Music-based Highlights

Maybe a day trip by train from Munich to Salzburg? Always wonderful music going on there!

If you're in Munich long enough for day trips, two that you might enjoy are Salzburg (for the Mozart and SOM connections) and Regensburg for the glorious organ in the cathedral - the "largest and heaviest hanging organ in the world". Both are easy day trips from Munich.

Bayeuth for Wagner. Out of your way NE of Nuremberg.

Bayeuth for Wagner. Out of your way NE of Nuremberg.

For organs I'd contact the respective departments for church music (Amt für Kirchenmusik) in the cities along your route (google for "Kirchenmusik NN", where NN = the name of the city / town). In my experience, it's often possible to arrange a demonstration of an organ. E.g., for the famous Ulm Münster and it's organs I'd contact the Münster Kantorei:
http://www.ulmer-muenster.de/muensterkantorei/kontakt.html . For Augsburg:
kirchenmusik@bistum-augsburg.de (catholic) or
info@annamusik.de (protestant, KMD Michael Nonnenmacher). BTW, St. Anna ist the church of the former Carmelite convent, where Luther stayed during his examination at the diet of 1518.

I did something like that recenty in Ansbach where we wanted to see and hear the recently reconstructed splendid baroque Wiegleb organ in St Gumbertus and we were given a two hours exclusive concert by the chief organist.

Hi,

Given your itinerary this time, I recommend the cathedral in Ulm, (das Ulmer Münster.)

"such as a glorious church organ...." Not on your itinerary this time but other places in Germany...Magdeburg, (der Magdeburger Dom), Köln (der Kölner Dom), the Johanneskirche in Lüneburg near Hamburg,

"...a museum dedicated to a composer." As "music lovers" you should be going elsewhere in Germany so as to track down these

places, Bonn (Beethoven Haus), Hamburg ( Brahms), Halle (GF Händel), Eutin/Holstein (Carl Maria von Weber), Leipzig (the houses/museums of Bach, F. Liszt, Schumann, Wagner, Mendelsohn), and Dresden (Carl Maria von Weber)

The inclusion of Ulm reminds me of one of the lesser known composers:

"Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Bach. Names that will live for ever. But there is one composer whose name is never included with the greats. Why is it that the world never remembered the name of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?"

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Passau's cathedral has one of the largest organs in the world, with daily midday concerts (except Sunday). Nuremburg's St. Lorenz is in the the top 20 organs worldwide for size and also offers frequent daytime concerts. Several years ago Michael Barone, host of public radio's Pipedreams, led a tour of southern Germany, and you can google it to find descriptions of organs that group visited in Munich and other nearby cities and monasteries. This year there are a number of special organ events in honor of the 500th anniversary of Luther's 95 Theses, so you should have some great concert options. Enjoy! Jan

Both Stuttgart and Munich have world class opera houses - I'd first check what's on stage there!

Ulm is "minorly famous" for being one of the earliest places that the conductor Herbert von Karajan held a professional post. But don't go to Ulm just because of that!