Music Information Centre of the GDR's Association of Composers and Musicologists (MIZ Berlin)

Since in 1991 the Deutsche Musikarchiv of the German National Library in Berlin took over the music information centre of the GDR's association of composers and musicologists it is in possession of a special collection on forty years of GDR music history.

A work index comprising 36,000 compositions in combination with programmes, press releases, reviews and analysis informs about the creativities of composers in the GDR. A photographic archive includes pictures of composers and interpreters. 10,000 sound carriers and 1,000 sheets of music offer a direct approach to the compositions by GDR musicians. Among the sound carriers there are live-recordings from premieres and first performances as well as broadcasting productions and recordings. The stock of tapes is digitally available on CD-Rs which are accessible via a database.

Numerous publications by the music information centre document the cultural activities: the spectrum ranges from address files and jubilee calendars to documents of musicologistic colloquiums and to entire accounts of the music festivals organised by the association, "DDR-Musiktage" and "Musik-Biennale Berlin".

Part of the collection are furthermore documents on music politics and on the cultivation of music as well as material on musical interpretations (orchestra tour schedules and theatre programmes).

The evaluation of music journals in German language is recorded in card indexes.

A reference library of 2,700 volumes completes the collection of the GDR's composers and musicologists music information centre.

Some of the media threatens to disintegrate and is currently being digitised as part of the CONTENTUS project.

An appointment made by telephone or in writing is necessary for using the collection.