A blog by: Kate Lewis and Sean Schofield

In anticipation of seeing the Gewandhaus-Quartette, we decided to do some research on the history of the Gewandhaus. The current Gewandhaus is the third of its kind. The first concert hall was built in 1781 by the architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe. At the time, the hall was used as a trading hall by cloth merchants. This original purpose it how the hall got its name, Gewand is an outdated German term for garment. The first Gewandhaus, owned by the city of Leipzig, was located between Gewandgäßchen and Kupfergasse. The building also served at the city’s civic arsenal, containing the city’s ammunition and armaments up until 1828. The first dedicated concert hall was built within the building in 1781. The Gewandhaus Concert Board named the concert series “Concerts in the Hall of the Gewandhaus”. In this hall, audiences of up to 500 were able to see Mozart, Clara Wieck, Carl Maria von Weber, and Franz Liszt.

Around 1860, discussions about building a different concert hall. The new hall, owned by the Gewandhaus Concert Board, was finished in December of 1884 and sparked the evolution of Leipzig’s Musikviertel, or Music Quarter. The Neues Gewandhaus accommodated up to 1,500 audience members and had incredible acoustics. Some of the greats that played in this concert hall were Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Richard Strauss. Unfortunately, the Neues Gewandhaus suffered a direct hit during the February 1944 bombing.

There were plans to rebuild the ruins of the second Gewandhaus; however, they concluded that the site would be demolished, and they would rebuild an entirely new Gewandhaus. The concert hall ruins would remain dormant for many years until its demolition in March of 1968. Following its demolition, the old site would be used as a parking lot until 2002 when the University of Leipzig opened a Humanities Center. Music didn’t simply stop during this time of rebuilding. They had to relocate and adapt to the new-found topography of Leipzig. The solution was to move the Gewandhausorchester performances to the congress hall in the city zoo from 1946 to 1981.

Starting in November of 1977, the construction of the first and only standalone concert hall during the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) was underway. The design was completed in 1981. Flaunting amazing acoustics, the main concert hall could seat 1900 aggrandized by a Schuke organ with 6845 pipes. The concert hall was christened on October 8, 1981 accompanied by the sounds of Beethoven’s 9th and Siegfried Thiele’s Songs to the Sun. Until early 2015 the Gewandhaus venue has been ticketing performances under two separate brand identities, the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig and Gewandhausorchester. It now identifies under the single brand of Gewandhausorchester and has been stripped of Gewandhaus zu Leipzig logos.

The Green Vault

Blog post by Kyle Hatten and Sean Schofield

During our day in Dresden, we had lunch by the river and when finished we had the opportunity to go see anything we wanted within the city center. We were intrigued by the vault and decided to go there. I don’t think either of us was anticipating the sheer number of unique items there were in the museum.

The beginnings of the Green Vault can be traced back to the year 1547 when elector Moritz of Saxony ordered the construction of an additional wing to the Residenzschloss Dresden(Dresden Castle). The new rooms that were built in this added section were painted green, and thus the Green Vault gained its name. For over 100 years treasures, jewels, and important documents were placed in the vault, but the vault was only that, a place where the rulers of Saxony placed valuables. It was not until between the years 1723 and 1729 that the private rooms were turned into a public museum. This decision was made by Augustus the Strong(Frederic Augustus I) who was the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony at the time. Having been a public museum since then, it is one of the oldest museums in the world. From the time it was first turned public in 1723 up until 1733, Augustus expanded the vault so it would fit all of his treasures. From then the vault remained the same all the way until 1938 when the treasures were moved to the Königstein Fortress (Saxon Bastille), which was a large hilltop fortification. The treasures were moved there for safekeeping as war was imminent. World War 2 would change the face of Dresden, as the city fell victim to intense bombardment. On February 13, 1945, three of eight rooms were totally destroyed, and the riches would later be relocated to the Soviet Union following the end of the war until their return in 1958. By 2006 the Historic Green Vault was restored to its former glory and opened for display with limited tickets sold daily.

