Hello Spices,
nice to find you here in this forum.
August Leseberg was an musician.
At the offical Website of the town Salzgitter you can find something about the history of the
Salzgitter Wandermusikanten.
https://www.salzgitter.de/stadtleben/kultur/stadtgeschichte/wandermusikanten.phpI tryed to translate it in english, hopefully it`s not to bad.
Traveling musicians (Klesmer)The salzgitter traveling musicians, the Klesmer, were known in the 19-th century nearly all over the world. They played at prince's courts and in ruling houses just as in inns, on the street or in the campfires of the gold diggers in America and Australia.
Already before 1800 there were some musicians in Salzgitter Bad - after the Napoleonic time the number started to rise by leaps and bounds. The 'Klesmern' offered in times of economic need of a growing number impecunious Häuslinge, Tagelöhner and small craftsman a chance to earn money.
The first musicians united to harp chapels. The smallest occupation was a harp and violin, a flute or song sometimes arrived. Besides brass bands, at the beginning of quartets, after 1820 soon also formed bigger entertainment chapels. The repertoire was depending on skill and education state the musician and reached from home Rn and folk songs with the smaller street chapels up to potpourris and Ouvertüren with the big choirs.
The first salzgitter musicians of 1790 till 1812 travelled around merely the narrower native country or the Northwest-German space. These trips needed no special financing. Already in the next place could become 'geklesmert'. Also Denmark, Norway and Sweden were still reached on foot or by the level car. The chapel Dammeyer was the first one which moved in 1813 to Russia. Many other chapels followed them. Some played at the czar's court and the courts of other princes. Only the music ban after the murder of the czar in 1881 finished the concert activity of the salzgitter choirs in Russia.
The first oversea land which the salzgitter musicians travelled around since 1812 was Mexico. Mostly the east coast was the purpose, however, there were chapels which did not avoid the dangerous ship passage around cape horn to appear in the west of South America. But also North America and Australia belonged quite early to the destinations. Even China, Japan, India, Arabia and South Africa were travelled around. These destinations had to be planned overseas carefully and be prefinanced. Businesspeople of Salzgitter and above all banker Sievers spended the musicians with clothes and the necessary travel money from. As soon as profits had been won, one sent bigger sums to Salzgitter to pay off the debts and to support the all those at home.
Many of the salzgitter musicians had own language, the so-called Klesmersprache. Expressions from the Rotwelschen and the Flat-German interfered with foreign-language elements from the travelled around lands. It was no own language, but referred, primarily, to music, traveling, trade supervision, salary, food and drinking. Till 1890 this language was absolutely alive in Salzgitter, however, with the disappearance of the salzgitter Klesmer the language also fell into oblivion. By the amount of 'mechanical' music and the chances to earn money in the industry the number of the Klesmer had become meaningless at the latest after the First World War.
Nowadays to honor of the salzgitter traveling musicians the annual Klesmerfestival with ensembles takes place on the place Klesmer in Salzgitter Bad from all over the world.
regards
Joerg