Location of the Old Conservatory

The first college of music in today's Germany, the Leipzig Conservatory of Music, was opened on 2 April 1843 in the courtyard of the old Gewandhaus on Neumarkt. The most famous co-founder was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847), who was the Gewandhaus conductor at the time. Other renowned Conservatory members included, among others, Gewandhaus concertmaster Ferdinand David (1810 - 1873), pianist Ignaz Moscheles (1794 - 1870), and composers Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), Niels W. Gade (1817 - 1890) and Carl Reinecke (1824 - 1910).

The subjects initially only included piano, violin, organ, voice and composition. It was only in the course of the 19th century that the range of courses was extended to include the most common orchestral instruments. The conservatory quickly gained international fame, partially through its close cooperation with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Students, both men and women, from numerous European countries and later from the USA came to study here. Particularly well-known students of the first decades were Edvard Grieg, who stayed in Leipzig from 1858 to 1862, and Leos Janacek, who attended the conservatory from 1879 to 1880. In 1887 the conservatory moved into its present building at Grassistraße 8 in the Musikviertel, today's University of Music and Theatre.