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Overview
Synopsis
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.
Show Information
- Book
- Itamar Moses
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
- Number of Acts
- 2
- First Produced
- 2002
- Genres
- Comedy, Historical/Biographical
- Settings
- Period, Unit/Single Set
- Time & Place
- 1722, Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany
- Cast Size
- small
- Orchestra Size
- None
- Dancing
- None
- Licensor
- Concord Theatricals
- Ideal For
- All-Male Cast, College/University, Community Theatre, Ensemble Cast, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Small Cast, Star Vehicle Male, Includes Mature Adult, Adult, Young Adult Characters
Context
In the notes to Bach at Leipzig, Itamar Moses notes that the audition to replace Johann Kuhnau at the Thomaskirche really did take place. In 1722, Kuhnau died, and organists from around Germany came to Leipzig to audition for the post. Telemann was the first choice, Graupner the second, and when they both refused, Johann Sebastian Bach was offered the position of Kantor. Everything else in the play, according to Moses, is made up.
The play first premiered at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca,
to read the context for Bach at Leipzig and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
ACT ONE
One:
In June of 1722, organist and composer Johann Friedrich Fasch writes a letter to his wife Anna. He is in Leipzig to replace Johann Kuhnau, the Kantor of the Thomaskirche. Formerly Kuhnau’s pupil, Fasch believes that he has been summoned by the Kantor (even though the two men had a falling out years before).
Two:
Fasch enters the anteroom of the Thomaskirche, where Georg Balthasar Schott (another composer and organist in Leipzig) sits. The two men talk
Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
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Lead |
Male |
Non-singer |
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Lead |
Male |
Non-singer |
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Supporting |
Male |
Non-singer |
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|
Supporting |
Male |
Non-singer |
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Supporting |
Male |
Non-singer |
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|
Supporting |
Male |
Non-singer |
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|
Featured |
Male |
Silent |
Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
A set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty.
Relating to or denoting a style of European music, art, and architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The person who writes the music.
A musical composition in which one or two themes are repeated or imitated by successively entering voices and contrapuntally developed.
A production designed especially to show off the talents of a particular performer.
Videos
Quizzes
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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Quote Analysis
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Guide Written By:
Cindi Calhoun
Theatre teacher, director, writer, and seamstress