# Fantasy Bach trip to Germany



## classical yorkist (Jun 29, 2017)

The world's a bit of a depressing place at the moment and I'm dreaming of a fantasy musical trip to Germany. I'm thinking of basing the trip around JS Bach but reaching back into the late renaissance. I'm thinking of going to Leipzig and I would love to visit the contemporary Sibermann organs in the country. Where else should I go to soak up Bach's musical world? Have any of you done a similar trip? Pictures, drawings anything appreciated.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

You know, to really do this right, you're going to have to walk it, as Bach apparently did.

This, from https://bachtrack.com/feature-at-home-guide-bach-buxtehude-lubeck-arnstadt-august-2017, an article titled: "Walk on the wild side: Bach and Buxtehude."

At the turn of the 18th century, Johann Sebastian Bach was a young composer and musician with a voracious appetite to learn from masters and hone his craft. At the age of 15, he completed a mammoth journey - most likely on foot - from Ohrdruf to Lüneburg to study at St Michael's school. Lüneburg, with its vibrant musical scene, left the young Bach spoilt for choice, and he was regularly able to hear the music of virtuosos like his organ teacher Georg Böhm. However, when he took his first professional post as church organist in Arnstadt in 1703, Bach reached an impasse: he was the most accomplished musician in town. Who now could he learn from?

In October 1705, he applied to his superiors for permission to leave his post for a month to hear the music of Dietrich Buxtehude ("to comprehend one thing and another about his art", as Bach put it). The older composer was due to give a series of concerts under the title of "Abendmusik" (evening music) on Sundays throughout Advent. They must have been a mouth-watering prospect. Large ensembles were required to play Buxtehude's music, with one performance using multiple organs, several choirs, drums, trumpets and other brass instruments and a 25-strong violin section. It was an opportunity not to be missed. Later that month, Bach left his post in the hands of his assistant and set off on the 400 km journey to Lübeck.

Historians believe Bach likely took the Old Salt Route, a well-worn trade route through northern Germany that had been in use since medieval times. It was far more common for people to undertake long journeys by foot than it is now, but even so, the dedication of the 20-year-old composer is striking. Not much is known about exactly what happened when Bach arrived in Lübeck, but what is certain is that it was definitely worth the journey. 

Of course, if you _do_ use wheels, you may find the world is a bit less depressing a place than it can be on foot.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

classical yorkist said:


> The world's a bit of a depressing place at the moment and I'm dreaming of a fantasy musical trip to Germany. I'm thinking of basing the trip around JS Bach but reaching back into the late renaissance. I'm thinking of going to Leipzig and I would love to visit the contemporary Sibermann organs in the country. Where else should I go to soak up Bach's musical world? Have any of you done a similar trip? Pictures, drawings anything appreciated.


Word of advice, make no plans any time soon, I mean all is code red for traveling.


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## classical yorkist (Jun 29, 2017)

Rogerx said:


> Word of advice, make no plans any time soon, I mean all is code red for traveling.


Ha ha, no fear. This is most definitely a fantasy trip atm but I think I would like to do it before I die.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

A wonderful idea. A lot of the relevant places have sights associated with Bach, and there are many pretty old towns in the former GDR (including Quedlinburg, not Bach-associated unfortunately).

Eisenach https://bachhaus-eisenach.de/en/home
Leipzig https://www.bachmuseumleipzig.de/en/bach-museum
Köthen http://www.mv-sachsen-anhalt.de/main.pl?lang=uk&page=mus_ort&id=72
Mühlhausen https://www.bach-thueringen.de/bach-orte/bach-in-muehlhausen/
Arnstadt https://www.kulturbetrieb-arnstadt.de/en/bach-in-arnstadt.html https://www.bach-thueringen.de/en/bach-locations/bach-in-arnstadt/
Arnstadt-Dornheim https://www.bach-thueringen.de/bach-orte/bach-in-dornheim/
Altenburg https://www.bach-thueringen.de/bach-orte/bach-in-altenburg/
Erfurt https://www.bach-thueringen.de/johann-sebastian-bach/bach-familie-erfurt/
Ohrdruf https://www.bach-thueringen.de/bach-orte/bach-in-ohrdruf/
Lübeck https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Tour/Lubeck.htm
Weimar https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachhaus_Weimar http://www.bachhausweimar.de/en/arguments/bachs-weimar-years-and-works.html http://www.bachhausweimar.de/en/arg...h-house/bachhaus-visions/reconstructions.html

Halle - W.F.Bach https://haendelhaus.de/de/hh/ausstellungen/wilhelm-friedemann-bach-haus
Hamburg - CPE Bach Museum (http://www.komponistenquartier.de/ in spite of there being a museum for several composers, this museum isn't particularly noteworthy, though. But the environment is nice, in a city where most of the old architecture was lost during the war).

etc. ,...


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

classical yorkist said:


> Ha ha, no fear. This is most definitely a fantasy trip atm but I think I would like to do it before I die.


Well, two years ago, I flew to Leipzig, drove to Eisenach and Arnstadt and back. Another day-trip took us to Weimar. It was exactly a personal Bach 'pilgrimmage' as you fantasise about!

It's a lovely part of the world: but Bach's not there (not in the way Britten is still in Aldeburgh, for example). St. Thomas' Church in Leipzig has been redecorated several times, and Bach wouldn't recognise it as 'his' church; Nikolauskirche is stunning to visit, too... but it's interior, though wonderful, is definitely not what Bach would have known. The bit of the Thomasschule where he worked: demolished in about 1901. The Bach tombstone in the Thomaskirche chancel: unlikely to contain Bach's actual bones. Eisenach: his birth-place. Except the museum isn't his birth-place (which doesn't exist), and in any case, it's a reconstruction, because the original building was practically flattened by allied bombing in WW2 (they have a nice photograph of what was left after the Americans had finished with it: not much, basically!). And so on and on.

I enjoyed the trip, don't get me wrong. And I'm glad I did it. But I ended up getting quite frustrated that Bach is simply too remote these days to be _truly_ touchable any longer.


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## classical yorkist (Jun 29, 2017)

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> Well, two years ago, I flew to Leipzig, drove to Eisenach and Arnstadt and back. Another day-trip took us to Weimar. It was exactly a personal Bach 'pilgrimmage' as you fantasise about!
> 
> It's a lovely part of the world: but Bach's not there (not in the way Britten is still in Aldeburgh, for example). St. Thomas' Church in Leipzig has been redecorated several times, and Bach wouldn't recognise it as 'his' church; Nikolauskirche is stunning to visit, too... but it's interior, though wonderful, is definitely not what Bach would have known. The bit of the Thomasschule where he worked: demolished in about 1901. The Bach tombstone in the Thomaskirche chancel: unlikely to contain Bach's actual bones. Eisenach: his birth-place. Except the museum isn't his birth-place (which doesn't exist), and in any case, it's a reconstruction, because the original building was practically flattened by allied bombing in WW2 (they have a nice photograph of what was left after the Americans had finished with it: not much, basically!). And so on and on.
> 
> I enjoyed the trip, don't get me wrong. And I'm glad I did it. But I ended up getting quite frustrated that Bach is simply too remote these days to be _truly_ touchable any longer.


Yeah, I appreciate and understand what you say here. Just a taste is better than nothing I suppose.


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