From the outside, the three-storey building looks very inconspicuous and I almost walked past the entrance. The famous Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy once lived here at Goldschmidtstraße 12 in Leipzig, and today it houses a museum.
The Mendelssohn House Leipzig was opened on November 4, 1997, the 150th anniversary of the musician’s death, and is run by the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Foundation. Since 2017, there has also been a permanent exhibition on Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn’s sister) on the second floor and another part of the museum dedicated to Kurt Masur (German conductor who also worked at the Gewandhaus).
Who was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy?
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was born in Hamburg on March 3, 1809. He came from a respected and wealthy middle-class Jewish family. He and his three siblings were brought up and baptized as Christians. The name Bartholdy was added to his name as a Christian surname.
Mendelssohn Bartholdy is one of the most famous German composers. He was a pianist, organist and conductor. In addition to his own works, he loved the works of Hayden, Handel and Bach. He enjoyed performing the works of these artists.
Mendelssohn comes to Leipzig
Mendelssohn came to Leipzig in 1835 and gave his first concert in the Gewandhaus after only a short time as Kapellmeister. The audience loved the performances and his Gewandhaus concerts were soon the talk of the town. Less than a year later, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy.
In addition to his work as a conductor, he composed his first oratorio during this time, which was later performed in Germany and England.
In March 1837, Mendelssohn married his wife Cécile, with whom he had five children. He moved with her from his “bachelor apartment” on today’s Dittrichring in Leipzig to a larger apartment opposite St. Thomas Church and finally to the second floor of a new building in today’s Goldschmidtstraße (now the Mendelssohn House and Museum).
In the following years, he worked in England and Leipzig. For example, he wrote the Violin Concerto in E minor and gave organ concerts in Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church. Word of his work spread and the Prussian King Frederick William IV appointed him Kapellmeister in Berlin in 1841.
The Prussian king had plans. He wanted Berlin to become the capital of the arts and Mendelssohn was to help him achieve this. The composer was not quite sure whether this was the right move for him. However, as the majority of his family also lived in Berlin, he agreed on the condition that he could continue to work in Leipzig and England.
In the fall of 1842, the King appointed him Prussian General Music Director, but the promised reforms in the Royal Academy of Arts did not really progress. In 1845, after persuading the King to let him go, Mendelssohn gave up the post and returned to Leipzig in full.
The last years in Leipzig
Two years earlier, Mendelssohn had already founded Germany’s first music academy, the Conservatorium, in Leipzig. After his final return, he taught at the conservatory and worked again at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
After a trip to England, he returned in 1846 in poor health, but nevertheless tried to keep up the pace of his work. In 1847, he traveled to England again to conduct performances of Elijah.
Back in Leipzig, he learned of the death of his sister Fanny. For Mendelssohn, this was a reason to stay out of the public eye from then on. In the same year, he suffered several strokes and died at the age of 38 in November 1847.
A large funeral service was held in the Paulinerkirche in Leipzig. The coffin was taken to Berlin, where he was buried in the family grave next to his sister at the Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof cemetery.
Visit to the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig
Today, the entrance and museum store are located on the first floor of the building at the front. A small door then leads to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s former apartment. This is located on the second floor and can be reached via a beautiful old staircase.
Of course, a lot has happened since Mendelssohn lived in the apartment and not every user has studied the history of the rooms. It is known that the apartment was once furnished in the late Biedermeier style and attempts have been made to reconstruct this style. This applies not only to the furnishings, but also to the design and choice of colors for the walls, ceilings and flooring. The original room layout is no longer complete.
View of the permanent exhibition in Mendelssohn House Leipzig
In the various exhibition rooms, visitors are immersed in the world of the composer. Original manuscripts, letters, watercolors and other personal objects provide insights into his creative work and everyday life. If you open one of the drawers in an exhibition case, for example, you will discover Mendelssohn’s favorite dishes. Who would have thought that one of his favorite dishes was steamed dumplings!
The reconstruction of the study is particularly successful. It was possible to refer to a drawing by Wilhelm Hensel (the husband of Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny). As a result, we knew, for example, that there was a striped carpet in the room and where the desk was located.
Today, the museum’s event hall is also located in the former apartment. Weddings and the Sunday matinée are held here in the Mendelssohn family’s music salon, for example. This is a continuation of a tradition that took place in many families in Mendelssohn’s time – the “cultural salon”. Every Sunday at 11 a.m., the museum hosts a musical event that not only presents works by the Mendelssohn family. Perhaps a nice opportunity to explore the museum afterwards.
Fanny Hensel – the musical sister
On the second floor of the museum, I then visited the permanent exhibition on Fanny Hensel.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s sister was no less artistically gifted than her famous brother. She composed, played the piano and organized small family concerts. I have read that 200-300 people were guests at these events in her Berlin apartment.
Fanny Hensel created over 460 works. Unfortunately, she was forbidden by her family to publish them during her lifetime. It was not until 1964 that the family handed over many of the works from her estate to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
The permanent exhibition very successfully presents a small part of the musician’s works and life.
Being a conductor once…
At the end of my visit, I was drawn to the Effektorium. This is an interactive experience that allowed me to be the conductor of a large orchestra.
I was able to choose a piece of music that I wanted to conduct from a console in front of some loudspeaker columns. You can also choose whether you want to play modern or historical instruments. The notes are displayed, but you don’t have to be able to read them; a marker helps you to determine what the orchestra is playing.
A group of instruments is now played from each loudspeaker column (visually supported by illuminated symbols). All the instruments together sound like the entire orchestra.
Then it was time to grab the baton and move it back and forth in a certain area above the console. Depending on the speed of my movements, the orchestra played at the right tempo. Fortunately, I didn’t have to give the individual instruments the right cue, because then it would have been more like “cat music”. Now I definitely know what it feels like to wield the baton.
I really enjoyed my visit to the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig. The museum area was very interesting and I really enjoyed the interaction at the conductor’s desk. For me, it was a successful excursion in the footsteps of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
Visitor information
Address:
Goldschmidtstraße 12,
04103 Leipzig
How to get there
Streetcar 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 to Augustusplatz stop (from there it is only a few meters on foot)
Opening hours
daily: 10 am – 6 pm
Sunday: 11 am concerts (reservation required)
Attention! There are special opening hours on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Admission fees
Adults: 10,-€
Discounts are offered.
An audio guide is available in several languages.
Accessibility
The museum is fully accessible for wheelchair users.
The entrances and paths to the building are equipped with ramps. The access doors are 140 cm wide.
There is an elevator in the building with 90 cm wide doors.
Disabled toilets are available.
The event hall on the 1st floor can be reached using ramps and the elevator.
Marked disabled parking spaces are available in front of the museum.
Source: https://www.museum.de/museen/mendelssohn-haus
Source: https://www.leipzig.de/detailansicht-adresse/mendelssohn-haus-leipzig
The visit to the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig took place as part of a press trip with Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH.
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