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The 1840s in Berlin: Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer

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There were few signs that the Berlin of the first half of the nineteenth century would become a world capital of music by century’s end. Musicians didn’t like the city, especially the ones who had lived and worked there, such as Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn. Common complaints centered around Berlin being conservative, unwilling to try anything … Read more

The 1903 fiasco of a festival for the Richard Wagner monument

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A monument for Richard Wagner, and the first for any composer in Berlin, was unveiled as part of a five-day festival in 1903. (A Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven Denkmal followed in 1904.) The statue of Wagner was by the sculptor Gustav Eberlein, who had also made some of the figures of German heroes and leaders lining the Siegesallee. Wagner … Read more