Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
claims some of the most renowned composers, singers, producers and performers of the world. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world.
German
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
is one of the most performed in the world; German composers include some of the most accomplished and popular in history, among them
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
,
Georg Friedrich Händel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training ...
,
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
,
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
,
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
,
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
.
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his opera ...
,
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
and
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
were among the composers who created the field of
German opera Opera in German is that of the German-speaking countries, which include Germany, Austria, and the historic German states that pre-date those countries.
German-language opera appeared remarkably quickly after the birth of opera itself in Italy. T ...
. The most popular composer alive and from Germany is probably film score composer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...
.
German popular music of the 20th and 21st century includes the movements of
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...
(
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In the same ye ...
,
Hubert Kah
Hubert Kah is a German synthpop band, led by Hubert Kemmler (born 22 March 1961 in Reutlingen). Kemmler is a German musician, composer, songwriter and producer.
Biography
Kemmler's career began as a member of a trio named Hubert Kah, consist ...
,
Alphaville),
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
(
Boney M.
Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...
,
Modern Talking
Modern Talking was a German pop music duo consisting of arranger, songwriter and producer Dieter Bohlen and singer Thomas Anders. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching th ...
,
Dschinghis Khan
Dschinghis Khan (; " Genghis Khan") was a German Eurodisco pop band. It was originally formed in Munich in 1979 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Dschinghis Khan". The original group led by original members Henriette S ...
,
Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli were a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, '' All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as ''Girl You Know It's True'' in ...
,
Bad Boys Blue
Bad Boys Blue are the German pop group formed in Cologne in 1984. The group performed many international hits including "You're a Woman", " Pretty Young Girl", " I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat", and "Come Back and Stay".
The group became massive ...
),
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
/
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
(
Rammstein
Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...
,
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
,
Accept
Accept may refer to:
* Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc.
* Accept (band), a German heavy metal band
** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979
* ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970
* ACCEPT (or ...
,
Helloween
Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...
),
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
(
Die Ärzte
Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs.
History Ea ...
,
Böhse Onkelz
Böhse Onkelz (), sensational spelling of ''böse Onkel'' (German for "evil uncles") is a German rock band formed in Frankfurt in 1980. The band reunited in 2014. Despite mass-media criticism concerning their past as skinheads, several of their ...
,
Nina Hagen
Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rose to prominence during the Punk subculture, punk and New wave music, new wave movements in the late 1970s a ...
,
Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf.
History
The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephe ...
),
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
(
Sandra,
Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
*Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family o ...
,
Michael Cretu
Michael Cretu ( ro, Mihai Crețu, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990.
Cretu ...
,
Herbert Grönemeyer
Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Pete ...
) and
indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
(
Tocotronic
Tocotronic is a German rock band founded in 1993 (see 1993 in music). Similar to Blumfeld or Die Sterne they are considered a part of the Hamburger Schule (''Hamburg School'') movement. They are influential for bands such as Wir sind Helden.
...
). Famous female singers were
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
and
Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
Early years
Hildegard Knef was born ...
. German
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
gained global influence, with
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
and
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...
being pioneer groups in this genre. The
electro and
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
scene is internationally popular, namely due to the DJs
Paul van Dyk
Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...
,
Scooter and
Cascada
Cascada (, Spanish for "Waterfall", stylized as CASCADA, CASC''A''DA and cascada) is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They are best known for their hit singles " Everyti ...
.
Germany hosts many large rock
music festival
A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...
s. The
Rock am Ring and Rock im Park
The (German for "Rock at the Ring") and ("Rock in the Park") festivals are two simultaneous rock music festivals held annually. While ''Rock am Ring'' takes place at the Nürburgring race track, ''Rock im Park'' takes place at the Zeppelinfeld ...
festival is among the largest in the world. Since around 1990, the new-old German capital
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
has developed a diverse music and entertainment industry.
Minnesingers and Meistersingers
The beginning of what is now considered German music could be traced back to the 12th-century compositions of mystic abbess
Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen (german: Hildegard von Bingen; la, Hildegardis Bingensis; 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher ...
, who wrote a variety of
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
s and other kinds of
Christian music
Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely around ...
.
After Latin-language religious music had dominated for centuries, in the 12th century to the 14th centuries, Minnesinger (''love poets''), singing in German, spread across Germany. Minnesinger were aristocrats, traveling from court to court, who had become musicians, and their work left behind a vast body of literature, ''Minnelieder''. The following two centuries saw the Minnesinger replaced by middle-class
Meistersinger
A (German for "master singer") was a member of a German guild for lyric poetry, composition and unaccompanied art song of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The Meistersingers were drawn from middle class males for the most part.
Guilds
The '' ...
, who were often master craftsmen in their main profession, whose music was much more formalized and rule-based than that of the Minnesinger. Minnesinger and Meistersinger could be considered parallels of French
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
s and
trouvère
''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French (''langue d'oïl'') form of the ''langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet- ...
.
Among the Minnesinger, Hermann, a
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
from
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
, deserves special note. He incorporated folk styles from the Alpine regions in his compositions. He made some primitive forays into
polyphony
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
as well.
Walther von der Vogelweide
Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170c. 1230) was a Minnesänger who composed and performed love-songs and political songs (" Sprüche") in Middle High German. Walther has been described as the greatest German lyrical poet before Goethe; his hundr ...
and
Reinmar von Hagenau
Reinmar von Hagenau (also Reinmar der Alte, ''Reinmar the Elder'') was a German Minnesänger of the late twelfth century who composed and performed love-songs in Middle High German. He was regarded by his contemporaries as the greatest Minnesänge ...
are probably the most famous minnesingers from this period.
Classical music of Germany
![3 Komponisten 1 small](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/3_Komponisten_1_small.jpg)
Germans have played a leading role in the development of
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
. Many of the best classical musicians such as Bach, Händel, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Mahler, or Schoenberg (a lineage labeled the "German Stem" by
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
) were German. At the beginning of the 15th century, German classical music was revolutionized by
Oswald von Wolkenstein
Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377 in Pfalzen – August 2, 1445, in Meran) was a poet, composer and diplomat. In his diplomatic capacity, he traveled through much of Europe to as far as Georgia (as recounted in "Durch Barbarei, Arabia").
He wa ...
, who travelled across Europe learning about classical traditions, spending time in countries like France and Italy. He brought back some techniques and styles to his homeland, and within a hundred years, Germany had begun producing composers renowned across the continent. Among the first of these composers was the organist
Conrad Paumann
Conrad Paumann (c. 1410January 24, 1473) was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the early Renaissance. A blind musician, he was one of the most talented musicians of the 15th century, and his performances created a sensation wherever he ...
. The largest summer festival for classical music in Germany is the
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany.
History
The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist Justus Frantz.
