Composer street names update

In 2009, I wrote about the lack of a Mendelssohn Strasse in Freiburg, despite Freiburg being a progressive city, despite WWII having ended 64 years prior, despite the obvious anti-Semitism in the choice of composer street names. The surprise wasn't so much in the omission than in its lack of post-war correction. Indeed, in 2009, concert programs all over Germany were celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn's birth; you'd think Freiburg would have done something about the absent street name.

Now it's 2022, and time for a two-part update.

Part One

On my way out of town for a long hike two days ago, I passed through the composers-street-names neighborhood, and glanced up in time to notice I was passing Richard-Wagner-Strasse. Many of Freiburg's street signs have supplementary signs with information about the individuals the streets are named for, but I didn't remember Richard-Wagner-Strasse having an explanatory sign in 2009. The interwebs tell me it was added in 2017.

The supplemental sign states:

Die Straßenbenennung erfolgte 1933 mit der Errichtung des Musikerviertels. Wagner ist als Komponist bis heute weltberühmt. In seinem Werk finden sich jedoch auch viele antisemitische Passagen.

The street was named in 1933 with the construction of the Musicians' Quarter. Wagner is world-famous as a composer to this day. In his work, however, many anti-Semitic passages are found. 

It took 84 years, but way to go, Freiburg. I think this is even better than renaming the street.

Part Two

But what of the lack of a Mendelssohn Strasse? The Musicians Quarter still lacks one, but the absence has been addressed in a beautiful way. 

When Freiburg's Hochschule fuer Musik (Music Academy) celebrated its 75th anniversary in November 2021--just eight months ago--the plaza in front of the academy was renamed Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Plaza. I made it part of my walking route today.

The sign reads:

Familie Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Fanny 1805-1847, Felix 1809-1847, Carl 1838-1897. Felix und seine Frau Cécile verbrachten 1837 während ihrer Hochzeitsreise mehrere Wochen in Freiburg. Ihr Sohn Carl war von 1868 - 1873 Professor der Universität Freiburg.

Family Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Fanny 1805-1847, Felix 1809-1847, Carl 1838-1897. Felix and his wife Cécile spent several weeks in Freiburg during their honeymoon in 1837. Their son Carl was a professor at the University of Freiburg 1868-1873.

The sign does not mention that Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy were composers who are world famous to this day, I guess because that would be stating the obvious on a sign with limited space. It took 97 years--or 88 years, depending on how you count (either from the city's 1924 creation of a list of composer names for streets, or from the actual naming of the streets in 1933)--to correct the omission.

Who was that guy again?

I appreciate pedagogic zeal, but what has the world come to when Germans--Germans!--need the namesake of Beethovenstrasse explained on a street sign? The signage department's one-word description of the man's profession seems woefully inadequate, given the effort it must have taken to include it in the first place.

- Beethovenstrasse -
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
Composer

And speaking of stating the obvious, the sign under this peeing statue in the Altstadt reads "Kein Trinkwasser" ("not drinkable water").

Ein Musikalischer Spaß

Freiburg is apparently a city in which laborers and civil servants find subtle ways to express strongly held opinions. Today I learned that someone in Freiburg's city planning department was a Wagnerphile.

I was exploring the neighborhood north of our apartment when I looked up and noticed that three street signs at a five-way intersection were for Brucknerstr., Richard-Strauss-Str., and Richard-Wagner-Str.

"Ah," I thought, "the late Romantics intersection! Must be one of those suburby areas where all the streets are named after a common theme." (This suburb is relatively old, however; one of the houses had 1934 in plaster relief on its exterior.)

I continued down the street and laughed out loud at the next corner, where Brahmsstrasse met Richard-Wagner-Str. Despite the composers' divergent views on musical progress, here their paths permanently intersected. Perhaps the city planner had a sense of humor.

At the next corner, I laughed again: the intersection of Schumannstrasse and Richard-Wagner-Str. But wait a sec...Wagner got the through street; and while Stauss, Bruckner, and Wagner flowed seamlessly into one another, both Brahms and Schumann ended at Wagner. Let's see now, Wagner gave us 15 hours of leitmotifs (and OK, a few gorgeous overtures), and Brahms gave us four of the greatest symphonies and two of the most spectacular piano concertos ever composed (plus the song "Sonntag," with its totally sexy upward leap of a major 9th at the words "Das tausendschöne Herzelein"--man, it makes my knees weak every time)--and Wagner gets the through street?

Mendelssohnstr., alas, was nowhere to be seen. (Indeed, I checked my Freiburg map when I got home and there isn't a Mendelssohnstr. anywhere in town. We're talking 64 years post-WWII. Shame on you, Freiburg.)

Next street: Schubertstr., a through street, followed by Haydnstr. Across Wagnerstr., Haydn becomes a footpath with several large, permanently placed recycling bins--a commentary on Haydn's reuse of musical motifs?

Rather than ending at Bachstr., Wagner ends at Händelstr. Of course, Bach permeates the Altstadt, with its several kilometers of canals, or Bächle (diminutive for Bach, which means stream).

Somewhat irritated by the lack of Mendelssohnstr., I turned back and walked down Schumannstr., where I was pleased to discover an actual Joh.-Seb.-Bach-Str. Apparently Bach led directly to Schumann, not Wagner; I can live with that.

There's also a Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Str., a short footpath between Schumann and Schubert. Really now, Weber but not Mendelssohn?