Bach at Leipzig

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 pleasantly enough, but Schott protectively bars the door of the church where Kuhnau is playing. Their initially cordial conversation turns tense; as a compromise, they crack open the door. Organ music drifts out, then suddenly stops, then a blast of low notes fills the air. Kuhnau died in the midst of playing, and his face fell onto the keyboard. Fasch finishes his letter.

Three:
Georg Lenck writes to his love Catherina, describing his intentions to audition for the post at Thomaskirche. Lenck hopes that this moment will