In 2006, the 21 ...
.
Chorale
Beginning in the 16th century,
polyphony
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
, or the intertwining of multiple
melodies
A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
, arrived in Germany.
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
chorales predominated; in contrast to Catholic music, chorale was vibrant and energetic. Composers included
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal ...
,
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...
and
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
, leader of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
. Luther happened to accompany his sung
hymns
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
with a lute, later recreated as the
waldzither
The waldzither (german: "forest zither") is a plucked string instrument from Germany that came up around 1900 in Thuringia. It is a type of cittern that has nine steel strings in five courses. Different types of waldzither come in different tuni ...
that became a
national instrument of Germany in the 20th century.
Opera
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's ''
Die Zauberflöte
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...
'' (1791) is usually said to be the beginning of German
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
. An earlier starting date for German opera, however, could be
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...
's ''
Dafne
''Dafne'' is the earliest known work that, by modern standards, could be considered an opera. The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini survives complete; the mostly lost music was completed by Jacopo Peri, but at least two of the six surviving fragment ...
'' from 1627. Schütz is said to be the first great German composer before
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
, and was a major figure in 17th-century music.
In the 19th century, two figures were paramount in German opera:
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his opera ...
and
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
. Wagner introduced devices like the
Leitmotiv
A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...
, a musical theme which recurs for important characters or ideas. Wagner (and Weber) based his operas of German history and folklore, most importantly including the ''
Ring of the Nibelung
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...
'' (1874). Into the 20th century, opera composers included
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
(''
Der Rosenkavalier
(''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...
'') and
Engelbert Humperdinck, who wrote operas meant for young audiences. Across the border in Austria,
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
innovated a form of twelve-tone music that used
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
and
dissonance instead of traditional melodies and harmonies, while
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
and
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
collaborated on some of the great works of German theater, including ''
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' (german: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, links=no) is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed on 9 March 1930 at the i ...
'' and ''
The Three-Penny Opera
''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "Play (theatre), play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Vill ...
''.
Following the war, German composers like
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
and
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...
began experimenting
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
sounds in classical music.
Germany is also very well known for its many subsidised
opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets.
While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...
s, such as
Semperoper
The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...
,
Munich State Theatre and the
Bayreuth Festspielhaus
The ''Bayreuth Festspielhaus'' or Bayreuth Festival Theatre (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspielhaus, ) is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, built by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner and dedicated solely to the performa ...
.
Baroque period
Baroque music, which was the first music to use
tonality
Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is call ...
in the modern sense, is also known for its
ornamentation
An ornament is something used for decoration.
Ornament may also refer to:
Decoration
*Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts
*Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...
and artistic use of
counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
. It originated in Northern Italy at the end of the 16th century, and the style migrated quickly to Germany, which was one of the most active centers of early Baroque music. Early German Baroque composers included
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...
,
Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...
,
Johann Hermann Schein
Johann Hermann Schein (20 January 1586 – 19 November 1630) was a German composer of the early Baroque era. He was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1615 to 1630. He was one of the first to import the early Italian stylistic innovations into German ...
, and
Samuel Scheidt
Samuel Scheidt (baptised 3 November 1587 – 24 March 1654) was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque era.
Life and career
Scheidt was born in Halle, and after early studies there, he went to Amsterdam to study with ...
. The culmination of the Baroque era was undoubtedly in the works of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
and
Georg Friedrich Händel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training ...
in the first half of the 18th century. Bach established German styles through his skill in
counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
,
harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
and
motivic organisation, and adapted rhythms, forms, and textures from Italy and France. Bach wrote numerous works, including
preludes,
cantatas
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of t ...
,
fugue
In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...
s,
concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
s for harpsichord, violin and wind, orchestral suites, the
Brandenburg Concerto
The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1046–1051), are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, MacDonogh, Giles. ''Frederick the Great: A Life in Dee ...
s, ''
St Matthew Passion
The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...
'', ''
St John Passion
The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...
'' and the ''
Christmas Oratorio
The ''Christmas Oratorio'' (German: ''Weihnachtsoratorium''), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance on one of t ...
''. Händel was a cosmopolitan composer that wrote music for virtually every genre of his time. His most famous works include the orchestral suites
Water Music
The ''Water Music'' is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames.
Struct ...
,
Music for the Royal Fireworks
The ''Music for the Royal Fireworks'' ( HWV 351) is a suite in D major for wind instruments composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park on 27 April 1749. The ...
and the oratorio
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
.
Another important composer was
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesh ...
, one of the most prolific musicians in history.
Classical era
![Beethoven](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Beethoven.jpg)
By the middle of the 18th century, the cities of
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, Berlin and
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
had become the center for orchestral music. The
Esterházy
The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, during the time that it ...
princes of Vienna, for example, were the patrons of
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
, an Austrian who invented the classic format of the
string quartet
The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...
,
symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
and
sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...
. Later that century, Vienna's
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
emerged, mixing German and Italian traditions into his own style. Mozart was a prolific and influential composer who composed over 600
works
Works may refer to:
People
* Caddy Works (1896–1982), American college sports coach
* Samuel Works (c. 1781–1868), New York politician
Albums
* '' ''Works'' (Pink Floyd album)'', a Pink Floyd album from 1983
* ''Works'', a Gary Burton album ...
, many acknowledged as pinnacles of
symphonic
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
,
concertante
Sinfonia concertante (; also called ''symphonie concertante'') is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra.Collins: ''Encyclopedia of Music'', William Collins Sons & C ...
,
chamber
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
* Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
*Legislative chamber, in politics
* Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...
,
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
tic, and
choral
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
music. He is among the most popular of
classical composers, and his influence on subsequent Western
art music
Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJacques Siron, ...
is profound;
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart.
Romantic era
![Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August Rieder](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Franz_Schubert_by_Wilhelm_August_Rieder.jpeg)
The following century saw two major German composers come to fame early—
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
and
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
. Beethoven, a student of Haydn's in Vienna, used unusually daring
harmonies
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However, ...
and
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
and composed numerous pieces for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
,
symphonies
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
,
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
,
string quartet
The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...
s and an
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
. Schubert created a field of artistic, romantic poetry and music called ''
lied
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
''; his lieder cycles included ''
Die schöne Müllerin
' (,"The Fair Maid of the Mill", Op. 25, D. 795), is a song cycle by Franz Schubert from 1823 based on 20 poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the first of Schubert's two seminal cycles (preceding ''Winterreise'')'','' and a pinnacle of ''Lied'' re ...
'' and ''
Winterreise
''Winterreise'' (, ''Winter Journey'') is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert ( D. 911, published as Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. It is the second of Schubert's two song cycles on Müller' ...
''.
