Auerbachs Keller in Leipzig is without doubt one of the most well-known eating places on the earth. Yearly, 36,000 home made beef roulades are eaten right here. About 90,000 liters (190,000 pints) of beer and simply as a lot wine are additionally served.
“We’ve got round 300,000 visitors a 12 months, a lot of them from overseas,” Tanja Pieper, spokeswoman and anniversary ambassador for the storied cellar restaurant, informed DW.
Much more spectacular than the portions consumed on the venue is the truth that, about 250 years in the past, Auerbachs Keller partly impressed the primary a part of the nice drama “Faust: A Tragedy,” by the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The scene from “Faust” that takes place within the restaurant attracts Goethe admirers from all around the world to Leipzig to at the present time.
Auerbach: A pal of Martin Luther‘s
Throughout Easter 1525, Leipzig doctor and college professor Heinrich Stromer von Auerbach served wine to college students in his Keller — German for cellar — for the primary time.
He was pals with the church reformer Martin Luther, who additionally frequented Auerbachs Keller within the early Sixteenth century and is alleged to have hidden there from his enemies at occasions.
The important thing 500-year anniversary celebrations had been held throughout Easter this 12 months, and included the so-called nice feast.
“We copied this from Goethe,” Pieper stated. “There’s a large ‘Schlampamp,’ a feast, the trinity of consuming, consuming and good firm.”
“We rejoice at lengthy tables like within the previous days,” Pieper stated, describing how meals is served on boards and in bowls as within the 18th century.
Goethe’s ‘Faust’ set in Auerbach’s Keller
Goethe’s drama is concerning the growing older melancholy instructor Heinrich Faust, who sells his soul to the satan Mephisto to grow to be a younger man: the “Faustian discount.”
Faust will get a brand new zest for all times however will not be freed from Mephisto’s evil. When Faust seduces and impregnates the younger Margarete, for instance, she kills her illegitimate youngster, is arrested and waits in jail for God’s redemption.
Mephisto can be as much as mischief within the scene set in Auerbachs Keller. Desirous to carry Faust “into merry firm,” he conjures up scrumptious wine in entrance of some consuming companions earlier than using out of the cellar on a wine barrel.
For 30 years, actor Hartmut Müller has been taking visitors by a preferred “barrel cellar ceremony” tour within the restaurant’s barrel cellar, 9 meters (30 toes) beneath floor. Because the “barrel cellar grasp,” he guides guests by the historical past and vaults of the constructing.
“At a sophisticated hour, we then undergo a separate door from this barrel cellar again all the way down to the witches’ kitchen,” Pieper stated, describing a small hovel 12 meters underground.
That is the place the visitors — like Faust in Goethe’s drama — are given a rejuvenating drink.
Impressed by the Dr. Faustus legend
Goethe didn’t invent his Faustian barrel experience; the concept is derived from an early-Sixteenth-century folks story of the magician Dr. Faustus, who sells his soul to the satan for particular powers.
Within the barrel cellar, Goethe noticed two picket panels from 1625 illustrating Dr. Faustus’ legendary barrel experience. He’s stated to have noticed how transporters tried to maneuver an chubby barrel out of the wine cellar and made enjoyable of them. He guess that he may experience the barrel out.
“Goethe was so fascinated by these two picket panels that hung there that he wrote us into the ‘Faust’ drama,” Pieper stated.
Within the 18th century, the restaurant was nonetheless purely a wine bar. In these days, wine was not bottled, however served from barrels saved within the cellar.
There was no cooking in Auerbachs Keller till the nineteenth century, Pieper stated.
‘Bach’s Faust’ on the Leipzig Bach Pageant
One of many anniversary occasions is “Bach’s Faust,” a type of musical comedy by Bach Pageant director Michael Maul.
Johann Sebastian Bach was Cantor of St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig from 1723 till the tip of his life in 1750. His day by day commute to work additionally took him previous Auerbachs Keller. Yearly in June, the town celebrates the Bach Pageant in Bach’s honor.
“Quite a lot of music is talked about in Goethe’s Faust, with out Goethe specifying precisely what it’s,” Maul informed DW. Goethe tremendously appreciated Bach’s music, stated Maul, whose play is appropriately accompanied with chorales and cantatas by Bach.
The world premiere of “Bach’s Faust” with singers, musicians and actors will happen as a part of the Bach Pageant on June 15 within the massive corridor of Auerbachs Keller.
The anniversary of the historic restaurant shall be celebrated all year long.
