Bach at Leipzig: A Play

Gathered to replace the highly respected organist of the Thomaskirsche in Leipzig, Germany in 1722, a select group of composers aspire to this coveted position. Patronage is the key to survival in an era when good fortune and fame are the products of such an esteemed recommendation. As the six composers assemble, awaiting a decision, religion, politics and occupation are inextricable, Leipzig a Lutheran stronghold against the advances of Catholicism. One by one, each composer expresses his convictions and beliefs, assured that his is the righteous path. Introducing the characters, each act is prefaced by a composer penning a letter outlining his desire for to be organist, the missives then flown by carrier pigeon to the addressees. Various characters gather for clandestine meetings, making deals to diminish the competition, revealing their personal agendas. When the entire group is together, the conversation is laced with double entendres and a purposeful manipulation of facts, their apparent bonhomie a façade for the negotiations in play. Since the Reformation, religion is integral to such affair, as is politics, the competing factions proffering a variety of beliefs on Predestination, Lutheran traditionalism challenged by the Calvinist's "standards" for achieving heaven, while Pietists "embrace an individual spirituality that frees them from all limits", pure joy available to everyone, divorced from God.. Based on real persons and events, this ingenious play reveals the farcical manipulations and skullduggery behind the scenes, as the musicians resort to bribery and blackmail, religious concerns set aside in a bid for the coveted position. The humor is pervasive, the contestants revealing their very human flaws and willingness to negotiate in the pursuit of success. Both politics and religion converge as the play evolves, a drawing room farce that reaches beyond the secluded world of this appointment, contretemps exposed in an intimate exchange of broad humor, a subtle reminder that "politics is only war by other means", proving once more that nothing is what it seems. Murder and mayhem aside, the composers are faced with an age-old conundrum, "People... have little interest in music or religion. I don't know what they will call this age... its chief characteristic is a profound lack of enlightenment." Luan Gaines/ 2005.

I would never have guessed that German dudes in the 1700's could be so flippin' funny. Or that a play so silly could be so smart. It is tremendously clever. I gotta read it again to see what I missed the first time. I can't wait to see what Moses writes next!

I owe a tremendous debt to this play and to Itamar Moses. I went to an early production in Ithaca, New York and found it so intellectually powerful and riotously funny that I became an avid follower of the contemporary theater scene and of Moses especially. You cannot read this play and continue thinking that modern America is a cultural wasteland. Moses combines artistic substance, formal ingenuity, and fall-out-of-your-seat humor to create an experience that delights you while you're in it and stays with you afterward. BUY THIS BOOK AND READ IT! Your hope for America's arts will be restored.

To describe this play as riotously funny doesn't do justice to its vast intelligence. The form and content of Bach@Leipzig are inextricably linked in surprising (and, yes, hilarious) ways. And there are beautiful themes here: about the power of self delusion; and ambition; and music. This play is just that - musical, ambitious and deliciously delusional. I can't recommend it highly enough.

The description does not do the humor of this play justice. It is riotously funny, and incredibly intelligent. Definitely worth reading!