Leipzig

   Located in the German province of Saxony, the city prospered from trade from the 12th century and became an important intellectual center through the growing prestige of the University of Leipzig (founded 1409).

   Gregorian chant, sponsored by the town council, was regularly performed in as many as five churches: the St. Nicholas (founded 1160), the St. Thomas (1212), the St. Paul’s (1229, destroyed 1968), the New Church (1235, bombed in World War II, destroyed 1950), and the St. Peter’s (1213, destroyed 1886) located outside the city walls. With the introduction of polyphony, St. Thomas took pride of place among them, and the Thomaskantor became a city officer in 1539 when Leipzig turned to Lutheranism. He was responsible for all the liturgical music in the city, and ranked third in the school for boys. Prominent occupants include Georg Rhaw (served 1518– 1520), Sethus Calvisus (1594–1615), Johann Hermann Schein (1616–1630), Johann Kuhnau (1701–1722), and Johann Sebastian Bach (1723–1750).

   Many Lutheran chorale books were published in Leipzig. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the important publishers Breitkopf & Härtel (1719) and C. F. Peters (1800) were founded there. Sacred music declined in Leipzig in the latter half of the 18th century, as it did throughout Europe, but Leipzig played an important role in its 19th-century revival through organizations such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (founded 1781) and the Singakadamie (1802), which, under the direction of Felix Mendelssohn and others, revived many of Bach’s choral works. In 1859, the Riedel’scher Verein performed the first known complete Mass in B Minor.