Z is for Zimmermann Coffee House

Coffee drinking was all the rage in Bach's Leipzig. If you read the text of his Coffee Cantata (BWV 211) you will find out that - in the minds of the older generation - frequenting a coffee house has many of the overtones that clubbing might have these days. Coffee had come down in price, and all classes of society could now enjoy the exotic drink. Unlike the main protagonist in the cantata, Bach was no killjoy when it came to drinking coffee. From 1729 he directed performances every Friday evening at the venue in the smart Katherinenstrasse near the central market square. Much of Bach's chamber and orchestral music, including the harpsichord concertos, was written for performance there.

Much has been written about the destruction of Dresden, but nearby Leipzig also suffered badly in the Second World War. This included the destruction of the original Zimmermann Coffee House. For this reason we cannot relive the experience of hearing the music in the original venue. However, Leipzig has another Coffee House, Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum (the Arabian Coffee Tree), which dates from shortly before Bach's arrival in Leipzig , being founded in 1720. It is a great place where you can still enjoy the coffee element of the Zimmermann experience. It does have musical associations, since Schumann was an extremely regular customer. Well, we don't know how loyal Bach was to Zimmermann's, but it is just possible that he slipped in there (but not on a Friday evening of course!).

Graham Dixon