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
was extremely prolific during his lifetime. His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal works (mainly
Lied
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er), seven complete
symphonies
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
, sacred music,
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
s,
incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
and a large body of chamber and piano music. He is ranked among the greatest composers of the late
Classical era and early
Romantic era.
Early in the 19th century, a composer by the name of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
was born. He was a "Musician of the Future" who disliked the strict traditionalist styles of music. He is credited with developing ''leitmotivs'' which were simple recurring themes found in his operas.
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his opera ...
was a
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
,
conductor,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
,
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...
and
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
, one of the first significant composers of the
Romantic school. His
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
s ''
Der Freischütz
' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 181 ...
'', ''
Euryanthe
''Euryanthe'' ( J. 291, Op. 81) is a German grand heroic-romantic opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna on 25 October 1823.Brown, p. 88 Though acknowledged as one of Weber's most important operas, ...
'' and ''
Oberon
Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...
'' greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany.
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
was a composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early
Romantic period. He was particularly well received in Britain as a composer, conductor and soloist. He wrote
symphonies
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
,
concerti
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
,
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s, piano music and
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
.
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
was a composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the
Romantic era. Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many
Lied
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er (songs for voice and piano); four
symphonies
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
; an opera; and other orchestral,
choral
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
, and
chamber
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
* Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
*Legislative chamber, in politics
* Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...
works.
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
honored the music pioneered by Mozart and Beethoven and advanced his music into a
Romantic idiom, in the process creating bold new approaches to harmony and melody.
The later 19th century saw Vienna continue its elevated position in European classical music, as well as a burst of popularity with Viennese
waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...
es. These were composed by people like
Johann Strauss the Younger
Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ove ...
.
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
was a leading composer of the late
Romantic and early
modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
eras. He is known for his
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
s, which include ''
Der Rosenkavalier
(''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...
'' and ''
Salome
Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, an ...
''; his ''
lied
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er'', especially his ''
Four Last Songs
The ''Four Last Songs'' (german: Vier letzte Lieder, link=no), Op. posth., for soprano and orchestra are – with the exception of the song "Malven" (Mallows), composed later the same year – the final completed works of Richard Strauss. They ...
''; and his
tone poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...
s. Strauss, along with
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
, represents the late flowering of
German Romanticism after
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, in which pioneering subtleties of
orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
are combined with an advanced
harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
style.
20th century
![Carl Orff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Carl_Orff.jpg)
The first half of 20th century saw a split between German and Austrian music. In Vienna,
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
and his pupils
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
and
Anton Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
moved along an increasingly avant-garde path, pioneering
atonal music
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...
in 1909 and
twelve-tone music
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...
in 1923. Meanwhile, composers in Berlin took a more populist route, from the cabaret-like socialist operas of
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
to the
Gebrauchsmusik
() is a German term, meaning "utility music", for music that exists not only for its own sake, but which was composed for some specific, identifiable purpose. This purpose can be a particular historical event, like a political rally or a militar ...
of
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
. In Munich there was also
Carl Orff
Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata ''Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education.
Life
Early life
Car ...
, who was influenced by the French
Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
composer
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
. He began to use colorful, unusual combinations of instruments in his
orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
. His most popular work is ''
Carmina Burana
''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...
''.
Many composers emigrated to the United States when the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
came to power, including Schoenberg, Hindemith, and
Erich Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...
. During this period, the Nazi Party embarked on a campaign to rid Germany of so-called
degenerate art
Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...
, which became a catch-all phrase that included music with any link to Jews, Communists, jazz, and anything else thought to be dangerous. Some figures such as
Karl Amadeus Hartmann
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (2 August 1905 – 5 December 1963) was a German composer. Sometimes described as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century, he is now largely overlooked, particularly in English-speaking countries.
Life
Born in ...
remained defiantly in Germany during the years of Nazi dominance, continually watchful of how their output might be interpreted by the authorities.
After the defeat of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, musicians were also subjected to the Allied policy of
denazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
. But here, the supposed non-political nature of music was able to excuse many, including
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...
and
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
(who had actually joined the Nazi Party in 1933). They both claimed to have concentrated mainly on music and to have ignored politics, but also to have conducted pieces in ways that were meant to be "gestures of defiance."
In West Germany in the second half of the 20th century, German and Austrian music was largely dominated by the avant-garde. In the 60s and 70s, the
Darmstadt New Music Summer School
Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse a ...
was a major center of European modernism; German composers such as
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
and
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...
and non-German ones such as
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
and
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
all studied there. In contrast, composers in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
were advised to avoid the avant-garde and to compose music in keeping with the tenets of
Socialist Realism
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
. Music written in this style was supposed to advance party politics as well as be more accessible to all.
Hanns Eisler
Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...
and
Ernst Hermann Meyer
Ernst Hermann Ludimar Meyer (8 December 1905 – 8 October 1988) was a German composer and musicologist, noted for his expertise on seventeenth-century English chamber music.
Life
Meyer was born in Berlin. He received his first piano lessons ...
were among the most famous of the first generation of GDR composers.
More recently, composers such as
Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète".
Life and works
Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...
and
Olga Neuwirth
Olga Neuwirth (born 4 August 1968 in Graz) is an Austrian classical composer, visual artist and author. She gained fame mainly through her operas and music theater works, which often deal with topical and decidedly political themes of identity, ...
have extensively explored the possibilities of
extended techniques
In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Expe ...
. Hans Werner Henze largely dissociated himself from the Darmstadt school in favour of a more lyrical approach, and remains perhaps Germany's most lauded contemporary composer. Although he had lived outside the country since the 1950s and until his death in 2012, he remained influenced by the Germanic musical tradition.
Folk music
Germany has many unique regions with their own folk traditions of music and dance. Much of the 20th century saw German culture appropriated for the ruling powers (who fought "foreign" music at the same time).
In both East and West Germany, folk songs called "volkslieder" were taught to children; these were popular, sunny and optimistic, and had little relation to authentic German folk traditions. Inspired by American and English
roots revival
A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly composed songs with socially and politically aware ly ...
s, Germany underwent many of the same changes following the 1968 student revolution in West Germany, and new songs, featuring political activism and realistic joy, sadness and passion, were written and performed on the burgeoning folk scene. In East Germany, the same process did not begin until the mid-70s, where some folk musicians began incorporating revolutionary ideas in coded songs.
Popular folk songs included emigration songs from the 19th century,
work song
A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song.
Definitions and ...
s and songs of apprentices, as well as democracy-oriented folk songs collected in the 1950s by
Wolfgang Steinitz
Wolfgang Steinitz (28 February 1905 – 21 April 1967) was a German linguist and folklorist.
Through his rediscovery of hidden social commentary in traditional folk songs, he was an important pioneer of the German folk-revival in both East a ...
