Bach never wrote an opera, but many of his cantatas—vocal works with instrumental accompaniment—come close. The comic “Coffee Cantata” tells the story of a coffee-obsessed young woman and her grouchy papa. Both characters are vividly depicted, the pedantic father with a repetitive bass line and the daughter with sweet melodies. Bach’s sacred cantatas are highly dramatic, and the spiritual dialogue of “Selig ist der Mann” (“Blessed is the man”) has operatic intensity.