Archive of Contemporary Composers

Since 1964, the Music Department has been creating an archive of 20th century Dresden composers. In the early 1970s, this archive was expanded to include other East German composers (becoming the "Archive of Composers in the GDR"), especially focusing on original scores by young and upcoming composers. Most of the time, personal contact with the composer made such acquisitions possible. The library’s close contacts with music publishing houses, especially with Edition Peters in Dresden, made it possible to reach agreements regarding the rights to archive the composers’ original works. From a bibliographer’s point of view, two periodical publications rounded off the collection: an annual report of East German musical production (which registered the composers’ whose works had premiered that year) as well as the Bibliography of Music, which was published annually and documented musical culture of the GDR in all its diversity. These periodicals are available online:

Today, the priority for acquisitions is local (composers in Saxony). Currently, the collection contains ca. 2,000 original music scores and autographs. The list of authors includes names such as Reiner Bredemeyer, Paul-Heinz Dittrich, Friedrich Goldmann, Jörg Herchet, Georg Katzer, Alexander Keuk, Günter Kochan, Wilfried Krätzschmar, Rainer Kunad, Rainer Lischka, Siegfried Matthus, Tilo Medek, Christfried Schmidt, Benjamin Schweitzer, Manfred Weiss, Lydia Weißgerber, Michael-Christfried Winkler, Ruth Zechlin, and Udo Zimmermann. Some of the manuscripts have already been catalogued in the RISM online catalog, the International Inventory of Musical Scores database into which the SLUB is currently cataloguing all of its original music scores. These works can be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room. Please use our contact form to request materials.