Mendelssohn House Leipzig
The Mendelssohn House at Goldschmidtstrasse 12 in Leipzig is a historically unique site of both national and international significance. It works side by side with other important musicians' houses in Vienna, Salzburg and Bonn.
Just as Felix Mendelssohn represents the first half of the nineteenth century musically, the house, built in 1844/45, is also an outstanding example of its time. It illustrates the classicism which the socially emerging middle class favoured, in order to dissociate itself from the Baroque opulence and display of many houses of the nobility.
Mendelssohn's residence was built following the first major expansion of Leipzig during the nineteenth century. The suite of rooms facing the street begins with the largest and most impressive room – the music salon – and comprises four rooms in all.
We know about the new dwelling from a sketch of the music salon made by Mendelssohn himself in a letter of 1847 and his comments in a letter of 29 September 1845 to his long-time friend, the legation secretary Karl Klingemann: ". . . and was concerned first of all about a proper home (since there are no furnished dwellings here and during the trade fair one cannot stay at any of the inns). Fortunately I found the house (here at Königstrasse No. 3, outside the city, near the promenade, with a garden, etc.) . . ."
In 1993 the house was taken over by the International Mendelssohn Foundation and restored. The colour scheme was determined and several of the original records from the time of its construction were preserved.
Today we walk on the floor where Felix Mendelssohn and his family, as well as friends and acquaintances like Clara and Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Louis Spohr and, in all probability, Jenny Lind, once trod.
This is the only residence of Mendelssohn that still exists and was also his last home. Today it is a museum which makes history come alive.
Mendelssohn House Leipzig
Goldschmidt-Str. 12
04109 Leipzig
T 0341 1270-427
www.mendelssohn-haus.de