. Beginning in 1970, the ''Festival des politischen Liedes'', an East German festival focusing on political songs, was held annually and organized (until 1980) by the
FDJ (East German youth association). Musicians from up to thirty countries would participate, and, for many East Germans, it was the only exposure possible to foreign music. Among foreign musicians at the festival, some were quite renowned, including
Inti-Illimani
Inti-Illimani (; from Quechuan ''Inti'' and Aymara ''Illimani)'' are an instrumental and vocal Latin American folk music ensemble from Chile. The band was formed in 1967 by a group of university students and it acquired widespread popularity in C ...
(
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
),
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...
(England),
Dick Gaughan
Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters.
Early years
Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Roy ...
(
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
),
Mercedes Sosa
Haydée Mercedes Sosa (; 9 July 1935
at BrainyHistory.com – 4 October 2009), sometimes known as ' ...
(
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
) and
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
(United States), while German performers included, from both East and West, Oktoberklub,
Wacholder
Wacholder is a juniper-flavored distilled beverage and a regional variety of gin. It is produced predominantly in Westphalia, Emsland, Lippe, and the Rhineland. One of the oldest operating Wacholder distilleries is the Brennerei Eversbusch in ...
and
Hannes Wader
Hannes Wader (born Hans Eckard Wader on 23 June 1942) is a German singer-songwriter (" Liedermacher"). He has been an important figure in German leftist circles since the 1970s, with his songs covering such themes as socialist and communist resis ...
.
Oom-pah
Oom-pah, Oompah or Umpapa is an onomatopoeic term describing the rhythmical sound of a deep brass instrument in combination with the response of other instruments or registers in a band, a form of background ostinato.
The oom-pah sound is usua ...
is a kind of music played by the
brass bands; it is associated with
beer hall
A beer hall () is a large pub that specializes in beer.
Germany
Beer halls are a traditional part of Bavarian culture, and feature prominently in Oktoberfest. Bosch notes that the beer halls of Oktoberfest, known in German as ''Festzelte'', ...
s.
Bavaria and Swabia
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n folk music is likely the best known outside of Germany.
Yodeling
Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...
and
schuhplattler
The Schuhplattler is a traditional style of folk dance popular in the regions of Bavaria and Tyrol (southern Germany, Austria and the German speaking regions of northern Italy). In this dance, the performers stomp, clap and strike the soles of the ...
dancers are among the stereotyped images of German folk life, though these are only found today in the southernmost areas. Bavarian folk music has played a role in the ''Alpine New Wave'', and produced several pioneering
world music groups that fuse traditional Bavarian sounds with foreign styles.
Around the turn of the 20th century, across Europe and especially in Bavaria, many people became concerned about a loss of cultural traditions. This idea was connected to the ''
Heimatschutz
''Heimatschutz'' is a German word that literally translated means 'homeland protection'. The ''Heimatschutz'' movement arose in the late 19th century in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and had a focus on nature and landscape conservation as ...
'' movement, which sought to protect regional identities and boundaries. What is considered Bavarian folk music in modern Germany is not the same as what Bavarian folk music was in the early 20th century; like any kind of folk or popular music, styles and traditions have evolved over time, giving birth to new forms of music.
The popularity of the ''Volkssänger'' (''people's singer'') in Bavaria began in the 1880s, and continued in earnest until the 1920s. Shows consisting of duets, ensemble songs, humor and parodies were popular, but the format began changing significantly following World War I.
Bally Prell
Bally Prell (born Agnes Pauline Prell; 14 September 1922 – 20 March 1982) was a German performer, humorous singer, and folk singer, who performed mainly in Bavarian language.
Life
Prell was the daughter of folk singer and composer Ludwig ...
, the "Beauty Queen of
Schneizlreuth
Schneizlreuth is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria in Germany.
History
In 1285 an estate in the area was called Schnaezenreut. This is the earliest the town's name can be traced.
The m ...
", was emblematic of this change. She was an attractive
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
who sang
lieder
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...
,
chanson
A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...
and
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
and
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
.
Swabia
Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
n folk music is most popularly represented by acts like Saiten Fell and Firlefanz and the singer-songwriter (and player of the
hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...
and
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
) Thomas Felder.
Christmas carols
Some Christmas carols familiar in English are translations of German Christmas songs (''Weihnachtslieder''). Pastoral ''Weihnachtslieder'' are sometimes called ''Hirtenlieder'' (shepherd songs). Three well-known examples are "
O Tannenbaum
"" (; "O fir tree", English: O Christmas Tree) is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song which was unrelated to Christmas, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree.
History
The modern lyrics were written in 1824 ...
" ("O Christmas Tree"), from a German folksong arranged by
Ernst Anschütz
Ernst Gebhard Salomon Anschütz (28 October 1780 in Goldlauter near Suhl, Electorate of Saxony – 18 December 1861 (other sources: 11 December 1861 ; "
Silent Night
"Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an ...
" ("Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht"), by the Austrians
Franz Xaver Gruber
Franz Xaver Gruber (25 November 1787 – 7 June 1863) was an Austrian primary school teacher, church organist and composer in the village of Lamprechtshausen, Arnsdorf, who is best known for composing the music to "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night" ...
and
Joseph Mohr
Josephus Franciscus Mohr, sometimes spelled Josef (11 December 1792 – 4 December 1848) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and writer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night."
Early life and education
Mohr was born in S ...
; and "
Still, still, still
"Still, still, still" is an Austrian Christmas carol and lullaby.
The melody is a folk tune from the district of Salzburg. The tune appeared for the first time in 1865 in a folksong collection of (1802–1868), founder of the Salzburg Museum. Th ...
", an Austrian folksong also from the Salzburg region, based on an 1819 melody by Süss, with the original words, slightly changed over time and location, by G. Götsch.
Early popular music
![Marlene Dietrich in No Highway (1951) (Cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Marlene_Dietrich_in_No_Highway_%281951%29_%28Cropped%29.png)
Between World War I and World War II, German music branched out to form new, more liberal and independent styles.
Kabarett
The first form of German
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
is said to be
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
, which arose during the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
in the 1920s as the sensual music of late-night clubs.
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
and Margo Lion were among the most famous performers of the period, and became associated with both humorous satire and liberal ideas.
Swing Movement
The strict regimentation of youth culture in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
through the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
led to the emergence of several underground protest movements, through which adolescents were able better to exert their independence.
One of these consisted mainly of upper middle class youths, who based their protest on their musical preferences, rejecting the völkisch music propagated by the Party in place of American jazz forms, especially Swing (genre), Swing. While musical preferences are often a feature of youthful rebellion—as the history of rock and roll shows—jazz and especially Swing were particularly offensive to the Nazi hierarchy: not only did they promote sexual permissiveness, but they were also associated with the American enemy and worse, with the African race they considered inferior.