The museum was structured in a way to take one through the ages represented through various gifts of ivory, opal, onyx, gold, silver, and precious crystals. The ostentatious assortment of the first exhibits establish a tone and welcomes one into the eras through visual stories representing the developing art styles and materials used during the time period. Contrasted with the authentically restored treasury rooms of the Historical Green Vault, the Neues Grünes Gewölbe is an extravagant selection of exhibits illuminated behind anti-glare glass in the comfort of state-of-the-art air conditioned rooms.

Centrally located through the new treasury and armory exhibits is the prize jewel of the collection. The ‘Dresden Green diamond’ entered the collection in 1742 as a part of the cut diamond set. King August III of Poland acquired the 41-carat green diamond at the Leipzig Fair. This mysterious diamond has an undefined history of how it came to Dresden from India. Interestingly, its unique coloration is owed to the fact that the stone came into contact with natural radioactivity. In 1768 King August’s grandson, Frederick August III, commissioned the fabrication of an impressive agraffe boasting two large cut diamonds, of 6.3 and 19.3 carat, enveloped by an assortment of 411 small- and medium-sized cut diamonds that is currently on display.

by: Sean Schofield

(Brandenburg Gate: Night and Day)

Commonly the first stop for many tourists visiting Berlin, the Brandenburg gate towers a proud 26 meters tall, nearly 66 meters in length and 11 meters wide.  Its early construction between the years of 1788 and 1791 was a design credited to Prussian court architect Carl Gotthard Langhans. A Grecian inspiration may be recognized for travelers and historians familiar with Athens’ Acropolis gateway.  Aside from it’s inspiring size, the Quadriga statue that adorns the gate may be one of the most recognizable traits. 

The Quadriga, designed by Johann Gottfried Schadow, depicts Victoria, the goddess of victory, toted on a chariot driven by four horses. Following defeat in the battle of Jena-Auerstedt, the Quadriga was seized by Napoleon Bonaparte’s army, packaged, and sent to Paris where it was to sit in storage until the capture of Paris by the Prussians in 1814. The Quadriga would be shipped back to Berlin with the addition of a symbolic iron cross signifying Prussian victory over Napoleon’s army.

Concluding a long day of museum hopping, I found myself, with a fellow study abroad student, on one of Berlin’s inner-city tram rails with minimal daylight and some time to kill. We decided to take advantage of the free time, getting a sneak peak of future excursions, by visiting the Brandenburger Tor and the German parliament Reichstag building. Surprised to see the gate closed off for a charity run, we took to the streets making a loop and meandering through the town center. As the sun began to set, we made our way to a convoy of security and spoke with police officers who offered us a backdoor entrance into the otherwise exclusive grounds. Armed with a beer in hand we set path down the sidewalk, passing tents of straggling merchants closing shop, to the tune of various electronic remixes. We made base at picnic style benches in front of a memorably illuminated candied nuts and chocolate pop-up.

The Brandenburger Tor has been a powerhouse of historical significance. The gate was utilized in dark times as a rallying point for the Nazi cavalcade celebrating Hitler’s seizure of power on January 30^th, 1933. The gate was also the backdrop for moments of redemption, such as Ronald Reagan’s famous decree directed towards Mikhail Gorbachev.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

(madison 2012)

It was only two years following this speech that the gate saw record attendance for the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Rejoicing just two months later marked the official reunification of Germany with conductor Leonard Bernstein conducting the German philharmonic in an adaptation of Beethoven’s 9^th symphony replacing the “joy” in “Ode to Joy” with “freedom.”

The contrast of the gate’s light and dark history was even more realized with the spectacle of spending an evening watching the presence of this monument during heavy traffic in daylight into the powerful illumination of its figure in moonlight. I would strongly recommend planning a trip around being able to view monuments of this stature from all angles and lighting perspectives, as each stone has history laying dormant waiting to be actualized and tell its story.

Madison, Lucy. “Remembering Reagan’s ‘Tear Down This Wall’ Speech 25 Years Later.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 12 June 2012, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-reagans-tear-down-this-wall-speech-25-years-later/.