Identifier: romanticgermany00scha (find matches)
Title: Romantic Germany
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Schauffler, Robert Haven, 1879-1964
Subjects: Cities and towns -- Germany Germany -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York : The Century Co.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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he New Rathaus, has beenpopularly christened the Promenade Wart. Indeed,in seeking the Schiller House in Gohlis, I wasdirected hergauf (literally, up the mountain)along a road where the rain-water was standing inpools. The site of St. Matthews is more remark-able than its architecture, for the church is based onthe ruins of Leipsics first citadel, and looks overacross the Pleisse to little Naundorfchen, which wasa swampy fishing hamlet of Wends when the firstTeutonic pioneers wandered here. A Nuremberg astrologer once found, on consult-ing the stars, that the Germans discovered Leipsicon Sunday, April 16, 541 a.d., at 9.41 a.m.; but theless exact historians agree in dating this event aboutthe year 700. As in so many German towns, the Promenade-Ring encircles the original city, converting theancient wall and ditch into a girdle of turf andfoliage. In the Historical Museum are some mel-low, enameled tiles with curious reliefs which dec-orated the medieval rampart. Such a transforma- 246
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LEIPSIC tion symbolizes the unmilitary spirit of this place ofcommerce and music. Although Leipsic is calledThe Battle-field of the Nations and a huge monu-ment is being built outside the city to commemoratethe bloody victory over Napoleon in 1813, war talkis not considered good form. Soldiers are seldomseen in public, and the officer hastens into civiliangarb as soon as he may. Here the music-pen hasalways been mightier than the sword, and the Saxonsare as proud of their Church of St. Thomas as thePrussians are of their Lion Monument to Wil-liam I. For this plain Gothic church might almostbe called the cradle of modern music. From 1723nntil his death in 1750 Bach was its cantor and com-posed many of his greatest works for its services.He was director as well of the school for choristers,and even to-day it is an event to hear the boys of theThomas School sing their Saturday motet in the oldchurch. Bach needed all of his creative power, for when hecame, the musical resources of Leipsic

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