The ''Komponisten der Gegenwart'' (KDG) is a music encyclopedia in German language about composers of the 20th and 21st century. It is a
looseleaf service
A looseleaf service is a type of publication used in legal research which brings together both primary and secondary source materials on a specific field or topic in law. Available through HeinOnline. For this reason they are sometimes called "su ...
with information on currently about 900 composers.
Editors
Hanns-Werner Heister
Hanns-Werner Heister (born 14 June 1946) is a German musicologist.
Life and career
Born in Plochingen, (Baden-Württemberg), Heister studied musicology, German literature and linguistics in Tübingen, Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin, received his do ...
and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer founded the encyclopaedia ''Komponisten der Gegenwart (KDG)'' in 1992 and since then publish it in the publishing house . The loose-leaf work now comprises some 12,250 pages in 10 folders (63rd supplement, January 2018) and is updated and supplemented two to three times a year. It is available online for a fee.
Structure
In alphabetically order, the articles are divided into biographies and work overviews. The biograms give an overview of the lives and awards of the composers. In the presentation of the works, and particular aesthetics and compositional technique are reflected historically as well as musically-analytically. In addition, more than 200 composers are covered in more detail, with lists of works, selected discographies, bibliographies and music charts.
Reception
The project was reviewed including:
KDG
(in German) nachschlage.net
* "Even experts in Neue Musik may discover a wealth of unknown names." ("Selbst Experten für Neue Musik dürften eine Fülle von unbekannten Namen entdecken.") in ''Berliner Zeitung
The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...
''
* The more than 200 international authors are recognised "specialists in their respective composers, who know how to describe their subject matter without beating about the bush and in concise language. ("Die über 200 internationalen Autoren sind anerkannte »Spezialisten für die jeweiligen Komponisten, die ohne Umschweife und in prägnanter Sprache ihren Gegenstand zu schildern wissen." in ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
'Die'' (; en, " heNew Journal of Music") is a music magazine, co-founded in Leipzig by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke. Its first issue appeared on 3 April 1834.
His ...
''
* "The lexicon ''Komponisten der Gegenwart'' ..cannot be renounced by those interested in music and those who truly love music." ("Auf das Lexikon "Komponisten der Gegenwart" €¦können die Musikinteressierten und die wahrhaft Musikliebenden nicht verzichten) in ''Kunst und Kultur''
Edition
* Hanns-Werner Heister, Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (ed.): ''Komponisten der Gegenwart (KDG)''. edition text + kritik, Munich 2018, (Basic work including the 63rd subsequent delivery).
References
External links
Inhalt
newbooks-services.de
{{Authority control
German encyclopedias
German-language encyclopedias
Encyclopedias of music
20th-century encyclopedias
1992 establishments in Germany