Bach FAQ 136
The Beer Cantata ... So Is It Composed By Johann Sebastian Bach?..
The Beer Cantata by the later Thomas Cantor ... the topics “Bach and beer”: Do they perhaps go together after all? Is there even such a thing as a beer cantata? Just take a look at this three-minute video..
That's impossible. Well, if you can enjoy J.S. Bach Beer, then he must have composed it after all ... the often-mentioned Beer Cantata..
Bach's Beer Cantata ... Johann Sebastian composed the Peasant Cantata and, in addition to around 200 other cantatas, he composed the Coffee Cantata. The latter are undoubtedly the two best-known cantatas penned by Bach. In fact, he wrote so many cantatas, an impressive number, that our friend Aryeh Oron in Israel was inspired to name his enormously comprehensive website after one of them: the English-language Bach Cantatas website. Bach fans are of course also familiar with the Wedding Cantata as a memorable title..
The German Beer Purity Law is around 200 years older than many of the Thuringian composer's works. According to this law, only barley may be used in German beer. And two other ingredients. Do you know what they are? © Pixabay..
And now ... the Beer Cantata? It is mentioned time and again. Whenever the cantatas of the Leipzig Thomaskantor are discussed. But Bach never composed a beer cantata..
That's right, there is such a thing as Köthen J.S. Bach Beer. You may not have known that until today. But Bach never composed a beer cantata. This was sad news for Peter Bach, Sr., who had specialized in the history of beer as a hobby. He eventually learned that there was indeed a “beer cantata,” but it was not composed by Johann Sebastian..
Unfortunately, we gave my dad a bitter disappointment. The Beer Cantata, not by Bach ... ..
... correct. Hops are okay in German beer, at least since 1516. But what's still missing on the page about the beer cantata? The third component. © Pixabay..
In 1705, as we know from a letter to the editor by Bach expert Prof. Klaus Hofmann, there was a "Singspiel in Arnstadt," Bach's first “real” job. “The wisdom of the authorities in regulating beer brewing”: Hofmann discovered who was later responsible for this connection between the two terms "beer" (“beer cantata”) and “Johann Sebastian Bach.”..
It was the Arnstadt writer Eugenie Marlitt who, in 1868, attributed this composition to Johann Sebastian Bach in one of her novels, “Das Geheimnis der alten Mamsell” (... "The Secret of the Old Maid"). And so began the legend, which will surely never be dispelled. Philipp Spitta was the first famous author and Bach expert to contradict this five years later. That was in 1873. He dismissed this information as “pure fiction.” Johann Sebastian is mentioned twice on page 418 and on pages 467, 528, and 531. Here, interested researchers can read for themselves how the rumor about Johann Sebastian Bach's “beer cantata” came into being. It is not possible to assign the last two mentions of the master to specific pages. But the “area in the book” ... it is correct..
Johann Sebastian Bach's Beer Cantata? That was Eugenie Marlitt's idea..
A beer cantata was actually written in 1740. And that actually fit into the life of the Eisenach resident. But it was written just a few kilometers away from Leipzig. In 1740, the Thomas Cantor lived there. The beer cantata was written in Goslar. Well, it's about 200 kilometers, which is a bit more than “a few kilometers.” It is now kept “safely” in the city vault. For almost 300 years, it had disappeared and only the text still existed..
This “Gose Cantata”, as it is also called, has been a complete work again since 2023. Consisting of text and music. We have composer Wolfgang Knuth to thank for this. He presented the complete work to the mayor of Goslar in the same year. On the city’s 1101st birthday. A musical event, namely the world premiere, was planned for January of this year: a world premiere together with the citizens of Goslar..
The “fathers” of the new composition are the aforementioned composer Wolfgang Knuth and brewer and restaurant owner Odin Paul. Because many cities and communities involve local artists in their anniversaries, the idea was born to compose this special gift for Goslar's 1100th anniversary. The composer, who couldn't get his melody out of his head, spoke of its “catchiness” similar to that of today's popular music. With a delay of one year – in terms of the anniversary – the artist wanted to surprise everyone at the beginning of 2023: In addition to jazz elements and Latin American sequences, the work also features rap. So ... at least it's back now ... the Beer Cantata ... complete, that is, lyrics and melody ... even if, unfortunately, it's not Johann Sebastian's Beer Cantata..
The article in the Brauwelt Magazin (... Brewing World Magazine) entitled “Johann Sebastian Bach and the well-tempered beer”, a play on words based on Bach's “Well-Tempered Clavier,” is certainly a charming read..
That's right, water is the third ingredient that German beer has been allowed to contain since 1516. Incidentally, yeast is not ( ! ) mentioned in this decree from 1516. However, barley is mentioned in the plural: namely ... summer barley and wheat. © Pixabay..
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