Cable car: A sonorous declaration of love to the “Old Lady” in the Capital of Culture year
- muveum
- Jul 26
- 2 min read
Chemnitz: The Augustusburg cable car is turning 114 years old – but it hasn't received a musical declaration of love yet. Until now: The director of the Augustusburg Music Summer composed the piece "Himmelwärts" (Towards Heaven) especially for the cable car, nicknamed the "Old Lady," as a way of saying thank you during the Capital of Culture year.
This year, Pascal Kaufmann is organizing the Augustusburg Music Summer with 150 musicians and 80 helpers: the program includes short and night concerts, framed by the backdrop of the city church, the castle church, the forest stage and the music cabinet.
To support the music summer during the Capital of Culture year, the cable car will be adding additional late-night trips to its program on Saturdays and extending its operating hours by five trips until 7:40 p.m.
Pascal Kaufmann: "I wrote the piece 'Himmelwärts' as part of the Capital of Culture's Purple Path. As a thank you, I also dedicate it to the cable car for the additional rides." "Himmelwärts" (1:30 min) is performed more frequently than other classical pieces: every 20 minutes – in both cars of the cable car, when they meet halfway. Pascal Kaufmann: "The short composition depicts the upward quest. After the climax, the music fades elegiacally and fades away pastorally. The goal is that the sound does not impose itself on the passengers, blends well with the experience of nature when looking out the windows, and yet also briefly creates a signal effect when the two cars meet."
With the composition "Himmelwärts," a piece of classical music is making its way to the Purple Path for the first time. The art and sculpture trail is one of the main projects of Chemnitz 2025. Conceived as a unique exhibition of contemporary art in public space, the works create a lasting connection between Chemnitz and the municipalities of the Capital of Culture region. Just as the sound installation "Himmelwärts" is inspired by its performance venue and makes it a sonic experience, the artworks along the Purple Path each bear a direct connection to the locations where they were installed.
The cable car is affectionately called the "Old Lady" because it was built in 1911. It covers a distance of 1,239.8 meters and a height difference of 168 meters. Two cars are connected by a steel cable and move uphill and downhill at a speed of 3 meters per second. The ride takes 8 minutes. It is used by approximately 80,000 passengers annually.
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