Polish Silesia

The Katowice Music Academy was established in 1929 and later named after Szymanowski. The composer Henryk Gorecki studied (1955-60) and worked (from 1965) here; he died in Katowice in 2010.

In the former Stadtpark there is a Chopin monument.

Georg Philipp Telemann stayed during the summers of 1704-07 in the castle of the princes of Anhalt-Köthen-Pleß. Today a museum; baroque festival in the mirror hall.

The composer Viktor Ullmann was born here in 1898. He was baptized in the church of Mary Magdalena, but being of Jewish descent, he was killed in Auschwitz in 1944. In the concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezin in the Czech Republic) he wrote the well known opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis.

The composer Henryk Gorecki was born here in 1933 ‘near the railway station’ – further information is lacking. He was one of the initiators of the Warsaw Autumn Festival. His Third Symphony or Symphony of Sorrowful Songs from 1976 became extremely popular and even reached a high position on hit lists in 1992.

Beethoven traveled in September 1806 with count Lichnowsky to Silesia and visited the Lichnowsky castles in Hradec nadMoravici (CZ) andthisKrzyżanovice. Also Liszt stayed here, in 1843 and two weeks in 1848, together with Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein. The castle was rebuilt in 1856.

Beethoven’s visit to this castle in September 1806 has been documented. His 2^nd Symphony was played by the private orchestra of Franz Graf von Oppersdorf, whose family owned the castle since 1582 (until 1935). Later on Beethoven dedicatedhis 4^th Symphony to Count Oppersdorf.

Birthplace of Józef Elsner, °1769. He was the second teacher of Chopin. Now it is the Grodków music school. On the Rynek, before the townhall, a monument for Elsner was erected.

Carl Maria von Weber stayed from autumn 1806 until February 1807 with prince Eugen of Württemberg in the castle of CarlsruhebeiBrieg, which would be destroyed in 1945 by the Red Army, like the Weber monument there; the extended park with the castle ruin can still be visited. Weber worked here at his two symphonies and performed them with the count’s orchestra.

A new Weber monument has been erected in 2010 before the church of St. Sophia in the centre of the town. Yearly Weber Festival (June).

During the season of 1804-05, Weber – only 18 years old – worked as Kapellmeister at the Nationaltheater in Breslau and gained a lot of theatre experience, which he should utilize during later engagements. Where his house had stood a school was built on which a plaque was placed.

Music played a great role in the beautiful city of Wrocław/Breslau. The lutanist and composer Silvius Weiß was born here in 1686, the pianist and composer Moritz Moszkowski in 1854. Weber (>3101) and Max Bruch have worked here; Mendelssohn, Chopin and Spohr appeared in the town. In 1880 Johannes Brahms was made doctor honoris causa of the University and composed the AkademischeFestouvertüre, which was performed in the Aula Leopoldinum. This magnificent room and the OratoriumMarianumare still used as a concert hall.

Brahms has his monument since 2003, an obelisk in the Botanic Garden of the University.

Theatre for opera and ballet. Originally it was built in 1839-41 after a design by C. F. Langhans; after fires in 1865 and 1871 it was rebuilt. Outside, on płacTeatralni, is a Chopin monument.

Since 2015 Wrocław has the disposition of an ultra modern concert hall with 1800 seatsand three smaller concert halls in the same building, shortly called NFM.

Mendelssohn visited this spa (then Bad Reinerz) in 1823, but more attention is given to Chopin, who stayed in 1826 and gave his first public recital. There are two Chopin monuments, from resp. 1897 and 1976. The hall in which he appeared is extant and still used for the yearly Chopin festival in summer.

A third spa is the former Bad Salzbrunn, now SzczawnoZdrój,today a part of Walbrzych. Supposedly Henryk Wieniawski has been here, because at the Kurtheater is a plaque and in the park a monument commemorating him. During the summer months a Wieniawski festival.

A third spa is the former Bad Salzbrunn, now SzczawnoZdrój,today a part of Walbrzych. Supposedly Henryk Wieniawski has been here, because at the Kurtheater is a plaque and in the park a monument commemorating him. During the summer months a Wieniawski festival.

The ancestors of Paul Hindemith lived in Naumburg an der Queis, his father was born here. The composer, born in Hanau near Frankfurt/Main in 1895m, lived here from 1899 until 1902 with his grandparents. Nice place, but no tangible traces of the Hindemiths found.

The Hohenzollern palace in the former Löwenberg had the disposition of a fine concert hall. The Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen fostered the progressive music of his time and invited Berlioz to give a concert with his orchestra. It was given on 19.IV.1863 before 600 listeners; public and composer were very content.

Also Franz Liszt visited the palace. It still exists as the present town hall, but the praised large concert hall was reduced and changed into a dull conference room.