Leonardo García Alarcón, director

Cappella Mediterranea
Chœur de chambre de Namur