On the other hand, Joseph Goebbels assembled some of the now jobless musicians from Germany and conquered countries into a big band called Charlie and His Orchestra.
Popular music from West Germany
After World War II, German pop music was greatly influenced by music from USA and Great Britain. Apart from Schlager and Liedermacher, it is necessary to distinguish between pop music in West Germany and pop music in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
which developed in different directions. Pop music from West Germany was often heard in East Germany, had more variety and is still present today, while East German music has had little influence.
In West Germany, English-language
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
became more and more important, and today most songs on the radio are English. Nevertheless, there is great diversity in German language pop music. There is also original English-language pop music from Germany, some having international success (for instance the
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
and James Last), but little with enduring broad success in Germany itself. There was very little English pop music from East Germany.
Germany has also had a thriving English-language pop scene since the end of the war, with several European and American acts topping the charts. However, Germans and German-oriented musicians have been successful as well. In the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century such European pop acts were popular as well as artists like Sarah Connor (singer), Sarah Connor, No Angels and Monrose who performed various types of mainstream pop in English. Many of these acts have had success all over Europe and Asia.
Schlager and Volksmusik
Schlager is a kind of vocal pop music, frequently in the form of sentimental ballads sung in German, popularized by singers such as Gitte Hænning and Rex Gildo in the 1960s, though not without a wide range within the style (Modern Schlager, Schlager-Gold, ). Schlager is strictly separated from international pop music and is only played on special format radio stations (sometimes mixed with international Oldies).
An important part of Schlager is ''volkstümliche Musik'', a Schlager-like interpretation of traditional German folk themes that is very popular in German speaking countries, especially among the older generation.
Schlager has a wide variety, and the artists with many different styles for example Heino, Katja Ebstein, Wolfgang Petry, Guildo Horn, Roland Kaiser, Helene Fischer and many others.
Liedermacher
Liedermacher (Songwriter) has sophisticated lyrics and is sung with minimal instrumentation, for instance only with acoustic guitar. Some songs are very political in nature. This is related to American Folk/Americana (music), Americana and French Chanson styles.
Famous West German Liedermacher are Reinhard Mey, Klaus Hoffmann,
Hannes Wader
Hannes Wader (born Hans Eckard Wader on 23 June 1942) is a German singer-songwriter (" Liedermacher"). He has been an important figure in German leftist circles since the 1970s, with his songs covering such themes as socialist and communist resis ...
and Konstantin Wecker. A famous East German Liedermacher was Wolf Biermann. Herman van Veen from the Netherlands was also very popular in Germany. Several Liedermacher artists also record special albums for children.
Rock
The US military radio station American Forces Network (AFN) had a great impact on German postwar culture, starting with AFN Munich in July 1945, which was formative for the further development of German rock and jazz culture. Bill Ramsey (singer), Bill Ramsey, a senior producer at AFN Frankfurt in 1953 who came from Ohio, later became famous as a jazz and Schlager singer in Germany (while remaining almost unknown in the US).
Prior to the late 1960s however, rock music in Germany was a negligible part of the schlager genre covered by interpreters such as Peter Kraus and Ted Herold, who played rock 'n' roll standards by Little Richard or Bill Haley, sometimes translated into German.
Genuine German rock first appeared around 1968, just as the hippie counterculture, countercultural explosion was peaking in the US and UK. At the time, the German musical avant-garde had been experimenting with
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
for more than a decade, and the first German rock bands fused psychedelic rock from abroad with electronic sounds. The next few years saw the formation of a group of bands that came to be known as Krautrock or Kosmische Musik groups; these included Amon Düül, who later became the world music pioneers Dissidenten,
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...
, Popol Vuh (German band), Popol Vuh, Can (band), Can, Neu! and Faust (band), Faust.
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...
(NDW) is an outgrowth of British punk rock and New wave music, new wave which appeared in the mid-to late 1970s. It was arguably the first successful unique German form of Pop music, but was limited in its stylistic devices (funny lyrics and surreal composition and production). Though it was a huge success in Germany itself in the 1980s, this was not long-lasting mostly due to over-commercialization. Some artists became famous internationally like
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In the same ye ...
, Trio (band), Trio, Falco (musician), Falco (from Austria) and Joachim Witt.
Popular artists
In the 1980s and 1990s most German-language popular music was sung by male solo artists. Very popular singers are Udo Jürgens, Udo Lindenberg,
Herbert Grönemeyer
Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Pete ...
, Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Peter Maffay and BAP (German band), BAP.
Udo Jürgens has maintained a large following since the late 60s and still sold out entire soccer stadiums during concerts in 2012. Herbert Grönemeyer, Grönemeyer also has managed to maintain his success up to today. Maffay developed from Schlager to rock and has a large but delimited fan base—he is seldom played on the radio. BAP, who sing in Colognian dialect, Kölsch, the dialect of their hometown Cologne, enjoy success nationwide.
Hamburger Schule
Hamburger Schule (School of Hamburg) is an underground music-movement that started in the late 1980s and was still active till around the mid-1990s. It has similar traditions as
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...
and mixed all that with punk rock, punk, grunge and experimental
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
. Hamburger Schule has been an important part of Germany's youth and gave the term "Pop" a new definition, as now it was "ok" (or "cool") to sing in the German language. Hamburger Schule also includes intellectual lyrics with postmodern theories and social criticism. Important artists are Blumfeld, Die Sterne and
Tocotronic
Tocotronic is a German rock band founded in 1993 (see 1993 in music). Similar to Blumfeld or Die Sterne they are considered a part of the Hamburger Schule (''Hamburg School'') movement. They are influential for bands such as Wir sind Helden.
...
.
Popular music from East Germany
''Ostrock''
By the early 1970s, experimental West German rock styles had crossed the border into
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
and influenced the creation of an East German rock movement referred to as ''Ostrock''. On the other side of the Iron Curtain, these bands tended to be stylistically more conservative than in the West, to have more reserved engineering, and often to include more classical and traditional structures (such as those developed by
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
and
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
in their 1920s Berlin theater songs). These groups often featured poetic lyrics loaded with indirect double-meanings and deeply philosophical challenges to the status quo. As such, they were a style of Krautrock. The best-known of these bands were Puhdys, The Puhdys, Karat (band), Karat, City (band), City, Stern-Combo Meißen and Silly (band), Silly.
Only a few individual songs, such as "Am Fenster" by City (band), City and "Über sieben Brücken mußt Du geh'n" by Karat (band), Karat, found wide popularity outside the East Germany, GDR. There was also a wide diversity of underground bands. Out of this scene later grew the internationally successful band
Rammstein
Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...
(see Neue Deutsche Härte below).
