Classical music sites in Germany

Bayreuth maybe?

With the Erfurt/Eisenach area likely you include also Weimar? Anyway for cultural / historical reasons worth (more a must, although I rather don´t like the word) a visit, but have no idea how much is still there to find about Bach, however there is the Liszt-Haus you can visit.

I would not skip Berlin. We love classical music and have lived in Berlin which is a top spot for classical music!!

www.classictic.com/en/tour_dinner_concert_in_charlottenburg_palace/10398/225714/

www.classictic.com/en/special/berlin-concerts/28

Berlin is far more of a classical music city than the others. Composers might have been born in other cities but they came to Berlin. Actually, Austria too is a classical music dream.

Someone beat me to Bayreuth, although check to see if the restoration work on Wagner's villa has been completed yet.

I haven't visited, but Köthen heavily promotes it's Bach connection. If you decide on including Berlin, it's on the way from Leipzig. And, it's near the amazing garden realms of Dessau and Wörlitz (no classical music connection of which I am aware, just a beautiful area).

Richard Strauss lived for many years in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the town holds a yearly festival in his honor.

Although not particularly associated with any one composer, Berlin is worth visiting for the Philharmonic alone.

And of course, for an illustration of just how obsessed Ludwig II was with Wagner's operas, don't miss Neuschwanstein and Linderhof.

Of course, Berlin is the city for classical music and also Vienna.

Richard Strauss lived in Garmisch and his villa is still preserved, but being owned and used by his family is open to public only by special arrangement so not easy to visit.
If the original poster ventures south, Salzburg is an obvious place to visit. IMHO Mozart's living house is more interesting than its birth house.
The villa owned by Franz Lehar in Bad Ischl is a museum open to public. Vienna has several classical music sites (Joh. Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn are the first coming to my mind)

Good to know about Lehar and Bad Ischl since that's on the itinerary in a couple of weeks. Also on Vienna regarding the houses of Beethoven, Schubert, etc, don't forget that of Mahler.

@ Jill...My comments are based on your intention to leave Berlin and Dresden for another trip if you end up deciding on that. Bonn is worth it for the Beethoven Haus. I would also suggest seeing house of Beethoven's contemporary, Carl Maria von Weber, key composer in the music of German Romanticism, in Eutin/Holstein, not too far from Kiel and can be done as a day trip from Kiel. There is also a house/museum of Weber in Dresden. But Halle an der Saale and Leipzig are enough to keep your music interests occupied.

If you could just include a bit of Austria! I've been to Mozart birth house in Salzburg and the Mozart residence museum. And I just returned last month from my first trip to Vienna where I visited the cemetery where Strauss, Brahms, Schubert are buried and where they have monuments of Beethoven and Mozart. Also, Vienna has a museum called 'Haus der Musik' where you can get a lot more history and view the instruments of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Strauss.

I've also been to Beethoven Haus in Bonn (twice) and thought it very interesting. We did a self-tour and I purchased two Urtext pieces as my own personal souvenir. I also brought home Beethoven pencils for my students (who were thrilled) and a watercolor print of the Beethoven Haus which I framed for my music studio.

Thank you, everyone, for your excellent suggestions. I have been to Vienna and of course loved it, and I'm sure I will return one day. But I have not been to Salzburg and may add that, as well as some of the other cities mentioned. I appreciate the endorsements for the Beethoven Haus and will include that. Bayreuth is another great idea, and I may try to go there also. My time is limited, and I don't want to give Berlin short-shrift (sp?), so I was thinking of going there another time, especially when my partner can join me (he probably can't for this trip).

Close to Leipzig is Zwickau, where Robert Schumann was born. His houses both in Zwickau and in Leipzig are museums today. In Weimar you can visit the Liszt house. In Weißenfels is the Heinrich Schütz museum, and in Bad Köstritz is a second one.
In Zwickau you should also visit the car museum, which not only shows GDR models but also many prewar models of the Auto Union company. Weißenfels is a rather depressing town, but Bad Köstritz is quite nice and offers a good brewery known for their black beers.

Hi,

In the greater Dresden area the Carl Maria von Weber Museum is located in Dresden-Holsterwitz, if you decide to divert time from the Erfurt and Leipzig. In tracking down houses/museums of composers in Germany, don't forget Brahms Haus/Museum in Hamburg.