16 June 2021 press release

„Klingendes Gedächtnis“ (Acoustic Memory) – a virtual exhibition about the German Music Archive of the German National Library

The German Music Archive of the German National Library presents itself with the virtual exhibition titled “Klingendes Gedächtnis” (Acoustic Memory) for „Tag der Musik“ (Day of Music) 2021. The German Music Council initiated this day of action as a showcase of cultural diversity. The German Music Archive is marking this year’s Day of Music by opening its doors to visitors with an exhibition organised in cooperation with the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library, DDB).

The exhibition “Klingendes Gedächtnis“ (Acoustic Memory) consists of seven sections which guide visitors through the history of early sound recordings and the sound reproduction devices, finishing with the present-day German Music Archive. The introductory section provides initial orientation in the form of a virtual guided tour of the exhibition and the German Music Archive’s reading room. The tour continues through the stacks in which the collections are stored, which are not usually open to the public. Photos, texts, audio sequences and video clips show how the self-playing reproducing piano works, for example, and allow visitors to listen to a disc music box dating from 1892. Acoustic samples from the collection make the virtual exhibition both entertaining and informative. They help make the tour of the “Klingendes Gedächtnis“ (Acoustic Memory) exhibition a diverting experience.

The digital transformation of academia has initiated the development of a research area known as “digital musicology”, which applies the approach taken by the “digital humanities” to musical scholarship. The exhibition “Klingendes Gedächtnis“ (Acoustic Memory) picks up on this development as a prospect for the future and presents the “Jazzomat Research Project” at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt (University of Music Franz Liszt), Weimar.

„Klingendes Gedächtnis“ (Acoustic Memory) – a virtual exhibition about the German Music Archive of the German National Library (only available in German)

https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/klingendes-gedaechtnis

Information about the German Music Archive:

www.dnb.de/EN/dma

Background

The German National Library (DNB) collects, documents and archives all written publications and audio recordings released in Germany since 1913 together with works about Germany and in the German language published worldwide. These holdings are then made available to the public. The DNB offers a comprehensive range of services at its sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main along with digital services that – where permitted – can be accessed all over the world. The German National Library also holds extensive, extremely valuable special collections in the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing.

The German Music Archive of the German National Library collects and archives music in order to preserve it for posterity and make it available to the public. It is therefore Germany’s main music bibliography information centre. The collection is based on the sheet music and sound recordings which all German music publishers and labels are obliged to deposit by law. It currently encompasses more than two million works. These also include historic sound carriers such as shellac records, phonograph cylinders and piano rolls for self-playing reproducing pianos. Visitors can enjoy more than 500,000 hours of music in the music reading room and the listening booth in the German Music Archive of the German National Library in Leipzig.

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Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German.