Music Albums
Many 19th-century musicians maintained a ‘musical friendship album’ in which friends musicians wrote down small composition sketches. The album of singer and pianist Marie Pohlenz brings together prominent figures of the Leipzig music scene of the time. After more than 150 years, we brought the forgotten pieces back to life.
Living room concerts were a vital part of musical practice in the 19th century. Often, what later made it to the big stages was tested at private occasions on a small scale. An important component of this domestic musical culture were ‘musical friendship albums’. Their owners collected small score sketches of well-known or friend musicians in them. This practice resulted in highly individual anthologies.
The album of Marie Pohlenz, a Leipzig pianist and singer, is such a collection of composition entries from the middle of the 19th century. From the summer of 1850 to the autumn of 1853, many well-known Leipzig musicians contributed to it. Today, all the compositions in it have been largely forgotten.
CSMC has started a project to bring the pieces to life again: in cooperation with the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig, we completely digitised Pohlenz’s album and made it accessible to contemprary musicians to play the music it contains. This resulted in several terrific recordings of pieces by Ignaz Moscheles, Ferdinand David, Raimund Dreyschock, and others.
Key Facts
Project coordination: Oliver Huck and Janine Droese
Cooperation partners: Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig
Duration: 2021–2022
Further information: