The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg ceased to exist in 1918, at the end of the First World War, when the last reigning grand duke, Frederick Augustus II, was forced to abdicate, along with all the other dukes, grand dukes, counts, margraves, landgraves, princes and even kings who up to then Read More …
High above the city of Belfort, in front of a steep cliff and just below the citadel, is a large sculpture, the Lion of Belfort. This Lion is 21.5 meters long and 10.7 meters high, making it quite large but no longer one of the largest sculptures in the world, Read More …
Dresden and Leipzig, the two largest cities in the German state of Saxony (Sachsen), have very different-looking opera houses. The Semper Opera in Dresden (on the left) has three U-shaped balconies and is highly ornate on the inside, with endless paintings and decorations. It looks as though it was built Read More …
The current Leipzig Opera House was built during the 1950s after several architectural competitions and considerable uncertainty about what an opera house should look like in the new Socialist State of the Workers and Farmers. It came out looking quite Spartan and egalitarian, but the acoustics are good and you Read More …
The German dramatist, poet and historian Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) spent the summer of 1785 in a farmhouse in what was then the village of Gohlis, near Leipzig. At that time, Schiller presumably had a better view from his bedroom window than I did when I visited in 2005. Of course Read More …
Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), is an opera I have seen about a dozen times in Frankfurt, with several different casts in two different productions. The first of these was Alfred Kirchner’s production, which had its premiere on September 8, 2001. The premiere was generally well received by the public Read More …
Right next door to the Berlin Philharmonie, in fact in the same complex of buildings and built in the same style, is the Musical Instrument Museum (Musikinstrumenten-Museum). This museum belongs to the State Institute for Music Research, which has a collection of 3500 musical instruments from the 16th century to Read More …
Barfüsserplatz is a central square in Basel, named after the Barfüsser order of monks. The German word barfuß (or barfuss, as the Swiss spell it) means barefoot, and the barefoot monks were called that because at first they weren’t allowed to wear shoes, only sandals. This must have been when Read More …
Up to now I have seen opera performances in four Swiss cities — Zürich, Bern, Geneva and Lausanne — but never in Basel, even though their opera company has an excellent reputation and I know several people who have sung or conducted there. I suppose the reason is that Basel Read More …
The Semper Opera House is named after Gottfried Semper (1803-1879), the architect who designed it once and built it twice. His original opera house was completed in 1841. The composer Richard Wagner was musical director of the Dresden Opera at the time, and three of his operas had their world Read More …