Artful Journeys is going to Leipzig and Berlin, Germany, this fall with Joe Marchio to scope out music, music history, art and some political history, which one cannot avoid in Germany. 

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Leipzig was the European epicenter of music, with Bach, Mendelssohn and Wagner all living there at different times; with the famous poets Goethe and Schiller (the Ode to Joy guy) writing there, and it currently remains musically active with the Gewandhaus and its Kapellmeister Andris Nelsons and the incredibly musically active Sankt Thomas and Sankt Nikolai Kirchen, where Bach was once Kapellmeister.

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Five days in Leipzig will give us time to get to know the very walkable town and experience its intriguing alleys and markets.  We’ll visit the Bach and Mendelssohn museums,  as well as the Grassi instrument museum and fine art museum. 

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And of course, we will indulge our senses with splendid music – motets, chamber concerts, and an organ concert played by the organist from Notre Dame, Paris.  While strolling the streets during his evening walks,  Joe usually finds other delights for us  to listen to.  If you’d like, you can also attend a church service in either the Thomas or Nikolai, to hear even more sacred music.  And we couldn’t miss the site of the “Coffee Cantata”.

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We’ll have to balance all this heady culture with good food, beer and wine.   One of the neatest restaurants in Leipzig is Auerbachs Keller, a place,   while studying German in college, in which I never imagined I’d set foot:  Goethe based his play Faust on this very site.  (And during the 25 Bachfest, an opera version of Faust will be performed at Auerbachs!)

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We plan to take 1 day trip from Leipzig:   We will train  to Wittenberg, where Luther tacked his 95 Theses on the church door.  (We were thinking of also going to Weimar, but we want to give you a free day to rest or to choose your activity.)

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