Undeniably witty, with a blend of true history and whimsical fiction, Bach at Leipzig by Itamar Moses creates a wonderfully fantastic romp through German baroque music. Against the backdrop of a war brewing between the German cities of Merseburg and Zwickau, a group of composers gather at the famous Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1722. The organist and Kantor of the church, Johann Kuhnau, has suddenly died, and the church must have a replacement. Each of these men are respected musicians, each with their own quirks of personality and reasons for wanting the post: Johann Friedrich Fasch, Georg Balthasar Schott, Georg Lenck, Johann Martin Steindorff, Georg Friedrich Kaufmann, and Johann Christoph Graupner. Through alliances, gambling, and a mishap with opium, these men compete not only for a single job, but also the future of music in Germany, on the cusp of a new age of religion and art. They are overshadowed when the Greatest Organist in Germany, Georg Phillip Telemann arrives--and nothing is as expected.
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