Singing Bach in a coffee shop

Good morning. It is Friday. Today we are introduced to a cantata by Bach with a main character who loves her coffee, again performed by people who love their coffee. We also get details about why FBI agents searched the homes of two high-ranking fire chiefs.

The piece was also a caffeinated departure from Bach's famous liturgical compositions. “This was generally not Bach's method of writing a secular cantata,” Music Director of On Site Opera, Geoffrey McDonaldtold me.

The audience is served coffee chosen to complement the action on stage: a variant of one origin from Nicaragua, another variant from Kenya and a drink that combines coffee from Ethiopia with Ceylon tea. The company's artistic director, Sarah Meyers, said that when she heard about that mix, “my first thought was, 'That shouldn't happen,' but then I tried it. It's quite fun.”

'A dried out piece of goat meat'

McDonald reworked the libretto for a “new presentation of the cantata,” translating the German into English and updating some of the wording “to make it more contemporary and hopefully funnier than a direct translation would be.” Meyers added that the changes “make it sound like someone would actually say these things” because, as McDonald explained, the original German idioms “would mean zero to a contemporary audience.”

As?

At one point, Lieschen, the daughter in the play, says, “If I don't get my coffee, I turn into a dried-out piece of goat meat.”

McDonald said he first changed the end of that sentence to “turn into a beast from hell.” But that didn't work, he said, “because the syllables don't fall in the same place as Bach's music.”

So he decided to emphasize the idea that she can't function without coffee, and have her sing, “If I'm robbed, it's not a pretty picture.”

He also reworked a line sung by Schlendrian, the father. “The original German translates directly to 'Doesn't someone have 100,000 pieces of sloppiness with their children?'” McDonald said. “I thought, 'What's an English word that's going to really hit the spot?'”

He came up with this: “Raising daughters is no small feat. They don't listen even if you try.”

He drew on his own experience, not as a parent – ​​he has two sons – but as someone with older sisters. He spoke about the line with Meyers, who has two boys and two girls. “None of us have control over our children,” she said. “I know that as a parent.”

What will it be: love or coffee?

“Parents always think they know so much more than their children, and this is the story of a child who outsmarts her father,” Meyers said. “That's really all there is to it. Schlendrian's dynamic is that you have to choose one over the other – you have to choose between love or coffee, and in the end she says, 'No, I can have both. I can drink my coffee and I will live my love life as I see fit. ''

But neither Meyers, McDonald nor the performers were able to have coffee during rehearsals last week. There was a strict ban on drinking in their practice room.

“We're all coffee drinkers, pretty much universally,” Meyers said.

She looked longingly at a table at the front of the room.

“All those cups are props,” she said. 'They're empty. When we get to the coffee shop it will be such a relief.”

Weather

Expect a sunny, breezy day in the mid 40s. There is a chance of snow at night. Temperatures will hold steady in the low 30s.

ALTERNATE PARKING

In effect until Monday (Washington's birthday).

The homes and offices of two top fire department chiefs were searched early Thursday in a corruption probe apparently separate from the probe into Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 fundraising efforts.

The searches, by the FBI and city investigators, were conducted as part of an investigation that initially focused on whether the two chiefs were paid nearly $100,000 each in a scheme to expedite or arrange building inspections, according to my colleagues' reporting William. K. Rashbaum and Michael Rothfeld. The investigation began last summer and is being conducted by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the New York City Department of Investigation.

Neither of the leaders, Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino, have been accused of wrongdoing. But the fire service said Commissioner Laura Kavanagh had 'proactively' given both men an adjusted shift.

A spokesman for the mayor said City Hall was informed of the searches Thursday by fire department officials. “There are no indications of a direct connection to anyone at City Hall,” spokesman Charles Lutvak said.

There was no immediate indication that the searches were part of the federal corruption investigation into Adams' campaign, although spokespeople for the FBI and U.S. attorney's office declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the city's investigative agency.

The investigation into the mayor's fundraising has focused at least in part on whether Turkish government officials conspired with Adams' campaign to send illegal foreign donations to them. The question is whether Adams pressured fire officials to sign off on the Turkish government's new consulate in Manhattan. The New York Times reported last fall that Adams had contacted Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro in the late summer of 2021, after Adams won the Democratic primary, which all but guaranteed he would be elected mayor in November. Adams urged Nigro to allow the Turkish government to occupy the building, at least on a temporary basis, despite security concerns.

Adams has said he did nothing inappropriate, and he has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Saccavino and Cordasco were promoted a year ago to lead the Fire Prevention Bureau, the same unit at the center of the episode involving the Turkish consulate.

METROPOLITAN diary

Rough weekend

Dear Diary:

I was walking down the street on a Sunday afternoon with my headphones in. It was the end of a tough weekend.

I was drawn into a song that soothed my recently broken and rejected heart. I wondered if I would ever meet someone new who would love me, or if I should prepare for a lonely life.

A beautiful young woman walked past me. It seemed like she was saying something to me, so I grabbed my headphones.

“You're so beautiful,” she said. “I just had to tell you.”

“Wow!” I said, “And here I am having a hard day.”

“Well, if you want one,” she said, “I'd give you a hug.”

And we hugged each other.

– Sarah Hanssen

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send your entries here And read more Metropolitan Diary here.