Collegium musicum

The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in German and German-Swiss cities and towns during the Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century.

Generally, while societies such as the Kantorei () (chorale) cultivated vocal music for church performance and the convivium musicum discussed musical philosophy over a banquet, the collegia musica performed both vocal and instrumental music for pleasure; they focused on instrumental music as it rose in stature during the Baroque era. Though closed amateur societies in concept, collegia frequently included professionals to fill out the music and admitted non-members to performances. Moreover, they often provided music for church, state, and academic occasions and gained the patronage of leading citizens. From the 1660s, their functions largely constituted the beginnings of public concert life in Germany.

Leipzig collegia musica, consisting mostly of university students, enjoyed a succession of particularly illustrious directors, including Johann Kuhnau (1688), refounded by Telemann (1702), and Bach (1729–1737), who composed several concertos and dramme per musica for weekly performances at Café Zimmermann, Gottfried Zimmerman's coffeehouse, and for "extraordinary" concerts. Telemann went on to promote professional concerts by Frankfurt and Hamburg collegia in the late 1720s, thus fostering the emergence of public subscription concerts in Germany. With the Moravian emigration, American collegia sprang up beginning in 1744 in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and the Carolinas.

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