Vue de Leipzick

Title

Vue de Leipzick

Description

Total view of the city of Leipzig

ca. 1875

Artist

Eltzner

Historical Description

The history of Leipzig was shaped by its importance as a trading center. Thanks to its favorable location at the intersection of trade routes and trade fair privileges, it already held an outstanding position in the trade in goods, and later also in the printing and book trade. Leipzig was never a royal seat or a bishopric and was always characterized by urban bourgeoisie. The University of Leipzig, founded in 1409, is one of the oldest universities in what is now the Federal Republic of Germany. Leipzig acquired the nickname "Little Paris" when the progressive trade fair city was equipped with street lighting in 1701 and from then on could be compared with the glamorous Seine metropolis. At the beginning of the 18th century, Georg Philipp Telemann studied in Leipzig and founded the Collegium musicum here. From 1723 until his death in 1750, Johann Sebastian Bach was employed by the city council as Thomaskantor and “Director musices” (head of all church music in the city). This is where u. a. the St. John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion, the Christmas Oratorio, the B minor Mass and the art of the fugue. In 1729 Bach took over the management of the Collegium Musicum, which until 1741 performed numerous of his secular cantatas and instrumental compositions in Zimmermann's coffee house.