Music & Culture

In the Upper Vogtland, in the “Musikwinkel” – Germany’s music region. Musical instruments have been manufactured for more than 350 years in the southern region of the Free State of Saxony, close to the Bavarian and the Czech border.

Around 1900, the Vogtland was considered to be a major musical supplier capable of outfitting entire orchestras and music choirs. Today, prestigious town houses and the mansions of the publishers bear witness of this economically brilliant time. The region’s prosperity was established by hundreds of craftsmen throughout the entire region at that time who not only built instruments, but also all related components and accessories.

The handicraft has been preserved, and there are larger manufacturers where the products are still handmade and manual skills are employed, so that they can justly be referred to as instrument makers. The more than 100 professional workshops and medium-sized businesses are happy to open their doors to trade visitors, inviting them into the cradle of the musical instrument industry and giving them insight into their resounding handicraft.

Come and visit a region in which the heart of Germany’s musical instrument making industry has been beating for centuries! Visit the birthplace of your musical instrument and find out more about our longstanding traditional and sonorous handicraft, which can still be heard today.

Recommendation: Visit the three exhibition workshops and observe the craftsmen at work. Asking questions, touching and trying out are encouraged. 

In the German musicon valley, you will find places that bring the history of musical instrument making closer with their rich collections.

Friederike Caroline Neuberin or "The Neuberin", who was born in Reichenbach in the Vogtland region in 1697, stood for a love of theater and drama. In this way, she gave self-sacrificing support to the theater's reformation and helped the actor's profession to be highly regarded. The specially founded "The Neuber Theatrical Troupe" performed drama pieces with a literary claim and thus turned away from the then often obscene improvisations with the figure of the “Hanswurst”. She traveled around with her troupe, upgraded the stage play with moral and intellectual upbringing and gained great prestige.

So the theater tradition has strong roots in the region. Two theater buildings in Vogtland region date from the modern era: the Vogtland Theater in Plauen and the König Albert Theater in Bad Elster. Major events such as the "Greizer Theater Autumn" with the associated JazzWerk round off the sonfully cultivated program in the Vogtland region.