The Life & Music of JS Bach (1685-1750)
Tour to Weimar, Köthen, Eisenach, Mühlhausen & Leipzig
with Peter Medhurst & Thomas Abbott
7 days from £2,399
31 March to 6 April 2017
Download itinerary and application form: TTM2923 Peter Medhurst Bach lo
The Itinerary
Day 1
The day begins with our scheduled flight from Gatwick Airport to Berlin Schönefeld. On arrival, we meet Peter and Thomas and transfer by coach to Weimar. En route, we travel to Halle where we have a coffee break prior to visiting the museum and musical instrument collection dedicated to the life of Handel – JS Bach’s exact contemporary. We then make our way to Halle Cathedral where GF Handel played the organ, and where Peter will give the first of his organ recitals. Afterwards, we continue our journey to Weimar and check into the Hotel Elephant on the Marktplatz, a superb 5* hotel dating back to 1696, for a three night stay. In the evening we have a private drinks reception followed by dinner at the hotel with wine included.
Day 2
It was at the Weimar Court that JS Bach spent the first third of his career (1708-18) and our lecture this morning introduces the events of this important part of Bach’s life. Afterwards, we go on a guided walking tour of Weimar, during which we visit the Herder Church – where Peter will play the organ – and then take a private tour of Weimar Palace, visiting its state rooms and art collection. A light lunch is included. In the afternoon we explore Franz Liszt’s House in Marienstraße. The pianist-composer Liszt was a Bach enthusiast and not only performed Bach’s keyboard pieces in his concerts, but made numerous transcriptions of his music for the piano. This evening is at leisure.
Day 3
Prior to his musical appointment at the Weimar Court, Bach spent his formative years in Eisenach, and held organist posts at nearby Mühlhausen and Arnstadt. These places are on our agenda today. So, after our morning lecture on the early years of Bach’s life (1685-1708), we make our way by coach to Mühlhausen for a walking tour of the old town and a visit to St Blasius (Bach’s church). This is followed by an included light lunch. We then travel on to Eisenach, where Bach was born in 1685, and visit the Bach Museum before making our way to the medieval Wartburg Castle for a private tour. Time permitting, we visit Arnstadt en route back to our hotel. This evening is at leisure.
Day 4
Today we leave Weimar for Leipzig and, subject to opening, we plan to visit the Heinrich Schütz Museum in Weissenfels (Schütz is regarded as the most important German composer before Bach). After an included light lunch we make our way to Naumburg. Following a guided tour of St Wenzel Church, Peter gives a recital on the 52 stop organ which Bach helped to design. We continue on foot to Naumburg Cathedral for a guided tour of this renowned landmark of the German late Romanesque. On arrival in Leipzig we check in for a three night stay in the 5* Steigenberger Grand Hotel, which is just a moment’s walk from St Nicholas’ Church, where Bach gave the premiere of his St John Passion. After checking into the hotel there will be some free time to do a little exploring of the city. Before our included dinner this evening, we re- convene for a lecture on Bach and his Leipzig period (1723-50).
Day 5
After a morning lecture on Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, we travel by coach to Köthen and visit the Palace where Bach spent the middle period of his working life (1716- 23) and where he wrote the concertos that we studied this morning. We then travel to Wörlitz to visit the famous Palace and Gardens. After an included light lunch we return to Leipzig, but with time permitting, we visit the Grassi Museum containing an excellent musical instrument collection. This evening is at leisure.
Day 6
This morning’s lecture examines some of the highlights of Bach’s church cantatas. The rest of the day is spent in Leipzig. In the morning we visit the Bach Museum in Thomaskirchhof and take a tour of the adjacent St Thomas’s Church where Bach spent the last 27 years of his life as director of the choir. We follow this with an included lunch and then go on a walk through Leipzig’s historic centre, visiting the Mendelssohn House (Felix Mendelssohn was another Bach enthusiast, and in 1829 organised the first modern performance of the St Matthew Passion) and the Robert Schumann Apartments (subject to opening). Later, we enjoy a farewell dinner with wine included in a local restaurant.
Day 7
After checking out of our hotel, we travel back to Berlin for our flight home. En route (and final flight times permitting) we visit the Moritzburg Museum in Halle, recognised as possessing one of the most important art collections in Germany. We also enjoy a final included lunch together, after which we continue to Schönefeld Airport in good time for our early evening flight back to London Gatwick.
NB: Please note we reserve the right to alter the above itinerary if required for operational reasons. Given the historic nature of the places visited, a certain degree of walking will be involved, and this holiday may not be suitable for those with mobility problems. This holiday and the flights are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Tailored Travel’s ATOL number is 5605.
