10 May 2023 press release

On Monday 15 May 2023, the German Music Archive will inaugurate four listening stations in the German National Library's Rotunda in Frankfurt am Main. These will make the public's ideas from the initiative "What is the sound of Frankfurt?" both visible and audible. They cover a wide spectrum: from gangster rap to folk music, from jazz by the Mangelsdorff brothers to Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, which was premièred in Frankfurt in 1937, and Frank Zappa's cooperation with Ensemble Modern on "The Yellow Shark", which was first performed in 1992 at the Alte Oper.

The opening event in the evening will take the audience on a journey through time. Claus Peter Gallenmiller from the Society for Historic Sound Carriers will demonstrate how sound was recorded during the 1920s and 1930s. He has the technology and expertise needed to record and play music just the way it was 100 years ago. Together with the vocal ensemble AnimA, he will show how the sound carrier industry worked in its early days and what an a cappella quartet sounds like after it has been immortalised on phonographic foil.

Music doesn't just play a major role in the German National Library's collection. Music of all kinds can be enjoyed in all parts of the building – at both locations. The new listening stations in Frankfurt will invite visitors to browse a range of music and videos. The curated acoustic and visual exhibitions at the listening stations will address a variety of topics.

One of the acoustic exhibition areas bears the caption, "What is the sound of Frankfurt?" An audible image of the city of Frankfurt has been created by an initiative that took place in the spring of 2023. Everyone who associates a song, a work or a piece of music with Frankfurt was invited to name it and briefly explain why they feel it is inextricably linked with the city – based entirely on their personal feelings, free from any empirical expectations and without any right or wrong answers.

A similar initiative took place in Leipzig; the results can now also be heard in Frankfurt. Bach and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy meet 2ersitz, Die Prinzen and numerous bands that have been fixtures at the Jazztage (Jazz Days) and Wave-Gotik-Treffen (Wave Gothic Gathering) for many years. The image is as eclectic and colourful as the reasons behind each choice.

One of the other exhibition rooms shows the videos that the German National Library recorded during the “Reading EUROPE” initiative: In the spring of 2020, the DNB commemorated Germany’s presidency of the Council of the European Union by having actors read texts about Europe in the reading rooms at both its locations, all of which were empty because of the pandemic. Besides facilitating an understanding of Europe from very different perspectives, this was an opportunity for the German National Library to present itself and its collections in a whole new light.

The four listening stations have sufficient capacity for further playlists, which will be created, modified and replaced at irregular intervals. All visitors can use the listening stations during opening hours.

This is the sound of Frankfurt! Inauguration of the listening stations with a lecture and music

Monday, 15.05.2023, 19:00
German National Library in Frankfurt am Main
Admission is free.

Background

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. More than 500,000 hours of music can be enjoyed in the German National Library's reading rooms in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main and the listening booth in Leipzig.

The German National Library collects, documents and archives all written publications and sound recordings issued in Germany since 1913 together with works in German and about Germany published worldwide; it then makes them 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 special collections of inestimable value in the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing.

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