Modern Art Museum

Friends Hazel from Heidelberg and Vladimir from Meissen joined me in Leipzig for lively conversations. We also explored museums together. Each museum piece tells a story that connects to another. Collectively, they form a treasure hunt that makes museum-going so challenging and enjoyable.

This relatively new museum north of the town center was a vast repository for large-scale modern artwork. Current collections could barely fill the monumental four-story high volumes of space. The museum was clean and beautiful, but I did wonder how efficiently the building could be environmentally controlled.

For me, it is a struggle of conscience over desire. My recent training taught me that architects have a huge obligation to address climate change in every building, especially those like this one. Reducing the use of concrete and other processed materials for sustainability didn’t seem to be evident. Yet the building was purposeful and emotionally satisfying.

Mendelssohn House

The Music Trail in Leipzig links the homes of Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann and 20 other sites that have musical significance. The entire round-trip takes more than a two-hour sprint. Instead, it’s much more digestible in small spurts. The influence is palpable. It’s no wonder that music can be heard in and around the streets at all times.

Although I had been to Leipzig twice before, I looked forward to renewing my vows to each composer. Mendelssohn traveled throughout Europe with his sister Fanny and his parents. They first traveled from Berlin to Naples and then returned through Switzerland to London. The composers’ privileged lives allowed him to create beautiful music.

More research is being devoted to the lives of influential and famous women like Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn. Although Schumann loved his wife Clara dearly, they had a tense professional relationship.

You could say that Schumann was actually jealous of her talent! She was trained as a concert pianist by her father, Carl Wieck, who was also Robert’s piano teacher. He was skeptical that Schumann could rise to the level of a concert pianist and tried to keep Schumann from seeing his daughter.

He even had a restraining order against Robert’s seeing Clara, but it didn’t stop the two lovers from meeting secretly. Finally, when Clara turned 18, Wieck consented to their wedding plans. Some of the sweetest music was created during Schumann’s love for Clara and his triumph over adversity

Schumann had another challenge in learning the piano. HIs fingers cramped up. He tried many methods to treat them. He gave up performing and initially turned to critiquing music. He used his father’s publishing business to help him launch his writings, and eventually published the music he composed himself.

Schumann’s life had a tragic ending. He could be diagnosed today with bi-polar disorder, but he preceded Freud and the advent of psycholanalysis. He and Clara had seven children, but he died at the age of 45. He left a legacy of beautiful music from the romantic era that he helped to create.

Laps in Leipzig

A great family event got kids out early Sunday morning to get fit and healthy. The race around the market plaza took determination, energy, and plenty of tears and smiles for extra flavor. Parents escorted the less brave, but in the end every child was a winner. I couldn’t resist taking a shot of a little German-Asian athlete proudly brandishing his medal.

The Art Nouveau and Moderne buildings in the pedestrian zone are elegantly decorated with stone facing. The venue for annual book and trade fairs, Leipzig enjoys its status as a prominent city filled with commerce, art, music and culture.

Gewandhaus

Of course a concert was on the agenda during our visit to Leipzig. Like the Berlin Philharmonie, the Gewandhaus Concert Hall is a behemoth building better appreciated from within.

Conductor Herbert Blomstedt, now 96 years old, managed the concert with Berwald and Schubert pieces effortlessly. The elderly morning crowd greeted him with fondness and adoration. Blomstedt was conductor of the SF Symphony for ten years preceding Michael Tilson Thomas. He brought the orchestra to world prominence through his leadership.

Like Joana Mallwitz, Blomstedt acknowledged each soloist with intent and deliberation. It’s not something I had noticed before attending recent concerts in Germany.