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Music plays a major role at the German National Library, and not just in our collections. Music of all kinds can be enjoyed at both locations – at concerts in the German Music Archive, at exhibition openings in the German Museum of Books and Writing and the German Exile Archive 1933–1945, and on special occasions when the entire library is filled with a celebratory atmosphere. And when there don’t happen to be any musicians on hand to give inspiring live performances, you can still explore the entire universe of music in our music reading room, our listening booth and at the listening stations.

Pop at the DMA

The world of pop music with all its diversity has mirrored humanity and society for a good 100 years. Often, catchy and abstract melodies and lyrics hide exciting stories and anecdotes. The German Music Archive at the German National Library regularly invites experts on a wide variety of topics to have their say at its "Pop at the DMA" series. The themes they discuss can range from entire musical genres to individual artists or songs.
The series will continue indefinitely, and the choice of topics for future lectures is entirely open. Join us on a virtual journey behind the scenes of the pop world.

Dates

Previous lectures

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Bob Dylan and Dave van Ronk – comparing two 1960s folk heroes (Richard Limbert, Lippmann+Rau Music Archive Eisenach), 27 July 2023

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Philipp Rumsch – ARCADIA

The great reading room of the German National Library in Leipzig is usually a place for quiet work where voices are never raised above a whisper. On 13 May 2023, however, we went into reverse and turned the room into a concert venue. Composer, pianist and sound designer Philipp Rumsch wrote and performed his work ARCADIA to mark the DNB's 111th anniversary. You can listen to a number of excerpts here – underpinned by a few impressions of the evening.

Music recording on phonographic foil

The German Music Archive's listening stations in Frankfurt am Main were inaugurated on 15 May 2023. One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation by Claus Peter Gallenmiller (Association for Historic Sound Recordings, Vienna), who used original equipment dating from the 1930s to record music by the vocal ensemble AnimA on Decelith phonographic foil and play back the results. You can experience part of this exciting presentation in this recording.

Historic sound recordings and their reproduction devices

The German Music Archive (DMA) at the German National Library has the right reproduction device for each one of its archived sound recordings. Especially when it comes to the world of historic sound recordings, the devices in question are ones that have now disappeared from our everyday lives. For this reason, we have produced videos giving an impression of what a phonograph or a disc music box looks like, for example – and what they sounded like.

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Anyone wishing to listen to piano music at home in the early 20th century either had to play the instrument themselves or make do with poor-quality recordings on wax cylinders and shellac records. Much better sound quality could be enjoyed with a self-playing reproducing piano, which to this day still plays piano rolls by itself, as if by magic – rolls personally “played in” 100 years ago by the great pianists of the era, or even by composers such as Shostakovich, Gershwin, Ravel and Grieg.

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Music videos – for the DNB

In the summer of 2020, the German National Library celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the amalgamation of its two locations. And no celebration would be complete without music. The coronavirus pandemic made a physical gathering impossible. We therefore created a virtual stage for our staff get-together. The benefit of these music videos dedicated to us: everyone gets to enjoy the music!

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Music by Eva Klesse for the virtual staff get-together at the German National Library.

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Klingklang – sounds from media history

The German Museum of Books and Writing and the German Music Archive offer an unusual “insight” into their collections. With a series titled “KlingKlang – sounds from media history” they open their treasury for our ears with 31 video clips in which listeners will be required to guess what they are hearing (available in German).

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Kling Klang 1

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Last changes: 09.04.2024

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