Take 1 bowl, 3 times/day to treat goatliness

Best lyrics awards:

Here's a sample of J.S. Bach's Coffee Cantata, written for his weekly Friday night jam at Zimmerman's, a popular coffee-house in Leipzig. At the time (early 1700's), coffee was a new drug-of-choice and people were divided on whether to love it or fear it. Yeah, so much has changed. In case you've not spent more than ten minutes with him, I'll warn you that my Dad's a committed fan. I believe he'd own stock in SB if they weren't such political wack jobs.

Father, don't be so severe!
If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily,
then in my torment I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat.

(now, I get goat hairs, random little guys that grow on my chin in a friendly way and have to be plucked every few weeks. Does that count?)

Mm! how sweet the coffee tastes,
more delicious than a thousand kisses,
mellower than muscatel wine.
Coffee, coffee I must have,
and if someone wishes to give me a treat,
ah, then pour me out some coffee!

The concerts were fun with the Bach musicians tonight and last night- I'm so excited about gutting out my old viola. (You can tell I'm gonna buy this Ruth I'm looking at since I now refer to the Lee as old.) I'll put gut strings on, take off the fine tuner and get a baroque bow. This stuff is so lively, and like lots of former classical-only players, the intimacy and required chamberiness of the concerts is attractive to me. Funny that an older music can feel more immediate.

The women's duet in Cantata 4 is sublime. I loved our vocalists, too. Wonder if the Mezzo would do Brahms with me...hmmmm.

Here's her lyrics to Erbarme dich:

Have mercy, my God, for my tears’ sake.
Look hither, heart and eyes weep bitterly before Thee.
Erbarme dich, mein Gott, um meiner Zähren willen!
Schaue hier, Herz und Auge weint vor dir Bitterlich.

So cool to see C. Wildberry & her lovely husband there- I have friends in the blogosphere!! Wonder how cool it would be to speak German well and listen to Bach. Now I have Bach and Rilke to study German for. I know some key-words, most from playing Masses. It's really kind of sad that I can graduate with a doctorate in music without being passable in German... but don't tell THE UNIVERSITY because I don't want to take any more classes.