The Music of the SalonsMusicians wanted!

16 September 2021, by Webmaster

Photo: Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig

The ‘musical friendship album’ of the pianist and singer Marie Pohlenz is a treasure chest of forgotten compositions from the 19th century. The CSMC digitised the book in cooperation with the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig. Now it’s your turn: Play the pieces and send us your contribution!

Spring 2020: The Covid pandemic paralyses public and cultural life almost worldwide. Full concert halls are out of the question, and many musicians rediscover another kind of musical performance: the living room concert. From their homes, they stream their music to the world.

It is a ‘rediscovery’ because living room concerts were commonplace in the 19th century. Often, what later made it to the big stages was tested here 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.

With your help, these pieces can now be heard again: The CSMC has completely digitised Pohlenz’s album in cooperation with the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig and is now looking forward to your – original or modern – interpretations of the music it contains. Read more about the historical background and how to participate, get inspired, and play along!

• Go directly to the transcriptions of the compositions
• Go directly to the contact form