Exhibitions and cultural offerings

From the early days of sound recording to the present day, the music industry has reinvented itself over and over again. In doing so, the creativity of the music pioneers appears to know no bounds. We have assembled some of the most exciting milestones in this eventful history in our exhibition “From Edison Cylinder to Blu-Ray”: wax cylinders, gramophones, self-playing pianos and laser discs.
You can also visit our virtual exhibition “Schmonzetten, Schmäh und Parodie (Melodrama, Snide Humour and Parody)” and immerse yourself in the world of early 20th century cabaret.

Moreover, the German Music Archive regularly plays host to exciting events – it is consequently well worth checking our event calendar from time to time.

• Events calendar
• Group tours

Music at the Library

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. In our section "Music with us" we want to share different listening experiences with you.

Come and listen!

Use and service   

Our music reading room is optimally equipped with technology: our workstations with piano keyboards and headphones provide opportunities to work with sheet music. You can also access and play more than 500,000 hours of music directly from our digital archive. For your research, you can either use our holdings in the reading room or order materials from the stacks through our catalogue. Our soundproof listening booth offers you the opportunity to experience music in surround-sound.

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