Leipzig I - Thomaskirche

My weekend in Leipzig starts with Bach. Leipzig was already a cultural and trade center of Saxony when Bach arrived, but he certainly put it on the map, so to speak. Handel was born the same year as Bach (1685) in Halle, which is about 25 miles from Leipzig. I flew into the Leipzig-Halle airport, about midway between the two cities. Anyway, Bach came to Leipzig in 1723 and remained there until his death in 1750. His job as cantor required him to supervise music not only at Thomaskirche, but at Nikolaikirche and two other churches, plus other musical events in the city. These photos are of the Thomaskirche. The Bach museum was unfortunately closed for renovation while I was there -- it reopens next month.

The Thomaskirche is a Lutheran church, even though it was built as a Catholic church long before the Reformation. All the statuary and such was removed at that time. There are two organs in the church, neither from Bach's time. What they call the Bach organ is a new organ built in the manner of an organ of Bach's era.

I went to a performance in the Thomaskirche at 3 p.m. on Saturday of several motets, none of them by Bach. There was Josquin des Prez, Buxtehude, Thomas Tallis, Orlando di Lasso, and someone I'd not heard of before, Sethus Calvisius. The closing organ piece was by Schumann. The only drawback was having to sit through a 17-minute sermon, in German, of course. I'm sure I would have liked it less in English.