Latest edition : 26 April 2022
The idea of going to Leipzig for a long weekend had never crossed my mind. It is true that the city of the former GDR does not have the aura of Dresden with its historic heart rebuilt identically after the bombardment of the Second World War. Nor the trendy image of Berlin. But when the opportunity arose to discover Leipzig, my curiosity was stronger. Especially since this name is intimately linked to Johann Sebastian Bach: as I sang in several choirs, I knew some of his works very well!
From my first steps in the city, I was conquered: between preservation and reconstruction, shopping passages and small squares, theaters and sites that have marked history, the city center exudes this little "something" that makes you feel desire to explore further.
A first approach with a (english-speaking) guide allows you to better understand and apprehend this city which was one of the major cultural and economic centers in Europe. For this, a little return to the past is necessary.
A little history
At the meeting point of via Regia and via Imperii, the city was an important center of commerce from 1165 on. Its university, one of the oldest in Central Europe, attracts students including Goethe, Nietzsche, Richard Wagner but also Angela Merkel who studied physics there.
The impressive number of printing houses and bookstores from the 15th century proves that Leipzig is also an important cultural center. Then, in the 18th century, the arrival of great composers and musicians added a new attractiveness. The St. Thomas music school was then one of the most renowned in Germany.
If industrialization in the 19th century had left scars in the landscape as well as wastelands, they have been judiciously transformed: the pits left by the extraction of lignite have been transformed into lakes, the rubble from the bombardments forms artificial hills and the old industrial brick sheds house artists' and craftsmen's studios while others have been converted into highly sought-after apartments.
In sharp decline after reunification with the closure of industries, the loss of jobs and the departure of part of the population, it took until 2003 for people to (re)come into the city of Leipzig. Like Torsten, originally from West Germany. What does he like? “Leipzig is a very young city with an average age of 41 and around 30,000 students attracted by the university and 6 colleges. The cultural offer is incredibly wide and diverse. With the arrival of companies like BMW or Porsche, there are jobs again. It is also a very green city, with many parks and gardens. Thanks to the public transport network, no need for a car either.”
After this long but necessary introduction, we follow Torsten to discover the city.
A mix of architectures
First stop on Augustusplatz, with its 40,000 m² one of the largest squares in Germany, lined with several emblematic buildings. We look in vain for an architectural unity. The whole has something to challenge. The current Egyptian Museum is surmounted by a bell with two ringers like that of Saint Mark's Square in Venice.
The opera, destroyed in December 1943 during a bombardment, displays its severe facade in the pure socialist style, refined and massive. By its size, it is the third stage in Europe with a rich and varied program, with a very special place for Richard Wagner, one of the greatest opera composers of the 19th century and who was born in Leipzig.
The interior is equally impressive. In the foyer, what looks like a plain white tiled floor, are delicate handmade Meissen porcelain tiles. Guided tours allow you to take a look behind the scenes, to admire the stock of costumes: 6000 on two floors only for the current season. “In all, we have around 10,000 suits,” Torsten knows.
Ticket prices are very affordable, so why not combine a visit to Leipzig with a performance at the opera or a concert at the famous Gewandhaus opposite the opera?
During concert evenings, you can see the huge fresco of the foyer from the outside.
"With 182 instrumentalists, the Gewandhaus orchestra is the largest professional orchestra in the world, each musician is doubled, which allows to play at the opera and the Gewandhaus at the same time", continues our guide. Funny name for a concert hall, Gewandhaus, which literally means house of clothes. But our guide has the explanation: at the time, the concert hall was in a building that also housed a clothing business.
The most unusual building in the square is probably the new university, all in glass and metal whose facade recalls the neo-Gothic church of Saint-Paul, destroyed in 1968 to make way for the university. Inside, ancient objects as well as some old frescoes recall the history of the place.
The City Hochhaus is also part of the university complex. From the top floor terrace, we have a panoramic view of the city and its region. An excellent restaurant is located there!
The walk continues, crossing courtyards and passages hosting shops, passing through small squares where it is good to sit down and drink a coffee.
Among the passages installed in former fairgrounds, do not miss that of Mädler. Not because it is one of the most beautiful but because of its link with Goethe's Faust. To attract customers to the site's wine cellar, a city councilor had the idea of commissioning the artist Andreas Brettschneider to make two paintings evoking the legend of Dr Faust, namely his ride on barrels and the party with students in a Leipzig tavern!
Among the must-see sites is the Saint-Nicolas church. Not only because Johann Sebastian Bach held the organ there (and what an organ, with 6600 pipes and 200 registers!), because its choir resembles the Royal Chapel of Versailles, but above all because it was the starting point of the “peaceful revolution” in the fall of 1989, the consequences of which we know, namely the fall of the East German regime.
On the square next to the church, a monument built on the model of the columns inside the church, recalls those moments that wrote a page in history.
On a cantata by Bach
But it's time to meet the man who made Leipzig famous: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Direction the Saint Thomas church where he was the organ holder, choir director and director of the music school and which houses his burial. Outside, a bronze statue represents him with his organ.
Just opposite, the Bachhaus, the Bach museum allows you to discover the life, the tireless work and the work of this exceptional musician.
His assumption of duty as Thomaskantor (kapellmeister) in May 1723 profoundly marked the musical history of Leipzig. He composed a large part of his best-known works there, including more than 300 cantatas (so as not to have to play the same one every Sunday). In the treasure room, some original scores are kept.
Small videos, listening stations, a "wall orchestra" make the visit even more interesting.
Among the centerpieces of the museum is an organ. Well, at least a bench and a keyboard from an instrument appraised by Bach in 1743. It is the only relic of a Bach organ in Leipzig!
A visit to the museum also allows you to learn more about the famous mastery of Saint-Thomas, music school and boarding school, which Bach directed for many years. The origin of this boys' choir, still one of the best known in Germany, dates back to the 13th century.
Conduct an orchestra like Mendelssohn
Just as fascinating is the visit to another museum, also dedicated to a great musician, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), a true prodigy, just like his sister Fanny.
Both were virtuoso pianists and composers. Mendelssohn was also the youngest director of the Gewandhaus orchestra, co-founder of the first conservatory and it was he who rediscovered the works of Bach and made them popular again.
The visit to the different rooms of the vast apartment where the couple lived is like a journey through the life of Felix Mendelssohn from his childhood rocked by culture until his premature death at the age of only 38. During his short life he composed more than 750 works!
Famous visitors have climbed the stairs to the first floor where the Mendelssohn family lived, Clara and Robert Schumann, Hans Christian Andersen, Jenny Lind and Richard Wagner! Every Sunday, the Mendelssohn family invited friends for concerts in their music room. A tradition that still lives on!
After this immersion in the life of these great musicians, a major surprise is reserved for visitors to the Mendelssohn Museum with the “effectorium”. This worldwide unique installation allows you to conduct a virtual orchestra and choir in works by Mendelssohn! 13 columns form groups and voices that should be directed by indicating speed and force. Not easy at all!
As you will have understood, music makes the city vibrate. A tour route, the Leipziger Notenspur (the path of notes) is like a score and guides the steps of visitors in the footsteps of virtuosos to places where they worked and lived, but also to concert halls, museums (that of music houses the oldest piano in the world) and in front of monuments still related to music.
Throughout the year, festivals make the city resonate. Opera, Bach, Mendelssohn, choral singing, vocal music, indie rock, jazz or even gothic. And if Wagner creates the event this summer (the opera will present its 13 operas), the group Rammstein will ignite the Red Bull Arena stadium (the singer of the group Till Lindemann was born in Leipzig).
Leipzig is a real concentration of cultures. To find out more click on the sentence.
