»Leipzig! ... Here I am!« was the euphoric exclamation with which the Englishwoman Ethel Smyth heralded her time as a student in the city of music in a letter to her mother in 1877. It was a dream come true for her: she was the first woman to take composition lessons at the conservatory.

The career of Gustav Brecher, later General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera, had a similarly dreamlike start in Leipzig. While still at school, his first tone poem was performed by none other than Richard Strauss, and he conducted his first concert in his first year at university.