Stadtpfeifer (Leipzig)
The Stadtpfeifer were in Leipzig for more than 350 years, as in many German cities in earlier times, the musicians employed by the city.
history
The history of the Leipzig city pipers began on July 10, 1479 with the decision of the city council to “make the city and all its citizens useful and pious”. The first Leipzig town pipers were Hans Nagel and his two sons.
The town pipers had to take an examination and take an oath when they took office:
- "The service I have given myself to, I will faithfully and diligently preside, promote the honor of the council, and damage whether I was experienced, report, warn, and reveal, the music in the church, as well as the aveblasen in front of the town hall Waiting diligently / the ones / so to honor me and my companions / it is necessary to do business or catering, not to translate with the wages, but to be content with what is prescribed, and in waiting allow me to invent cheaply and indefatigably. / Faithful and harmless, As God help me. "
This also characterizes the tasks of the town pipers: They had to help shape the music in the churches, to blow regularly at the town hall and to play it for festivities such as magisteria , doctorates , licensing , weddings and other private celebrations.
Although they received a fixed salary from the city, the private celebrations were a necessary pillar of their income. But here too it was stipulated how much could be asked. Payments in kind were also common. The town hall hall was used for larger celebrations, and the musicians played on a raised platform, the whistler's chair . The Stadtpfeiferstuhl is still preserved in the ballroom of the old town hall in Leipzig. For the daily blowing from the town hall, a narrow wrought-iron outlet was attached to the tower below the clock. This brass balcony still exists.
The city also had to provide (work) clothing, housing and instruments. The street with the city apartments for the town pipers, but also the midwives and the police, was in the south of the old town. It has been called Magazingasse since 1839. Before it was popularly known as Stadtpfeifergässchen, but also Wehmütter- or Häschergässchen because of the other professions.
Leipzig town pipers were sometimes also active as a composer , like Johann Christoph Pezel , who was in office from 1669 to 1681, and especially Gottfried Reiche .
Gottfried Reiche was the best known of the Leipzig town pipers. From 1688 he was a journeyman city piper, from 1709 city piper and from 1719 until the end of his life in 1734 a senior city piper. He was an important trumpet virtuoso, also composed pieces for wind instruments and was also known as " Bach's trumpeter". In 1730, when Bach complained to the city council about the poor quality of city pipers, Reiche was probably excluded.
In addition to the trumpet , the prongs , the trombone , the bassoon and the oboe were among the instruments of the town piper. Mastery of the violin was required.
In 1587 the Leipzig town pipers founded a guild and were now also given the privilege of performing theater music. In the 18th century, the capacity of the town pipers was soon no longer sufficient to satisfy the town's musical needs. Bach also instructed the members of the St. Thomas' Choir in playing instruments, and the university students played an increasing role in musical life. In 1743, Leipzig merchants financed 16 musicians, including Stadtpfeifer, to found a musical society, the Leipzig Concert, the nucleus of the Gewandhaus Orchestra . This initially private orchestra took on concert and theater tasks and occasionally also strengthened the town pipers in church music. In 1840 the orchestra was recognized as the city orchestra and more and more replaced the city pipers. On August 22, 1849, Wilhelm Leberecht Barth died as the last town piper, and the office of town piper was now completely revoked.
The anniversary of the founding of the Stadtpfeifer in 1979 was the occasion to celebrate “500 years of Leipzig as a city of music” with concerts, exhibitions and other events. When the New Gewandhaus was completed in 1981, the restaurant located in the house was named Stadtpfeiffer, in keeping with the tradition of the town's musicians .
Magazingasse around 1880 with the former Stadtpfeifer apartments
The city whistle's chair in the ballroom of the old town hall
Stadtpfeiferbalkon at the tower of the old town hall
At the Stadtpfeiffer restaurant
Fountain sculpture Stadtpfeifer in the courtyard of the Gewandhaus
literature
- Gustav Wustmann: The Leipzig Town Musicians , In: From Leipzig's Past , Volume 1, published by Fr. Wilh. Grunow, Leipzig 1885, pp. 311–333
- Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8 , pp. 566/567.
- Bernd Weinkauf , Gerald Große: Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. 2 variations on a theme. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle / Leipzig 1987, ISBN 3-354-00080-5 , pp. 35-39.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gina Klank, Gernot Griebsch: Lexicon of Leipzig street names. Verlag im Wissenschaftszentrum Leipzig, Leipzig 1995, ISBN 3-930433-09-5 , p. 142.