The Bach Akademie Australia’s Collegium Musicum is a snapshot of musical life in early 18th century Leipzig, when the university city was a vibrant hub for publishing and trade, teeming with ideas, enterprise and curiosity.

The Collegium Musicum comprised students and amateur musicians who played together regularly, often unrehearsed, at informal venues like the city’s coffee houses. There was no additional audience fee and the musicians likely played gratis, grateful for the opportunity to perform.

Georg Philipp Telemann, a law graduate from Leipzig University, founded his group of around 40 students, the Telemannische Collegium Musicum in 1702. Johann Friedrich Fasch founded a second collegiate in 1708 when he too was a student at Leipzig. J.S. Bach took over Telemann’s group from 1729 to 1737, and again from 1739 to the 1740s. Many of his most famous works were heard here, the student ensembles augmented by members of Bach’s growing family.

With customary verve and technical aplomb, the nine-strong BAA is directed from the violin by its irrepressible Artistic Director Madeleine Easton in this program of music by Telemann, Bach and Fasch – with a nod to Vivaldi from whose music Bach drew inspiration.