Kultur in Germany: Weimar Day 2 (22 Sep 2013)

We mentioned in our first Weimar post that the city has been called the spiritual capital of German culture. Here are some reasons why:

• JS Bach (1685-1750) lived here twice, in 1703 and then 1708-1717, though the house he lived in no longer survives. His son CPE Bach was born here.
• Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) lived here pretty well from 1775 to his death.
• Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) lived here from 1787-1789, and then from 1799 until his too early death in 1805.
• Franz Liszt (1811-1886) lived here from 1848 to 1861, and from 1869 until his death he spent much of his life in Weimar, giving master-classes and composing.
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) spent his last few years here in the care of his sister
• Walter Gropius (1883-1969) came here in 1919 and initiated the Bauhaus movement

… not to mention religious rebel Martin Luther; Goethe’s contemporaries and intellectuals, Herder and Wieland; artists Lucas Cranach the Elder, Caspar David Friedrich, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky; and musicians Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.

It was a place where the ruling family actively supported the arts, particularly Anna Amalia, the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach who brought artists and intellectuals to the city making her court an important centre for culture and who was also a composer;  her son Karl August, who employed and supported Goethe; his son Charles Frederick and then his son Karl Alexander. It sounds like quite a dynasty. What a difference a ruler can make!

Multiple sites in Weimar have been “gathered” together and recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Goethe National Museum, including his house

We are becoming fans of the audioguide in these non-English language places, and the audioguide about Goethe was excellent. Goethe was clearly your archetypal “Renaissance man” whose capacity for both intellectual enquiry and work across a wide spectrum of the arts and sciences was truly amazing. He was a huge collector of books, art and objects, and he happily collected copies of classical art, including plaster models, and loved prints because they could be sorted and organised to aid the study of the historical development of art. He had strong ideas about architecture and oversaw the rebuilding of the ducal palace after the catastrophic fire in 1774, and he designed gardens. With Schiller he started a “movement” called Weimar Classicism, which focused on Classical aesthetic and philosophical values of “wholeness and harmony”.

Goethe was a believer in lifelong learning, and in learning from visual study. He loved music and could play the piano but even more loved to have others play for him, such as the young Mendelssohn. He would have friends around for conversation, though apparently some felt he liked to determine the topic!

One little surprise was to come across the Ginkgo – the subject of what is apparently Weimar’s newest museum, but which we think is essentially an exhibition above a shop. We saw the shop but the “museum” had already closed at 3.30pm. Of course, we have ginkgo trees in Canberra but we know them best as highly revered trees in Japan. They are an Asian tree. Well, it appears that Goethe liked them too, and wrote a poem Gingo (that’s how he spelt it) Bilboa using its two-part leaf shape to comment on being two in one, and to symbolise friendship and affection.

Wandering through his house and the nicely presented museum provided an excellent insight into the man we had primarily known of as a poet and the writer of The sorrows of young Werther (which Sue needs to read forthwith!) and Faust.

Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliotek

This is one of the most famous libraries in the world with its stunning Rococo central hall. They only allow 250 people in a day but we were there early and got a spot for 1pm.

It was established by the Duchess Anna Amalia (mentioned above) and is a testament to her love of enquiry and literature. It was catastrophically damaged by fire in 2004 But has been restored and in places, particularly the ceiling, reconstructed. Tens of thousands of books were lost, and the library is now trying to repurchase editions of those that are replaceable. Many of course aren’t. Wikipedia says some 12,500 are irreplaceable.

An interesting part of the library is its collection of busts and portraits. It was apparently unique to have in the one room representations of nobles alongside “middle-class” intellectuals like Goethe, Schiller, and Wieland!

In the downstairs entrance area was an interesting exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Cranach Press which was founded by diplomat-bibliophile-patron-of-the-arts, Count Harry Kessler (whose portrait was painted by Edvard Munch). He believed in the book as a whole work of art and the press went about producing gorgeous books. One of the works we saw was an edition of Hamlet, which won most Beautiful German Book of the Year in 1930. As we’ve said before, the things you learn!

Schillerhaus and Museum

Like the Goethe Museum, Schiller’s also incorporates his residence. Way smaller than Goethe’s home, it was nonetheless interesting and not cheap for its times, particularly given its address. Location, location, location, is not a new concept!

Schiller is probably best known as the man who wrote the words, Ode to Joy, which Beethoven used many years later. Apparently when the tune was adopted as the European anthem in 1972, they didn’t adopt the words, not wanting to give preference to one language over another. (Or, so said the audioguide)

Schiller, born in Swabia, was somewhat of a rebel from the beginning. One contemporary described him as perhaps the most imaginative man who ever existed. He also wrote the play William Tell which, being about Tell’s battle with a tyrant, was, during those Napoleonic times, seen as a criticism of despotism. In fact economic inequality and despotism were common themes for him, and he was known as a playwright of freedom.

The Schiller Museum itself had an exhibition – wahl verwandt schaften – which is a phrase meaning “kindred by choice” or “elective affinities” and the title of Goethe’s third novel. It included works by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (we think we have the right Tischbein!). We didn’t spend long here as there was no English language support but Sue enjoyed Tischbein’s sometimes whimsical animal studies and his “Allegory of the rebirth of the German-speaking nation after the Napoleonic war”.

Gasthaus Scharfe Ecke

It being Sunday many restaurants were closed, but again TripAdvisor came to the rescue, and down a narrow little street on a sharp corner (scharfe Ecke) we found the Gasthaus Scharfe Ecke. It was pretty full but they found a booth for us and we had a lovely, simple German meal in peaceful surroundings, despite the busy-ness. Sue tried Thüringer Klosse. We’ve noticed in gasthaüser, in particular, that they will offer, on appropriate dishes, what they call a “kleine Portion”, that is a small portion which anyone can order, not just children or seniors. For Sue, for example, it meant one huge “Kloss” not two “Klösse” with her dinner! We like having this option.

Three-words

LEN: Museums, Museums, Museums
SUE: Lifelong learning rocks

and the stills…

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and the videos…

The study within Schiller’s house, Weimar

 

Within the Anna Amalia library, Weimar

 

Sue practising her calligraphy, Weimar