Guide to Bach Tour

Contents

Description | Events in Life History of J.S. Bach | Performance Dates of J.S. Bach’s Vocal Works | Features of Interest | Information & Links | Photos | Maps

Description

Hamburg is Germany's second largest city (behind Berlin) and its principal port. The official name Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg recalls its membership in the medieval Hanseatic League and the fact that Hamburg is one of Germany's sixteen Bundesländer rather than part of a state. The state and administrative city cover 750 km² with 1.8 million inhabitants, while another 750,000 live in neighbouring urban areas. The wider Hamburg metropolitan region including nearby districts of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony covers 18,100 KM with a population of 4 million.

Founded in the first decade of the 9th century as Hamma Burg ("fortified town"), it was designated the seat of an bishopric (834) whose first bishop Ansgar became known as the Apostle of the North. In 845 a fleet said to number 600 Viking ships came up the Elbe river and destroyed Hamburg, at that time a place of around 500 inhabitants. Hamburg was two years later combined with Bremen as the bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. In 1030 the city was burned down by king Mieszko II of Poland. The see was finally moved to Bremen after further raids in 1066 and 1072, this time by Slavs from the east.

Frederick I "Barbarossa" is said to have granted free access up the lower Elbe to Hamburg in a charter of 1189. Hamburg's proximity to the main trade routes of the North and Baltic Seas quickly made it a major port of northern Europe, and its alliance (1241) with Lübeck on the Baltic is considered the origin of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities. However, Frederick's document, still at display at the town museum, is known to be a fake from around 1265. Therefore Hamburg does not hold city rights.

In the 1520s the city authorities embraced Lutheranism, and Hamburg subsequently received Protestant refugees from the Netherlands and France. At times under Danish sovereignty while a part of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1768 it gained full Danish recognition as an Imperial Free City. Annexed briefly by France (1810-14), Hamburg suffered severely during Napoleon I's last campaign in Germany, but experienced its fastest growth during the latter half of the 19th century, when its population more than quadrupled to 800,000 as the growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's third-largest post.

Hamburg was destroyed by fire several times, notably in 1284 and 1842. The last and greatest destruction came in World War II, when the city suffered a series of devastating air raids (1943). Today's inner city therefore hosts almost no buildings from before 1842 and even few from before 1945. In February 1962 the city's low-lying areas were affected by severe flooding. The city boundaries were extended in 1937 with the Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz (Greater Hamburg Act) to incorporate neighbouring Wandsbek, Harburg-Wilhelmsburg and Altona. During World War II and in response to Germany levelling Coventry two days before, the Royal Air Force began to bomb Hamburg in November 1940. Later, in Operation Gomorrah the British bombed Hamburg in July 1943, which caused a firestorm that killed 42,000 German civilians. By war's end at least 50,000 Hamburg residents died from Allied attacks.

The population of the city proper peaked in the mid-1960s at 1.85 million, but has recovered from a mid-1980s low of under 1.6m. Growth is now concentrated in the suburban areas.

Football: Hamburg is home of the Hamburger Sport Verein (HSV) and the FC St. Pauli. The HSV is the only football club never to get relegated from the Bundesliga. In 1983 the HSV won the European club competition by beating Juventus Turin 1:0 in Athens. The most well-known players to have played for the HSV are Uwe Seeler and Kevin Keegan.

During the early 1700’s, J.S. Bach made frequent visits to Johann Adam Reinken in Hamburg. In November 1720 J.S. Bach made another visit to Hamburg, in which he gave recital at St. Katharine-Kirche in the presence of Reinken. During his visit several of his Cantatas, included BWV 21, were also performed. He was a candidate for organist post at Jakobikirche, but in December he withdrew his candidacy. In March-April 1768, J.S. Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, aged 54, the most famous keyboard player and teacher in Europe of his time, assumed a new position in Hamburg. His duties there were similar to those of his father in Leipzig: to act as Kantor of the Johanneum (the Lateinschule) and director of music in five principal churches. He served there until his death in 1788.

Another musical connection for which Hamburg is known, is giving the Beatles a start in their musical career in the early 1960’s. They played at the Star-Club, which was located in the district St. Pauli near the perhaps most famous street of Hamburg, the Reeperbahn.

Events in Life History of J.S. Bach

Date/Year	Event
Lüneburg & Weimar (1700-1703)
1700-1702	Frequent visits to Johann Adam Reinken in Hamburg
Köthen (1713-1723)
Nov 1720	Visit to Hamburg; offer of organist post at Jakobikirche declined
Posthumous Years (1750-1800)
Dec 14, 1788	Death of son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (age 74) in Hamburg

Performance Dates of J.S. Bach’s Vocal Works

Date	Event	BWV	Title	Remarks
1720 [Köthen]
Nov, mid-23, 1720	[Hamburg]	21	Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis

Features of Interest	Information & Links
Außenalster Jungfernstieg Rathausmarkt St. Jakobikirche Kontorhäuser (Counting House Building) Altstadt Deicstraße St. Katharine-Kirche Hauptkirche St. Michaelis Hamburger Kunsthalle (Fine Arts Museum) Museun fur Kunst und Gewerbe (Museum of Decorative Arts) Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte (Historical Museum)	Hamburg (Official Website) [various languages] Hamburg Tourism [various languages] Hamburg-Web [German] Hamburg (Wikipedia) [various languages] Cityreview: Hamburg [German] City Panoramas: Hamburg Hamburg (Meinestadt) [German] Bildarchiv Hamburg [German] Bildagentur Hamburg [German] Landesmedienzentrum Hamburg [German] Hamburgisches Architekturarchiv [German]

Prepared by Aryeh Oron (March 2004)

Back to the Top

Last update: ýMarch 30, 2004 ý21:21:44