Challenge Classics: CC72280

J S Bach - Coffee Cantata, Peasant Cantata & Amore Traditore

Selected from the award-winning cycle of recordings of the complete cantatas of J. S. Bach the secular pieces featured on this album represent works composed at very different stages in his career and also performed in different venues. The Italian chamber cantata “Amore traditore” BWV 203 was written when he served as capellmeister to the prince of Anhalt-Köthen from 1717 to 1723, whereas the other two works originated in Bach’s Leipzig period. The so-called ‘coffee cantata’ BWV 211 belongs to the repertoire Bach wrote for his Collegium Musicum, when Bach organised concerts that took place weekly at the Zimmermann Coffee House and outdoor Coffee Garden. The so-called ‘peasant cantata’ BWV 212 is the last secular cantata known to have been composed by Bach. Dating from 1742, it was commissioned for a celebratory occasion at a country estate outside of the city of Leipzig. The idea behind the work is a serenade offered by the peasant folks greeting their master, the new occupant of the mansion.