Leipzig

The first stop on our European Music History trip was Leipzig.

Okay, technically, we arrived in Berlin and spent 5 hours at the main hauptbahnhof (train station) because we weren't sure how long it would take us to get there from the airport... And if it hadn't been raining, we could've explored Berlin a bit. But instead, we roamed around looking for free wi-fi, tried getting Euro's from almost every ATM and failing (so a slight panic set in- NO access to money and only brought $50 cash with us), making sure we were going to be getting on the correct train, etc. But I don't think that's not the sort of thing you want to hear about...

Our purpose for going there was to come here,

Museum fur Musikinstrumente der Universitat Leipzig

(The Musical Instrument Museum at the University of Leipzig)

We came to see Dr. Eszter Fontana-Gát, The Museum's Director, who is also the oldest daughter of Joszef Gát.

Joszef Gát is the subject of Brandon's dissertation.

Brandon came to talk with Eszter more about her father- his life, his history, his teaching, his students, etc. and to see really cool things like this:

his grade book from the Liszt Academy of Music.

Gát took lessons from Bela Bartok and Brandon thought it was super cool to see his signature

And his hand gymnastic book that is referenced in his piano technique book, but is no longer in print.

Brandon was so thrilled after meeting with her. He saw so much, learned what he wanted to learn, and got an invitation of sorts to meet the other 2 sisters who live in Budapest. Such a great opportunity to speak with her!