Travelling Musicians - Clara, Edvard and Mikalojus Konstantinas
On her concert tours through Europe in the 19th century, Clara Schumann covered tens of thousands of kilometres – by stagecoach, the first railroads, or even by sleigh. Her colleagues Edvard Grieg from Norway and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis from Lithuania also crisscrossed Europe, giving concerts from Moscow to Paris and from Vienna to Oslo.
Foto: M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunus
The entertaining exhibition "Travelling Musicians" reminds us that travel in the 19th century was very challenging and took a long time. Travellers were glad when they reached the passenger parlour, the lounge for a shorter break. Here they could also have a snack such as coffee or buttered bread. For the coffee break there was only as much time as it took to change the horses or to fill the steam locomotive with water.
Based on the concert journeys of the three musicians, the exhibition presents the circumstances of these journeys, shows photographs and drawings of train stations and stagecoaches, as well as the travel routes of the three composers. Travel albums for each of the three musicians include photographs of their families, as well as quotes from their diaries or drawings from the road, when taking photographs on the road was not yet common, and information about their travel clothing and travel paraphernalia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The exhibition concept was created in a collaboration between Notenspur Leipzig e.V. and Bauhaus University Weimar. Students of architecture drew initial concepts for a micro-architecture, which was especially designed for train stations and airports, as part of a semester project. A final design was selected from all the works, which was implemented by five students with the help of their professors. Prof. Eszter Fontana, a musicologist from Leipzig, provided the content for flags, panels and albums.
As part of the content, short videos on Edvard Grieg and M.K. Čiurlionis were created as well as a 3D model of the Schumann House in Leipzig.
The video "Etude" by Melanie Busina about works and music by M.K. Čiurlionis was created in cooperation with the HTWK Leipzig.
For the midissage of the exhibition at Leipzig Central Station on February 20th, 2020, a chamber ensemble of musicians from the Leipzig Teachers Orchestra played an arrangement of 19th century postal signals.
Arrangement: Jonas Friesel
Recording: Alfredo Lasheras | Genuin
The exhibition is part of the project "European Music Trails" which was implemented by Notenspur Leipzig e.V. together with partners from Lithuania and Norway between 2018 and 2020 and is supported by the European Union's Creative Europe program.
A 3D model of the exhibition pavilion can be viewed online here.
The exhibition made guest appearances at the following stops:
Germany
Weimar Central Station: 19/09–14/11/2019
Leipzig/Halle Airport: 19/11/2019 – 08/01/2020
Chemnitz Central Station: 11/01 – 10/02/2020
Leipzig Central Station: 13/02 – 01/03/2020, midissage 20/02/2020, 17:00
Lithuania
Varėna train station: 04 - 25/03/2020 (roll up version)
Vilnius Central Station: 06/03 - 02/04/2020
Druskininkai train station: 26/03 - 05/07/2020 (roll up version)
Kaunas train station: 03/04 - 01/05/2020
Plungė station: 15/04 - 12/05/2020 (roll up version)
Šiauliai train station: 02 - 31/05/2020
Rietavas Cultural Centre: 13/05 - 03/06/2020 (roll up version)
Klaipėda train station: 01/06 - 01/07/2020
Palanga: 04/06 - 01/07/2020 (roll up version)
Norway
Gjøvik Kultursenter: 02 – 19/09/2020
Sentralen Oslo: 21 – 27/09/2020
Østbanehallen Oslo Central Station: 28/09 – 04/10/2020 (roll up version)
Deichman National Library: 06 – 15/10/2020
Bærums Værk: 17 – 25/10/2020
Drammen station: 27/10 – 05/11/2020
Concept
Prof. Dr. Eszter Fontana, Notenspur Leipzig e.V.
Design
Bauhaus University Weimar
Students
Ann-Kathrin Höltkemeier, Lena Beckmann,
Carla Koch, Alix von Knebel-Doeberitz, Dania Hajjar
Teachers
Professorship of Architectural Design Theory
Prof. DD DI Bernd Rudolf, Dr. Ing. Luise Nerlich
Professorship of Presentation Methodology
Prof. Andreas Kästner, Dipl. Ing. Hagen Höllering
Realisation
Carpentry work - Schreinerei Hartmann GmbH, Walldorf
Exhibition print - TREND Schrift und Werbung, Weimar
We would like to thank the following for providing pictures and documents
Bergen Public Library, The Grieg Archives
M. K. Čiurlionio namai, Vilnius
Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen, KODE
Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur Leipzig
Museum für Musikinstrumente der Universität Leipzig
M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas
Norsk Folkemuseum
Notenspur Leipzig e.V.
Robert-Schumann-Haus Zwickau
Schumann-Haus Leipzig
Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek (SLUB), Dresden
Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig
Universität Leipzig, Edvard-Grieg-Forschungsstelle
University of Bergen, Library
