Specially designed for presentation in highly frequented public places such as train stations, shopping centres, airports, etc., the entertaining exhibition travelled to each of the three partner countries with its own exhibition architecture and offered passers-by a rather "accidental" approach to Bach's music, French dance art and the concept of transnational exchange of ideas, thus reaching a very diverse and broad audience.

In three parts, the exhibition explores the art of movement in the fields of music, dance and ideas and focuses in particular on the European dimension in the music of the time, taking the three countries of Germany, France and Italy as examples. The first part was dedicated to the famous Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, his inspired and inspiring music and the influences on his compositions by Italian composers such as Antonio Vivaldi or the Marcello brothers, but also by the French art of dance, which was popular at court in his day.

The second part took a closer look at this Baroque dance style, presenting various dances, the profession of dance master and the art of writing dances down in dance notation. The third part answered the question of how these impulses from France and Italy came to Saxony in the first place in order to reach the little-travelled Bach, on which paths and in whose hands music and sheet music travelled through Europe.

A special architecture was designed for the exhibition in a seminar of the architecture programme at the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences under the guidance of Professor Ronald Scherzer-Heidenberger. In addition to an appealing design with a clear reference to the content, the premise for the students was that the exhibition elements should be easy to assemble and dismantle, have a small packing size and be easy to transport to Italy and France, sustainable materials that could withstand repeated assembly and disassembly and compliance with stability and fire protection requirements.

The work "Dancing Bach" by Michelle Berger was selected from 11 designs due to its quality as well as its feasibility. In order to translate the design draft into a construction plan, Hentsch Architects was commissioned to support Michelle Berger in the realisation of her work.

Several authors from different fields contributed to the content of the exhibition. For example, the artistic director of the French partner and ensemble Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu was available for an interview in which he describes his view of Bach's music. Dance historian and scholar Gerrit Berenike Heiter wrote the texts for the second part and Dr Christiane Hausmann from Leipzig Bach Archive contributed her expertise to the ideas section.


Exhibition venues (subject to change, will be continuously updated)

16.02.-03.03.24 --- Promenaden Hauptbahnhof Leipzig, Germany with midissage on 29.2.24, 17:00 h

04.03.-23.03.24 --- Weimar Main Station, Germany

27.03.-05.06.24 --- Teatro Comunale, Via del Teatro 8, Modena/Italy

06.06.-06.07.24 --- Ex Albergo Diurno, Piazza Mazzini, Modena, Italy

09.07.-22.07.24 --- Cortile del Melograno, Via dei Servi 21, Modena, Italy

24.07.-05.08.24 --- Palais Delphinal, Montée de l'église, Saint Donat dur l'Herbasse, France

30.10.-18.12.24 --- Höfe am Brühl, Brühl 1, Leipzig, Germany

19.12.24-06.02.25 --- Airport Halle-Leipzig, Germany

08.02.-04.03.25 --- Spandau Arcaden, Berlin-Spandau, Germany

06.03.-14.04.25 --- Stadtbibliothek am Mailänder Platz, Stuttgart, Germany

May & June 2025 --- Dresden Main Station, Germany

Imprint

An Exhibition by
Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, Lyon/France
Teatro Comunale di Modena/Italy
Notenspur Leipzig e.V./Germany

Concept
Notenspur Leipzig e.V.

Preliminary Design
University for Applied Sciences, Department of Architecture, Leipzig/Germany
Student
Michelle Berger, M.A. Architektur
Teacher
Professorship for regional planning and urban development
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Ronald Scherzer-Heidenberger

Design Revision and Detailed Planning
Hentsch-Architektur, Leipzig/Germany
Michelle Berger, M.A. Architektur

Implementation
Urban und Urban Werbe- und Projektgesellschaft mbH, Leipzig/Germany

Authors
Music
Panel 1 +2 Interview with Franck-Emanuel Comte (Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu)
Panel 3 Patrick Favre-Tissot-Bonvoisin (Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu)
Panel 4 Prof. Dr. Werner Schneider (Notenspur Leipzig e.V.)
Dance
Panel 1-4 Gerrit Berenike Heiter
Ideas
Panel 1 & 2 Dr. Christiane Hausmann (Bach-Archiv Leipzig)
Panel 3 Prof. Dr. Werner Schneider (Notenspur Leipzig e.V.)