Contemporary Music from Germany – History

Modern and Contemporary Music in Germany up to 1945
 Contemporary Music up to 1945: From Dew departures to a Long Disruption

The history of Contemporary Music begins in 1910 and develops in two essential steps, until the catastrophic eruption of totalitarian systems in the East and the West.

Contemporary Music in Postwar Germany
 Contemporary Music – a New Beginning after 1945

In the aftermath of the cultural caesura wrought by the Nazi regime and World War II, so-called “serious music” underwent a radical renaissance in postwar Germany.

   

Electroacoustic art music in Germany

Electroacoustic art music has largely gone its own way since the 1950s. Points of contact with pop music have remained the exception. In the institutional seclusion of the major studios, creative energy has not just been focussed on the works themselves, but also on research, experimentation and innovation. Unlike in pop music, which has always reacted rapidly and flexibly to new production techniques, it has usually taken years for technical innovations to become established in art music.  

    

Electroacoustic art music in Germany
 The Cologne School myth

The circle of composers who held sway in Cologne during the 1950s has often been mythologised as a centre of the musical avant garde.

Electroacoustic art music in Germany
 Research and progress

Experimental studios and sound machines: the development of aesthetic paradigms in electroacoustic art music.

Electroacoustic art music in Germany
 Outside the institutions

Many byways of electronic music have opened up outside the institutionalised studios.

Electroacoustic art music in Germany
 Building bridges to techno

During the 1990s, an experimental scene grew up in Germany under the influence of techno.