Location Old Conservatory

The first higher educational institution for music in what is now Germany, the Leipzig Conservatory of Music, was opened on April 2, 1843 in the courtyard of the old Gewandhaus on Neumarkt. The most famous co-founder was the then Gewandhaus conductor Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847). Other renowned colleagues at the conservatory included the concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Ferdinand David (1810 - 1873), the pianist Ignaz Moscheles (1794 - 1870), the composers Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), Niels W. Gade (1817 - 1890) and Carl Reinecke (1824 - 1910).

The institution's curriculum initially only included piano, violin, organ, singing and composition. It was only in the course of the 19th century that the curriculum was expanded to include the standard orchestral instruments. The conservatory quickly gained international fame - partly due to its close collaboration with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Students, both men and women, came from many European countries and later from the USA 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 to its new building at Grassistraße 8 in the music district, today's Hochschule für Musik und Theater.