How did Bach earn his money?

His income as court musician, court music director and finally as city music director in Leipzig was insufficient for Bachs needs and those of his family. Income from printed editions of his music could have helped. But Bach was not a media star like Telemann, and only published his music with great reluctance. Unlike Handel, he found that great source of income, the stage, professionally and personally uncongenial. So, alongside his professional duties, he turned to the lucrative business of taking commissions for celebratory cantatas from wealthy professionals and noblemen, and in particular from the Saxon court. Noble birthdays, professorial celebrations, princely hunting expeditions or the acquisition of estates, as in the case of the Peasant Cantata, were welcome occasions. A decisive factor in the creation of particularly artistically fine cantatas was Bachs leadership of the first public concert enterprise in Germany, Bachs Collegium Musicum which included the Coffee Cantata in its repertoire.

This book seeks to provide insights into the interplay of feudal social structures and Bachs working methods, without losing sight of the compositional refinement of the eleven cantatas discussed. This approach is supported by the detailed commentaries on the many musical examples.