Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city's five main churches. While Telemann's career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: his first wife died less than two years after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving him.
Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. With a population of over 600,000 inhabitants as of 2020, it is Germany's eighth most populous city as well as the second most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East) Berlin. Together with Halle (Saale), the largest city of the neighbouring state of Saxony-Anhalt, the city forms the polycentric conurbation of Leipzig-Halle. Between the two cities lies Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Eisenach is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located 50 kilometres west of Erfurt, 70 km southeast of Kassel and 150 km northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situated near the former Inner German border. A major attraction is Wartburg castle, which has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1999.
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the fifth most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, as well as the 31st largest city of Germany, and with around 239,000 inhabitants, it is slightly more populous than the state capital of Magdeburg. Together with Leipzig, the largest city of Saxony, Halle forms the polycentric Leipzig-Halle conurbation. Between the two cities, in Schkeuditz, lies Leipzig/Halle International Airport. The Leipzig-Halle conurbation is at the heart of the larger Central German Metropolitan Region.
Leipzig University, in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and his brother William II, Margrave of Meissen, and originally comprised the four scholastic faculties. Since its inception, the university has engaged in teaching and research for over 600 years without interruption.
The St. Nicholas Church is one of the major churches of central Leipzig, Germany. Construction started in Romanesque style in 1165, but in the 16th century, the church was turned into a Gothic hall church. Baroque elements like the tower were added in the 18th century.
Masaaki Suzuki is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for which he is also recording Bach's concertos, orchestral suites, and solo works for harpsichord and organ. He is also an artist-in-residence at Yale University and the principal guest conductor of its Schola Cantorum, and has conducted orchestras and choruses around the world.
St. Thomas Church is a Lutheran church in Leipzig, Germany. It is associated with several well-known composers such as Richard Wagner and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and especially Johann Sebastian Bach, who worked here as a Kapellmeister from 1723 until his death in 1750. Today, the church also holds his remains. Martin Luther preached here in 1539.
The Museum der bildenden Künste is a museum in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
The Brühl is a street in Leipzig, Germany, just within the former city wall.
The Paulinerkirche was a church on the Augustusplatz in Leipzig. It was built in 1231 as the Klosterkirche St. Pauli for the Dominican monastery in Leipzig. From the foundation of the University of Leipzig in 1409, it served as the university church. After the Protestant Reformation it was donated to the university and was inaugurated in 1545 by Martin Luther as the Universitätskirche St. Pauli, later also called Unikirche. Johann Sebastian Bach was director of music for "festal" (holiday) services in 1723−25.
The Bach House in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany, is a museum dedicated to the composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was born in the city. On its 600 m2 it displays around 250 original exhibits, among them a Bach music autograph. The core of the building complex is a half-timbered house, ca. 550 years old, which was mistakenly identified as Bach's birth house in the middle of the 19th century. In 1905, the Leipzig-based Neue Bachgesellschaft acquired the building. In 1907, it was opened as the first Bach museum.
The composer Johann Sebastian Bach lived at two addresses during his stay in Köthen, Germany, while he was working for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. The first of these properties has been demolished, so Bach House normally refers to the extant building which the composer occupied in the period 1719–23. This property is on Wallstraße and was completed in 1719: Bach is assumed to have been the first tenant of the house. Documentary evidence of the allowances paid to Bach suggests that the house was also used by the court orchestra.
The Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig is a museum in Leipzig, Germany. It is located on Johannisplatz, near the city centre. The museum belongs to the University of Leipzig and is also part of the Grassi Museum, whose other members are the Museum of Ethnography and the Museum of Applied Arts.
The Grassi Museum is a building complex in Leipzig, Germany, home to three museums: the Ethnography Museum, Musical Instruments Museum, and Applied Arts Museum.
The Bach-Archiv Leipzig or Bach-Archiv is an institution for the documentation and research of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Bach-Archiv also researches the Bach family, especially their music. Based in Leipzig, the city where Bach lived from 1723 until his death, the Archiv is recognised by the German government as a "cultural beacon" of national importance. Since 2008 the Bach-Archiv has been part of the University of Leipzig.
Uwe Wolf is a German musicologist. He worked for the Johann Sebastian Bach Institute in Göttingen and Bach-Archiv Leipzig, where he developed the Bach Digital website. Since 2011, he has been chief editor of Carus-Verlag, editing the 2013 edition of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine, among others.
Peter Wollny is a German musicologist, a Bach scholar who has served the Bach Archive Leipzig beginning in 1993, and as its director from 2014. The archive acquired notable documents, such as the manuscript score of Bach's chorale cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20, and Gustav Mahler's Bach edition in 59 volumes, with handwritten annotations by Mahler.
