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Guide to Bach Tour
Sangerhausen [V] [F] |
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Contents |
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Description | History
J.S. Bach: Connection | Events in Life History | Performance Dates of Vocal Works | Festivals & Cantata Series
Features of Interest | Information & Links
PhotosL Part 1 | Part 2: St. Jacobi Kirche | Part 3 | Maps |
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Description |
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Sangerhausen is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, without being part of it. It is situated southeast of the Harz, approx. 35 km east of Nordhausen, and 50 km west of Halle (Saale). |
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Country: Germany | State: Saxony-Anhalt | District: Mansfeld-Südharz | Area: 207.63 | Population: 31,000 (June 2008) |
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History |
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The more than 1000 years old town, famous for the mining industry that was very important for the development of the town, and for the biggest rose collection in the world, is situated at the slopes of the southern Harz Mountains which here form the northern border of the “Goldene Aue” - a large and very fertile lowland plain between Harz and Kyffhäuser Mountains. The Franconians founded the town itself in the 6th century.
Archeologically it has been proved that there were already settlements here in Neolithic Times (4500 - 1700 B.C.) The name Sangerhausen seems to indicate that settlers cleared the forest by singeing it off. The name of the town “Sangerhusen” is mentioned for the first time in the documents of the Fulda Monastery between 780 and 802 A.D. In the tithe registry of the Hersfeld Monastery Sangerhausen is mentioned in the middle of the 9th century.
Sangerhausen is one of the oldest towns in the historical region of Thuringia. The first document which is dated and in which the town is called “Sangirhusen” is by Otto III and was signed on October 4, 991. In this document the town is mentioned as appertaining to the estates of the emperor. By marriage it passed to the landgrave of Thuringia, and after 1056 it formed for a while an independent country. Around the year 1194 Sangerhausen must have got town charter, which is documented in 1204. Having been again part of Thuringia, in 1247 (or 1249) the Wettin margraves of Meißen got the town. They enlarged it and made it to a border fortification.
In the centuries to follow the town got under the government of different rulers, for example the margraves of Brandenburg (1291), the dukes of Braunschweig and of Weißenfels. In 1372 it passed to Saxony and formed a portion of that territory until 1815, when it was united with Prussia.
Already in the 13th century a planned enlargement of the town in western direction started. The building structure of the old part of the town (15th - 18th centuries) has been preserved to a large part. The centre of the town - that are the streets Göpenstraße, Kornmarkt, and Markt – with the Renaissance Town Hall and patrician houses is classified as a historical monument. It shows the development of the town.
On January 1, 2008, the municipality of Wippra was incorporated. |
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Bach Connection |
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Gottfried Christoph Graffenhayn, principal organist at Jakobikirche (St. Jacobi), Sangerhausen's largest church, and town judge in Sangerhausen, was buried on July 9, 1702. The 17-year-old J.S. Bach applied for the position, probably by recommendation of the mayor and the council. The official search process had originally led the town council formally to elect J.S. Bach. But in November 1702, the 28-year-old Johann Augustin Kobelius was appointed through the intervention of Duke Johann Georg of Saxe-Weißenfels, whose realm at the time included Sangerhausen (which also served as a secondary ducal residence). J.S. Bach’s first official job came couple of months later, in January 1703, when he joined the capelle of Duke Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar as a court musician.
In 1736 the position of organist at Jakobikirche was vacant again and so J.S. Bach recommended his son Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach [47], who was appointed in January 1737 for the position his father lost 35 years earlier. For this reason J.S. Bach travelled again to Sangerhausen. Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach did not stay for a long time in Sangerhausen. In 1738 he quit his job as an organist and dissapeared. At the beginning of 1739 matriculated at the University of Jena and died soon after. |
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Events in Life History of J.S. Bach |
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Date/Year |
Event |
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Lüneburg & Weimar (1700-1703) |
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July 9 +, 1702 |
Successful application for a post as town organist in Sangerhausen; by ducal interference, the post is given to someone else |
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Leipzig (1731-1740) |
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Jan 14, 1737 |
Appointment of son Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach [47] (1715-1739) as organist of Jakobikirche, Sangerhausen |
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Performance Dates of J.S. Bach’s Vocal Works : None. |
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Bach Festivals & Cantata Series : None. |
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Features of Interest |
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Altes Rathaus ("Old Town Hall"): erected in 1431-1437 after a previous edifice had been burned in 1358.
Marienkirche (Church of St. Mary): built in 1350 in Gothic style.
Jakobikirche (Church of St. James): built 1457-1542; a late Gothic hall edifice with a nave and three aisles. It has a 61 m-high, slightly tilting bell tower with a Baroque cover. The interior has a rich decoration painted by Georg Bottschild in 1665, while the choir stalls and the high altar are from an Augustinian monastery closed in 1539. It houses also numerous tombs and effigies.
Ulrichkirche (Church of St. Ulrich): one of the most interesting Romanesque edifices in Germany. It is a basilica built in 1116-1123, with a bell tower added in the 15th century. It has a nave and two aisles with groin vault. The eastern part has five apses.
Altes Schloss ("Old Castle"): built by the lords of Meissen. Only a tower now survives. The New Palace or the Neues Schloss: as built by Kaspar Tryller, minister of Finances of the Electorate of Saxony, from 1612 to 1622. It is a Renaissance style, and now houses the county court.
Herz-Jesu-Kirche (Sacred Heart Church): built and consecrated in 1894 within only one year in Neo-Gothic style.
In the vicinity are the famous Kyffhäuser Monument and the so-called Barbarossa Cave, the only anhydrite cave in Europe which ca be visited by tourists. Sangerhausen is also home to the Europa-Rosarium, the largest collection of roses in the world, created in 1903. |
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Videos
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Information & Links |
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Rosenstadt Sangerhausen GmbH - Tourist-Info
Markt 18
06526 Sangerhausen
Phone: +49-3464-19433 | Fax: +49-3464-515336
Website: http://sangerhausen-tourist.de/ [German/English]
E-mail: info@sangerhausen-tourist.de
Berg- & Rosenstadt Sangerhausen (Official Website) [German]
Cityreview: Sachsen Anhalt > Sangerhausen [German]
Sangerhausen (Meinestadt) [German]
Sangerhausen (HARZPoint) [German]
St. Jacobi Gemeinde Sangerhausen [German]
Die Ulrichgemeinde Sangerhausen [German]
Sangerhausen (Wikipedia) [German] |
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Prepared by Aryeh Oron (March 2004 - December 2009) |