Popular music from reunified Germany
Modern popular music
![Silbermond, Donauinselfest 2009f](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Silbermond%2C_Donauinselfest_2009f.jpg)
In the 1990s, German-language groups had only limited popularity, and only a few artists managed to be played on the radio, for example
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In the same ye ...
,
Herbert Grönemeyer
Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Pete ...
, Marius Müller-Westernhagen,
Die Ärzte
Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs.
History Ea ...
,
Rammstein
Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...
, Rosenstolz or Die Prinzen.
In the mid-2000s the German band Wir sind Helden found success with a new style of German-language Pop rock, pop-rock. This success was followed by several other bands and artists that led to a new boom of German-language music and a broader acceptance of existing German-language recording artists, such as:
*Sportfreunde Stiller
* Juli (band), Juli
* Silbermond
* Kraftklub
* Klee (band), Klee
* MIA.
*Polarkreis 18
*2raumwohnung
*Revolverheld
* Annett Louisan
*Tim Bendzko
*Andreas Bourani
*Mark Forster (singer), Mark Forster
*Philipp Poisel
Indie and alternative rock
Popular anglophone alternative rock and crossover bands from Germany that managed to find success domestic and abroad include Beatsteaks, Donots, Blackmail (band), Blackmail, Reamonn, H-Blockx, Itchy (band), Itchy Poopzkid, Guano Apes and Die Happy. The Notwist, an indie rock band, had great critical and commercial success with their album ''Neon Golden''.
Euro disco
![Boney M 1981](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Boney_M_1981.jpg)
*
Boney M.
Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...
*Chilly (band), Chilly
*
Dschinghis Khan
Dschinghis Khan (; " Genghis Khan") was a German Eurodisco pop band. It was originally formed in Munich in 1979 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Dschinghis Khan". The original group led by original members Henriette S ...
*Mike Mareen
*Fancy (singer), Fancy
*Silent Circle
*Goombay Dance Band
*London Boys
*Lian Ross
*Arabesque (group), Arabesque
*Silver Convention
*Penny McLean
Synthpop, Eurodance, Pop
![ESC2013 - Germany 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/ESC2013_-_Germany_05.jpg)
In the late 1980s (prior to German reunification, reunification) and the 1990s, Synthpop and Eurodance became popular throughout Germany. Often, different styles were mixed in between these to attract a broad variety of audiences. Successful representatives of these styles were:
* George Kranz
* Culture Beat
*
Modern Talking
Modern Talking was a German pop music duo consisting of arranger, songwriter and producer Dieter Bohlen and singer Thomas Anders. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching th ...
*
Sandra
* Sarah Connor (singer), Sarah Connor
*
Hubert Kah
Hubert Kah is a German synthpop band, led by Hubert Kemmler (born 22 March 1961 in Reutlingen). Kemmler is a German musician, composer, songwriter and producer.
Biography
Kemmler's career began as a member of a trio named Hubert Kah, consist ...
* The Underdog Project
* Mousse T.
*
Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli were a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, '' All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as ''Girl You Know It's True'' in ...
* Groove Coverage
* Haddaway
* Captain Hollywood Project
* E-Rotic
* Monrose
* No Angels
* Mr. President (band), Mr. President
* Fun Factory (band), Fun Factory
* Sash!
* Jeanette Biedermann
* Captain Jack (band), Captain Jack
* Lou Bega
*
Bad Boys Blue
Bad Boys Blue are the German pop group formed in Cologne in 1984. The group performed many international hits including "You're a Woman", " Pretty Young Girl", " I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat", and "Come Back and Stay".
The group became massive ...
*
Alphaville
* R.I.O.
*
Cascada
Cascada (, Spanish for "Waterfall", stylized as CASCADA, CASC''A''DA and cascada) is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They are best known for their hit singles " Everyti ...
* Real McCoy (band), Real McCoy
* Snap!
* Camouflage (band), Camouflage
* A Touch of Class (band), A Touch of Class (''British based'')
* Antique (band), Antique (''Greek-Swedish based'')
Reggae, dancehall, ska
Popular bands and performers include Culcha Candela, Dr. Ring-Ding, Gentleman (musician), Gentleman, Hans Söllner, Jan Delay, Mamadee, Milky Chance, Oceana (singer), Oceana, Patrice Bart-Williams, Patrice, Peter Fox (musician), Peter Fox and Seeed.
R&B, soul, funk
![1 Live Krone 2013 Milky Chance 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/1_Live_Krone_2013_Milky_Chance_1.jpg)
Notable Contemporary R&B, R&B, Soul music, Soul and Funk artists include Ayọ, Cassandra Steen, Denyo, Miss Platnum, Nadja Benaissa, Nneka (singer), Nneka, Söhne Mannheims and Xavier Naidoo.
Hip hop
German hip hop, Hip hop in Germany arrived in the early 1980s, and graffiti and breakdancing became well-known quickly, even in socialist
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. German hip hop "started out as a transnational youth subculture. The commercial success started in 1992 with the hit "Die Da" from Die Fantastischen Vier from Stuttgart. The Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt tried to establish a "gangster" rap. An early influential group was Advanced Chemistry including Torch (German rapper), Torch. They sparked an interest in speaking out for the immigrants and used rap as a way to defend themselves.
Fettes Brot from Hamburg, has been successful since their beginning. They sing about funny topics, such as infidelity and boasting about their prowess with women. Whereas hip hop had a peak of success in the early first decade of the 21st century, gangster rap became a controversial part of German music and youth culture just as late as 2004 with Aggro Berlin. Some of Germany's hip hop artists are: Cro (rapper), Cro, Kool Savas, Sido (rapper), Sido, Samy Deluxe, Bushido (rapper), Bushido, Marteria, Eko Fresh, Bonez MC, Gzuz, Samra (rapper), Samra, Capital Bra, Trettmann, and Afrob. Gzuz gained recognition worldwide after two of his music videos were posted by Worldstar Hip Hop on YouTube.
Punk
German punk, Punk music in Germany has a long and diverse history. When bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash became popular in West Germany, a number of Punk bands were formed, which led to the creation of a German punk scene. Among the first wave of bands were Male, from Düsseldorf, founded in 1976, PVC, from West Berlin, and Big Balls and the Great White Idiot, from Hamburg. Early German punk groups were heavily influenced by UK bands, often writing their lyrics in English. The main difference is that German punk bands hadn't yet become political.
Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s there were new movements within the German punk scene, led by labels like ZickZack Records, from Hamburg. It was during this period that the term
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...
