Sunday, June 16, 2019

The art of the fugue...

Playlist
Bach, J S - Orchestral Suites #1-4
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
Lionel Rogg - Bach - Exploring the World of Music
Brumel - Missa Et Ecce Terrae Motus
Various Composers - The World of Your Hundred Best Tunes - The Top Ten
Alfred Brendel - Behind The Counter With Max Richter
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Works
Isaac Hayes - Black Moses

Up early...


...and started the day with some Bach Orchestral Suites, in relation to our plans for the day...

Then, this, released 50 years ago...


...and some field recordings were made, which will, no doubt, come in handy at some point down the line...


...and some coffee...


Once Anne was up, breakfast...


...with a cat in the garden...


Into town and a walk...



...to St Thomaskirche, where J S Bach was music director from 1723 until his death in 1750...



There is also a connection with Mendelssohn...


...and Wagner...

More here...

Initially, we eschewed the church and made our way into the Bach Museum opposite it...


...where CDs were on sale for just one of your European Euros each...

I did, of course, partake of a couple...

In...


...for interaction...

The Bach family tree...



The history of the music...


Instruments used by Bach - kind of - this organ has possibly one key left of the original that Bach played - Trigger's Broom / Ship of Theseus though...


It's not often you see the EP sporting headphones...


Instruments of the day...


Music played and, if you pressed a button at a particular instrument, its sound was highlighted...

Educational...



Tons of historical facts about the whole family...


...and you could see the man himself, kind of, from the window...


Only recently was this chest, that had just been lying about, identified as having been used on a day to day basis by the Bachs...


It was, as Mr Spock might have said, fascinating...


Downstairs, pieces of Bach's wallpaper...



...and one of the most famous busts of the man...


Out back of the house, which used to belong to Bach's friends (Bach didn't live here - the house his family occupied is no longer standing), a lovely garden...



There was also a special exhibition, in which photos were strictly forbidden, containing Bach's writings and manuscripts and artifacts, taken from what is believed to have been his grave, which was only recently rediscovered...

And so, into the church...



Congregations once attended here and heard J S Bach play, live as it were...





Behind the knave, more Bach-contemporary instruments displayed...


Then, disaster, as it seemed the card containing all pics taken on the trip thus far had wiped itself...

Anne advised she had not seen me so crestfallen before...


However, some fiddling about and, hey presto, it was, in fact, all fine - and I was able to get a couple of shots of the place to which Bach's supposed remains were moved upon their discovery...



I couldn't get up close as the area was cordoned off for a concert later today...
  

Outside...



..under grey skies, we admired a bank...


...and, back at the Marktplatz, caught the tail end of a rehearsal by today's South Korean performers...


A tasty sandwich grabbed for lunch and some more walking about...



...before heading back to the square for the concert...


14.30 Bachstage / Markt
Kantaten für August III.
J. S. Bach: Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen, BWV 215 ·
Schleicht, spielende Wellen, und murmelt gelinde, BWV 206
Solisten, Seoul Motet Choir, Seoul Motet Chamber Orchestra,
Leitung: Chee-Yong Park

Someone noticed me snapping...


The singing was top notch...






...and watched by a large crowd...



Then, a walk to the Stasi Museum, with a slab from the Berlin Wall nearby...





The Schulmuseum was shut today...


Leipzig was the place where the demonstrations against the government of the DDR started...


The Peaceful Revolution...


Into the museum...


Full of DDR artifacts, mostly to do with a government spying on its own citizens...





Sport was very important to the regime...










Here, a machine for opening and resealing envelopes so that correspondence could be read before being delivered...


Much of it, however, seems never to have reached its destination...


And, of course, cassettes - "normal" cassettes were routinely over-recorded with surveillance recordings...



And, in a time before digital photography, they must have gone through an unimaginable amount of film...


Many of the country's own citizens ended up in cells like these, purely for thinking the wrong thoughts...


Out and an interesting quote from Goethe...


The country that does not protect foreigners, will soon fall...

Time for a couple of beers, outside the Thomaskirche...


...and then, more beers at the Marktplatz...



...and some sustenance...



...before taking in some more Bach...

19.00 BachStage / Markt
Bach elektrisch und elektrisierend
PJ d’Atri (E-Gitarre), Kurt Gold-Sklarski (Cembalo)
  



...in the company of a dog...


...followed by a wait for the tram home, along with my ill-gotten gains...


...which now included a wee beauty by the Leipziger Quartett, chanced upon in a shop in the square for just 6 Euros - bargain... 

Anne was relaxing...


...while I perused my haul for the day...







Nice...

Highlight of the Day : J S Bach...

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