Leipzig

Bruce in the St. Nicholas Church

Bruce and I are in Leipzig for two days, and we have had a nice time exploring this city, which I last visited back in 2011.  This morning we had breakfast with Keith Boldt and his wife Merel; their young daughter, and Keith's parents, who were visiting from Saskatchewan.  We all enjoyed a luxurious breakfast with them in their beautiful apartment just next to the St. Nicholas Church, and caught up on all their recent news.  Sorry, no photo yet, but I expect to receive it from Margaret Boldt by email shortly...

To catch up a little, we drove from Brussels the day before yesterday, and arrived in Gelsenkirchen at the apartment of our friend Phil Ens, a famous Canadian bass from Winnipeg, who makes his home in Germany and also in Toronto.  As he and his partner are away, their beautiful and spacious apartment was vacant (the boys and I stayed there after the ACDC concert a couple of weeks ago) and Bruce and I stayed there again on this trip.  This stopover cut the trip in two parts, but as it was, we still had a big delay yesterday as there was a terrible accident on German highway 44 that stopped the traffic, and added three hours to our Gelsenkirchen-Leipzig trip.  But we did manage to get into Leipzig by around 18h, into the rental apartment here, and then to the Thomaskirche to see a concert of Bach vocal music in this most famous of all Leipzig churches.

a visit to the nave of the Thomaskirche, and to the grave of JSB

Bach is buried in the church; his bones were originally interred at another church where he had spent the last few years of his career, but when that church was destroyed in bombing in the 20th century, it was decided that he would be reburied at the Thomaskirche, where the bulk of his work had been premiered.

JSB statue outside the Thomaskirche

We enjoyed a generous helping of singing and instrumental playing at the Thomaskirche; the sound there is really quite lovely despite the large size of the church.  I had attended a normal service there in 2011 but had never heard any solo cantata singing there before.  It was interesting to see how the different voices sounded in the church, and to hear the balance between solo singers, choirs, instruments and organ.  Here is the programme:

http://www.thomaskirche.org/r-calendar-of-events.html?year=2015&month=07&day=28

Wagner plaque on Bruhl street

Just down the street from the rental apartment is a plaque marking the birthplace of Richard Wagner.  The house in which he was born was destroyed a long time ago, and now is the site of a brand new shopping mall.  But the plaque is there!   We stopped by for a photo-op after breakfast this morning.

Apart from Wagner, the Schumanns and Felix Mendelssohn also lived in Leipzig, and it was a site of some very important debates with Martin Luther during the Reformation.  Apparently Leipzig was a pretty hopping place  for several centuries... before and after JSB...

pillars in the Nicolaikirche

I may have written about the St. Nicholas Church before, but for my money it is the more beautiful of the two on the inside.  These beautiful simulations of foliage that decorate the tops of the pillars evoke palm fronds; they make the chuch look wonderfully alive and vibrant.  The rest of the church is decorated with ivory-painted pews, some of them curved, and the atmosphere is something very different from the Thomaskirche.

a votive candle for my Lutheran ancestor(s) in the St. Nicholas Church

After the Nicholaskirche we walked back to the Thomaskirche, and on the way had a look around at the site of the old stock exchange, and found the museum entrance.  There is a famous painting of Bach, made during his lifetime, that only recently has come back to Leipzig after centuries abroad, so of course we had to go have a look.  The city museum has exhibits that explore the history of Leipzig from prehistoric times, all the way up to the present day, and is a very lovely place to visit.

detail of a painting of Martin Luther in the City Museum

a book of Goethe lieder; Goethe was a student in Leipzig for several years

a detail of the famous Bach portrait by Haussman that returned to Leipzig this spring

the cantor's signature, 1 July 1723

That's about all for descriptions of today's adventures.  Leipzig is a really lovely city; I could spend a lot of time here.  But tomorrow it is off to see the Mendelssohn house, and then we leave for a short drive of a couple of hours to Bayreuth...