Features
Tour limited to 24 passengers
Lectures by Peter Medhurst every day
Thomas Abbott – professional tour manager & art historian
3 private organ recitals
5* hotels in Weimar & Leipzig
6 two-course lunches
3 dinners included
Direct scheduled flights from London Gatwick to Berlin
All excursions, entrance fees & guided tours included
Executive coach in Germany
Audio headsets included on days 2 to 6
Gratuities for the tour manager, driver & at all restaurants where meals are included
Any air holidays and flights in this brochure are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Tailored Travel’s ATOL number is 5605
Three nights at the 5* Hotel Elephant in Weimar (www.hotelelephantweimar.com), wonderfully located on the Marktplatz, and another three nights at the 5* Steigenberger Grand Hotel in Leipzig 
(www.steigenberger.com), just a moment’s walk from St Nicholas’ Church. Facilities at both hotels include a restaurant and bar and all rooms are en suite and feature a television and a mini bar.
Extras to the tour
Insurance £36
Single supplement
(double room for sole use) £299
Upgrade to larger deluxe room at Hotel Elephant in Weimar (twin/double only) £80 per room
Local accommodation tax to be paid directly to the hotel (approximately €2 per person per night)
Flight details may be subject to change. Price based on twin share. Minimum numbers required. Normal booking conditions apply.
Download itinerary and application form: TTM2923 Peter Medhurst Bach lo
The Art and Music Experts
Thomas Abbott (left) graduated in Psychology and Art History at Carleton College, Minnesota, and studied at the Louvre School of Art History in Paris. 1987 he moved to Berlin leading tours in Germany, specialising, of course, in the German capital. While in Berlin, Thomas commenced and completed his graduate studies in the history of art and architecture, specialising in the art of the Italian and German Baroque.
Peter Medhurst (right) is well-known in the world of the arts as a singer, pianist, scholar and lecturer, who in addition to his appearances on the concert platform and in the lecture hall, sets aside time to devise and lead tours abroad for small groups of art and music connoisseurs. His particular interests are centred on the music, art and history of Vienna, Salzburg (with its strong Mozart link), Berlin, Halle (Handel’s birthplace), Dresden, Venice, and Delft (with its Vermeer and 17th century Dutch School connections). He did his training at the Royal College of Music, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Peter Medhurst talks about Bach
. . . . . the high king of the late Baroque
Hausmann’s portrait of Bach
The only portrait that we have of Johann Sebastian Bach was painted by Elias Gottlob Hausmann in 1746, just four years before Bach’s death at the age of 61. Since it is the only surviving image we have of the composer, it is replicated – quite rightly – over and over again in biographies, on CDs covers, in concert programmes, and many other media where publishers would have audiences connect with the illusive man who lies behind the music.
The portrait’s pluses and minuses
The portrait – and there are several versions of it – raises, unfortunately, many pluses and many minuses. First, and on the down side, it is the work of a minor court painter whose surviving output varies considerably in style and quality. Hausmann’s impression of Bach leans towards stiffness and severity, and with its ‘old man in a wig syndrome’ may only succeed in distancing the composer from his admirers.
Bach’s pre-occupation with musical form
Second, the portrait enforces Bach’s pre-occupation with form, counterpoint and musical puzzles, since in his right hand he holds a copy of his Canon triplex a 6 voc. The canon is a musical form based on the principle of strict imitation, in which an initial melody is imitated at a specified time interval by one or more parts, either at the unison (ie: the same pitch) or at some other pitch. The canon in the portrait is number 13 out of a sequence of 14 canons produced in Bach’s final years and which are based on the first eight fundamental notes of the aria from the Goldberg Variations. The reason that there are 14 canons in the sequence is because it represents Bach’s name in the numerical alphabet: 2 + 1 + 3 + 8 = BACH. If a listener is not interested in musical symbolism and such complexities, then immediately there is another reason to have a sense of dis-connection with the composer.
So, we haven’t gone any farther than a brief viewing of Bach’s portrait before we find ourselves deep into the world of musical aesthetics. As I said, pluses and minuses.
Hausmann’s portrait might draw listeners to Bach
On the other hand, it could be argued that a detailed assessment of Hausmann’s painting might actually bring admirers to him. By the portrait’s implying that here is a composer who thinks on the highest musical level, intellectually, it is therefore worth the listener’s while to strive to understand a mind that can produce such astonishing ideas, which work not only theoretically, but succeed as music, too. Beethoven was to prove a similar point some 70, or so, years later.
Listeners need to understand how Bach thinks
There is no doubt that if listeners wish to step beyond the world of Sheep May Safely Graze, Air on a G String or the jollier moments in the Brandenburg Concertos, then they are going to have to work at Bach’s music. They need to understand how Bach thinks, where his ideas come from, what his goals are aesthetically, how he challenges musical convention, what he perfects stylistically as a composer, and above all they need to see how Bach is able to rise above the mechanics of his craft in order to produce music that radiates humanity, vision, warmth and love.
The tour gets right to the heart of the greatest of late Baroque composers to see exactly what it is that gives his music its original stamp.
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