(New German Wave) was first coined by Alfred Hilsberg. Many of these bands played experimental post-punk, often using synthesizers and computers. Among them were Nina Hagen, The Nina Hagen Band, as well as Fehlfarben and Abwärts, from Hamburg. Both are still active, though they've changed their style several times. Other bands played a more aggressive style of punk rock with a clear leftist political direction influenced by earlier political rock bands like Ton Steine Scherben - bands like Slime (band), Slime, Toxoplasma, or Vorkriegsjugend are still relevant in the German punk scene. There is a still existing scene with many only locally known independent bands that confine themselves from the bigger and more popular groups (that are often branded as "Kommerzpunk").
Punkrock was outlawed in the GDR. Bands like Schleim-Keim or L'Attentat were observed and persecuted by the Stasi and couldn't perform in the public. Music was produced in underground and exchanged on Tape, an attempt to release a split-vinyl of "Schleimkeim" and "Zwitschermaschine" failed since the latter was undercut by government agents.
Nonpolitical punkrock that is also listened to by skinheads is termed as Oi!. Thematically, Oi! songs are often about alcohol, relations, and/or violence. While some Oi! Bands like "Loikaemie" did antifascist songs, there are many cases with an affliction to neonazis, with fluid borders toward right-extremist rockmusic ("Rechtsrock") within the Oi!-Scene.
There are few German language bands who managed to be successful for a longer period. The best known are the punk bands
Die Ärzte
Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs.
History Ea ...
and
Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf.
History
The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephe ...
. Both were formed in the early 1980s but have very different approaches to punk. As successful as those two bands in number of sales and number one albums but much lesser accepted by the public and normally not played by German media because of their affiliation with right-wing politics but with a huge fan community were the Oi!-Band
Böhse Onkelz
Böhse Onkelz (), sensational spelling of ''böse Onkel'' (German for "evil uncles") is a German rock band formed in Frankfurt in 1980. The band reunited in 2014. Despite mass-media criticism concerning their past as skinheads, several of their ...
.
Digital hardcore band Atari Teenage Riot is particularly well known in the United Kingdom and Japan as well as in German autonomist circles.
Heavy metal
![Scorpions - 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Scorpions_-_01.jpg)
Germany has a long and strong history with Heavy metal music, heavy metal. It is considered by many to be one of Europe's heaviest contributors to the scene. The genre is quite popular and mainstream within the country. Early hard rock/heavy metal was brought to German soil with the success of
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
and
Accept
Accept may refer to:
* Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc.
* Accept (band), a German heavy metal band
** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979
* ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970
* ACCEPT (or ...
. Germany is today known for its large metal festivals including Wacken Open Air and Summer Breeze Open Air.
Germany has a strong tradition of speed metal and power metal. Early speed metal bands include Running Wild (band), Running Wild, Grave Digger (band), Grave Digger, Rage (German band), Rage, and to some extent Warlock (band), Warlock and Stormwitch. The European style of power metal, developed in Germany, was popularized by German bands like Blind Guardian,
Helloween
Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...
, Gamma Ray (band), Gamma Ray, Freedom Call, Iron Savior, Avantasia, Edguy and Primal Fear (band), Primal Fear gained international recognition. In many cases these bands initially started out playing speed metal, but later switched to power metal. More recently, a new generation of power metal-influenced bands like Masterplan (band), Masterplan, Orden Ogan, Kissin' Dynamite and Powerwolf is becoming more and more popular in Germany and abroad.
Running Wild are also considered a pioneer of the pirate metal genre with the release of their 1987 album ''Under Jolly Roger,'' which was one of the first pirate-themed heavy metal albums.
Three local variants of metal subgenres exist in Germany. The Teutonic thrash metal scene is represented by such groups as Kreator, Sodom (band), Sodom, Destruction (band), Destruction, Tankard (band), Tankard and Exumer. Medieval metal, incorporates German traditional music with industrial metal. Notable bands include Subway to Sally, In Extremo, Corvus Corax (band), Corvus Corax, Saltatio Mortis and Schandmaul (the last is considered ''folk rock'' in Germany). Another variant, Neue Deutsche Härte, a form of industrial metal, is detailed below.
Bands from the genres of death metal, deathcore, metalcore, doom metal, black metal and folk metal are: Absurd (band), Absurd, Agathodaimon (band), Agathodaimon, Annisokay, Atrocity (band), Atrocity, Bethlehem (German band), Bethlehem, Caliban (band), Caliban, Crematory (band), Crematory, Dark Fortress, Deadlock (metal band), Deadlock, Debauchery (band), Debauchery, Desaster, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Disbelief, Endstille, Electric Callboy, Equilibrium (band), Equilibrium, Falkenbach, Finsterforst, Fleshcrawl, Golem (band), Golem, Heaven Shall Burn, His Statue Falls, Katharsis (band), Katharsis, Leaves' Eyes, Midnattsol, Moonblood, Morgoth (band), Morgoth, Mystic Circle, Nagelfar, Nargaroth, Neaera (band), Neaera, Necrophagist, Nocte Obducta, Obscura (band), Obscura, The Ocean (band), The Ocean, The Ruins of Beverast, Secrets of the Moon, Suidakra, Van Canto, War From a Harlots Mouth, We Butter the Bread with Butter and Wolfchant.
Neue Deutsche Härte
![Rammstein Live at Madison Square Garden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Rammstein_Live_at_Madison_Square_Garden.jpg)
''Neue Deutsche Härte'' (engl. "New German Hardness") is a term for an extremely popular German variant of Industrial metal. It combines the common sound of metal with elements of gothic and industrial music as well as electronic samples and is mostly sung in German. It is known for morbid and provocative lyrical themes and over-the-top stage shows often featuring fire, pyrotechnic, stunts and other special effects. It draws its audience from both the Heavy metal subculture, metal and Goth subculture, goth scene. Some bands, especially
Rammstein
Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...
and Oomph! have gained mainstream success and, despite their lyrics being mostly in German, have also found success in non-German-speaking countries. Other famous artists include Stahlhammer (from Austria), Megaherz, Unheilig, Eisbrecher, Tanzwut, and Joachim Witt.
Medieval metal
Medieval metal or medieval rock is a subgenre of folk metal that blends hard rock or heavy metal music with medieval folk music. Medieval metal is mostly restricted to Germany where it is known as Mittelalter-Metal or Mittelalter-Rock. The genre emerged from the middle of the 1990s with contributions from Subway to Sally, In Extremo, Schandmaul and Wolgemut. The style is characterised by the prominent use of a wide variety of traditional folk and medieval instruments.
Goth
Germany is the home of a vivid Goth scene, and has a large scene of musicians from the spectrum who are typically known as ''Goth musicians''. Most notable artists are Lacrimosa (band), Lacrimosa, Lacrimas Profundere, Xmal Deutschland, Das Ich, Deine Lakaien, Illuminate (band), Illuminate, Untoten, Erben der Schöpfung (from Liechtenstein), No More (band), No More, Girls Under Glass or Project Pitchfork. Leipzig is home of the largest event of this subculture worldwide called the Wave-Gotik-Treffen, regularly hosting 25,000 attendants. The WGT is closely followed by the annual M'era Luna festival in Hildesheim.
Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (engl. "New German Death Art") is a German death-obsessed Dark Wave style of music that blends Death rock, German Rock, Gothic Rock, and Neoclassical Dark Wave, neo-classical music with German philosophical texts and a theatrical stage show. It is restricted to Germany where it emerged in the early 1990s from bands such as Das Ich, Lacrimosa (band), Lacrimosa, Relatives Menschsein and Goethes Erben. Many NDT artists are known for their use of Classical Latin.
Electronic music and techno
![Robin Schulz Lollapalooza 2015-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Robin_Schulz_Lollapalooza_2015-2.jpg)
Germany has the largest electronic music scene in the world and has a long tradition in and influence on almost all genres of electronic music. The band
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
was one of the first bands in the world to make music entirely on electronic equipment, and the band
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...
is often credited as being among the originators and primary influences of the "Berlin School" of electronic music, which would later influence trance music. Some other bands like Liaisons Dangereuses (band), Liaisons Dangereuses, Tyske Ludder, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft and Die Krupps created a style later called Electronic body music. Recently a few electronica artists have become successful in the mainstream, such as Monika Kruse, Marusha, Blümchen and MIA. Artists on the cutting edge of German-language techno include Klee (band), Klee. Both Einstuerzende Neubauten, Einstürzende Neubauten (collapsing new buildings, translated literally) and KMFDM (no pity for the majority, translated literally) are considered by many industrial and electronic music fans as the godfathers of their genre. Their sounds developed the modern styles of groups such as NIN, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, and New Order. Einstürzende Neubauten can be recognized by their Prince-esque logo, which has been subliminally fused into several mainstream American movies (such as a tattoo in the movie Bug, directed by William Friedkin, starring Harry Connick Jr.). KMFDM has released many songs in English, making them more accessible to their huge American and worldwide audience.
In the 1990s, Germany was one of the most successful contributors to the Eurodance genre, with notable German-based acts including Real McCoy (band), Real McCoy, Snap!, Culture Beat, La Bouche, Captain Jack (band), Captain Jack, Captain Hollywood Project, Fun Factory (band), Fun Factory, Masterboy and Haddaway.
Since 2006 producer and DJ Paul Kalkbrenner gained popularity in Germany. He nowadays is one of the most famous performers of electronic music.
Trance music is a style of electronic music that originated in Germany in the very late 1980s and early 1990s, upon German unification. Following the development of trance music in Germany, many Trance genres stemmed from the original trance music and most trance genres developed in Germany, most notably "Anthem trance" or also called "uplifting" or "epic" trance, progressive trance, and "Ambient music, Ambient trance".
One of the most notable event referring to this scene was the Love Parade festival with up to 1.5 million participants from all over the world.
Scooter are by far the most successful German dance act, having found huge national and international success.
In recent years, German DJs have found worldwide success in the popular Electronic dance music, edm genre, most notably Paul Kalkbrenner,
Cascada
Cascada (, Spanish for "Waterfall", stylized as CASCADA, CASC''A''DA and cascada) is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They are best known for their hit singles " Everyti ...
, Felix Jaehn and Robin Schulz.
Other popular and influential German DJs and dance projects include
Paul van Dyk
Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...
, WestBam, DJ Quicksilver, ATB, Ian Pooley, Jam & Spoon, Lexy & K-Paul, Blank & Jones, Sven Väth, Dune (band), Dune, ItaloBrothers, Groove Coverage, Novaspace, International Pony and Anthony Rother.
Klezmer in Germany and Eastern Europe
Klezmer is a musical Jewish genre that consists of mainly instrumental songs. In Germany, Klezmer expanded significantly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in the mid-1980s.
As Klezmer was expanding, so was the Yiddish folk movement, and the two genres became intertwined to a certain extent. In the 1980s while Klezmer was seeing tremendous growth, many Jews in Eastern Europe turned to Klezmer as a means of understanding their communist backgrounds and showing their remembrance to those who experienced the The Holocaust, Holocaust. Once Klezmer groups started to tour outside of Europe in the 1980s, Americans gained immediate interest in the music genre. Henry Sapoznik created the first American Klezmer band, known as Kapelye, which toured all around Europe.
The spread of Americans playing Klezmer brought a new tone to the genre which captured large audiences. Most American groups who played Klezmer added a hint of American rock into their performances, which was different than the traditional sound of Klezmer in Eastern Europe. It was uncomfortable at first for many of the American Klezmer bands to play in Germany because of the trauma that had occurred there. Despite Germany's background, the American Klezmer groups knew Germany was a place they had to play because of Klezmer's popularity there. Over time, Klezmer's audience expanded in Germany and the American Klezmer bands were able to adjust.
Giora Feidman is arguably one of the most influential Klezmer musicians. Feidman created a new perspective for Klezmer, and shared a new ideology for how the music genre could be viewed and appreciated. Feidman gained a large amount of popularity from his work on the musical play, ''Ghetto'', which associated him and his style with the Holocaust.
He brought a new theme to Klezmer music which focused on the remembrance of the Holocaust, and a way of "healing" the trauma caused by the Holocaust. Feidman turned Klezmer into a form of personal expression, in which he tried to unite all people (especially the Jews and Germans) and all things through Klezmer.
He completely shifted the ideology of Klezmer and explained how Klezmer is in everything, it is even a way to get in touch with religion and communicate with God.
However, some people believe Feidman took his ideology too far and turned Klezmer into something that it never intended to become.
During the 1980s Klezmer underwent significant transformation, and by the middle-late 1990s Klezmer experienced a new wave of change. Klezmer became a name for many different trends far from where it originated. Klezmer was known as a political statement, a method of healing, amateur musicians getting together and playing music, a way to reconnect with lost traditions.
Jazz
World music
Germany was the starting point of the international career of Cuban-born singer & songwriter Addys Mercedes.
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
* Helms, Siegmund, ed. (1972). ''Schlager in Deutschland: Beiträge zur Analyse der Popularmusik und des Musikmarktes''. Breitkopf & Härtel. ''N.B''.: Includes a bibliog. dictionary of German musicians on pp. 177–235. Without ISBN.
* Schütte, Uwe, ed. (2017). ''German Pop Music. A Companion''. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. .
External links
German musicBrief biographies, sound samples, CDs from folk music to classical composers to contemporary rock, pop, and hip-hop German music.
German audio music samplesGerman music audio sound samples, CDs from folk music to classical, rock, pop, and hip-hop German music audio downloads.
Goethe-Institut
{{DEFAULTSORT:Music of Germany
German music,
Performing arts pages with videographic documentation
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