Café Zimmermann
The background
Café Zimmermann
In 1729, Bach was made director of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, a municipal music association of students and professional musicians, founded by Georg Philipp Telemann.
“This café was the place where Bach performed works like the Kaffee-Kantate.“
Bach would give concerts with this association every Friday evening in the Zimmermannsche Kaffeehaus, on Katharinenstraße, which was the most elegant street in Leipzig at the time. The owner of the fashionable coffee house, Gottfried Zimmermann, did not charge rent to the musicians, and the audience had free admission. Zimmermann made his money through selling coffee, which was still a rare and exotic delicacy in those days.
This café was the place where Bach performed works like the Kaffee-Kantate, as well as his Violin Concertos and pieces by fellow composers like Handel and his good friend Telemann. This season, we are bringing together a selection of this wide variety of music, in the Café Zimmermann programme.