Weimar – Part 1
Wednesday and Thursday update!
We left Eisenach on Wednesday morning and drove to Arnstadt, where Bach had his first job as an organist. He was such a good composer and organist that he was paid three times the normal amount a organist would be paid here. This is also where he got into a fisticuffs with Geyersbach, the “ninny-goat” bassoonist. Besides that little spat, Bach got himself into trouble here because he not only left for four months (when he said he’d be gone for four weeks), but he also played very flowery, intricate pieces that he picked up from his pal Buxtehude. Congregation members were not feeling it. Eventually he’d move on to Muhlhausen and Weimar for other work.
Arnstadt is the smallest town we’ve visited, and it showed – their Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) just opened today. We first visited Bach’s church, where we listened to performances on both a Baroque and romantic organ. The Baroque organ typically has around 1,200 pipes, but this one had around 3,600. Like the whole church, it was fully white with detailed gold trim and of course, some chubby cherubs blowing trumpets. The romantic organ, though much, much larger, has concealed pipes, so all you can really see are the three sets of keys and the foot pedals. The more time I spend watching organists, the more I am impressed by their skill and the intricacy of the instrument.
We also visited Arnstadt’s Bach Museum, which was not nearly as well done as Eisenach’s. The entire bottom floor is full of dioramas of porcelain dolls, with creepy, disproportioned faces, for no obvious reason. The Bach portion of the museum did have head sets to listen to his works, but all of the descriptions were in German and it was just plain smaller. On the plus side, the museum had a very entertaining, fun shoe cleaner that dusted off all the dirt on your shoes before entering!
Lunch was on our own, so we went to get “doner.” I didn’t order the doner, but essentially, it’s this large slab of meat on a rotating pole and the employee shaves meat off of it, then adds onion, cabbage, tzatziki, etc. and throws it on a wrap or rolls it up. I tried it, it’s good. Just odd. I opted for falafel instead. We departed after lunch for Weimar, where we are currently located. Weimar was Bach’s organist job after Arnstadt, and it paid even better. Bach literally just kept moving to new places because he could get a better paying job. He had hustle, for sure – no real allegiance to any one church or town.
We’re in a very hipster, young hostel called “Labyrinth,” which has fantastic wifi considering our last two hostels had either no wifi or a terrible connection. This hostel also has sweet graffiti designs on its walls and no two rooms are exactly alike. My roommate and I have an incredible lofted bed with a couch and sitting area underneath it – pretty swanky. She and I embarked on a mission: doing laundry. We may have had some awkward German-English interactions with the laundromat owner, but we ultimately figured it out and now have clean underwear!
Today was utterly glorious because the sun was out all day AND we visited two inspiring places: the Goethe House and Museum and the Liszt House. Prior to today, I knew virtually nothing of Goethe, the esteemed German writer and poet, which is a deep tragedy. His house was utterly inspiring and demonstrated someone with a deep appreciation for life and art.
We first visited Goethe’s house. My professors were raving about his staircases, because they mimic staircases from Greek and Roman times. They’re very wide and short, so it doesn’t really feel like you’re going up. They were nice, sure, but I don’t understand why they were raving. Walking through Goethe’s house, you can’t help but love his brightly colored walls (pink, yellow, green, turqoise, sky blue…) and rooms full of all types of art – busts, paintings, ceramic dishware. Its entire design was created with the intention of inspiring creativity and thought, and it worked. Moreover, the sunlight filtering in through the windows overlooking the gardens was stunning and refreshing – Goethe had a real love for nature. The best room was his study, the “Green Room.” Goethe believed green was the only color that produced “real satisfaction.” The room was set up almost exactly as it had been when Goethe died, complete with exquisite wood cabinets, chairs, and counters, plus a stand for him to write at. On the table was a pillow to rest his arm on when he would write for long periods of time. Finally, there were many scientific instruments for him to experiment with, as he had an obsession with the theory of color. The only thing that would’ve made this visit better would have been the German staff not quibbling with us every time we accidentally brushed up on something.
While the house was fun to explore, the museum was really worthwhile because of its flowing design and the information it provided. Goethe was a collector of everything: coins, artwork, rocks, animal skeletons. He clearly had a passion for just living, and he kept all of these objects as memories to maintain his wide breadth of knowledge. He had highly coherent and determined thoughts on love, what it means to be “genius,” force, novelty, nature, travel, and art. For instance, he believed force should never be aggressive, but rather a demonstration of strength and power. In terms of art, he believed imitating nature was not as important as just knowing the principles of nature. And finally, a genius is someone who learns from examples and consistently focuses on developing talents. Goethe lived for the present and valued knowledge through observation, yet also was, for all intents and purposes, a rich hoarder. He seemed like he just wanted to hold onto all parts of life, art, and knowledge and cherish each and every one.
I left Goethe’s house and museum feeling very inspired, even if I may have done a lousy job explaining it. I just want to strive to form my own life philosophies as powerful, consistent, and meaningful as his.
In the afternoon, we visited the Liszt House, a museum commemorating Franz Liszt, a renowned German pianist and composer. Liszt is not as well known as a composer because he never really settled into one domain. He wrote some, improvised on others’ work, simply played piano, and was a priest for half the year. He’d travel long distances and perform incredible pieces on rote memorization or on sight. He was the first composer to really attract large, cheering crowds, as his playing was very passionate and wild, creating a “Lisztomania” (no, not the Phoenix song). The museum itself was very small, with just a recreation of his rooms on one floor and music clips on the ground floor, but it was still worthwhile. The exhibit was still relevant, particularly because we saw some common themes – Liszt wrote a fugue based on Bach’s name (“h” is performed musically by B flat, so Bach often wrote pieces with the musical phrase B – A – C – B flat), had a miniature of Wartburg Castle in his study, and decorated his bedroom solely with a portrait of St. Elizabeth.
I am pleased that we have one more day in Weimar, as this is the biggest town we’ve visited and there’s simply much more energy. Tomorrow should be a big day, as we’re visiting a concentration camp in the morning and then seeing a German opera version of “Othello” in the evening. For now, I’m just glad to have caught up on these posts, for any of you reading and interested. Onto to Kothen on Saturday!
Comments
Beautiful description of the Brahms and Goethe haunts.
Unkie took a line from a Goethe poem for Mutty’s gravestone.
Thank you.
Love,
Doc