The German National Discography / Die deutsche National-Discographie

As a result of decades of discographical research, Rainer E. Lotz presently edits the German National Discography: A systematic listing of all recordings of the 78rpm shellac era that were made in Germany, c.1890-1960. In consideration of the enormous amount of data that have to be processed, the work is published in separate topical series.

The format is to list, in chronological sequence: Location and date of recording, matrix number, title, tempi, name of larger work (such as opera, movie film, etc), composer, lyricist, arranger, singer or accompaniment, label, catalog number, and date of first release. The Spoken Word Discography also contains capsule biographies and abstracts or transcriptions of the contents. Each volume lists the artists in alphabetical order. Each volume has 288 pages, and the pagination is consecutive. A cumulative table of content lists all artists included in previous volumes of a series.

The time frame encompasses the shellac era and excludes microgroove and compact disc recordings. As a matter of principle, only commercial pressings are listed and private recordings (acetates or tapes) are excluded. However, in exceptional cases radio transcriptions, phonograph cylinders, and other media of the pre-microgroove era such as Tefifon recordings, sound postcards, or flexible discs (on cardboard, paper, metal, plastic base) are also included.

The discographies are an essential tool for researchers, collectors, archivists, broadcasters, historians.

The print run of each volume is limited to 250 copies. The publication schedule is about two books per year.
 

The authors of the German National Discography:

Björn Englund's stage debut was as a boy soprano in 1945. He studied French horn (Waldhorn) and bassoon (Fagott) and performed as part-time military musician since 1977 (playing at the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace). On staff of Sohlman music dictionary 1975-1979. Professional bibliographer/discographer employed by the Swedish National Sound Archive (SLBA) since 1968, responsible for its 78 rpm data base and publication of discographies. Since 1957 he has contributed to Matrix, Storyville, Record Research, Record Collector, Talking Machine Review, Jazz Journal, Jazz Monthly, Jazz & Blues and Orkesterjournalen (Stockholm) among others. Besides running his own record label, Bonnie, named after his beloved Boston terrier, he was involved in78 rpm reissues for the Sonora, Sonata, Cupol, Marcia and Albophone labels

Gabriel Goessel, a chemical engineer and freelance translator, owns an important private collection of records and artifacts related to the history of the recording industry in Czechoslovakia. Besides being the author of “Fonogram” he also edits re-issues of historical sound recordings, writes scholarly articles, and hosts his own radio program..

For more than 30 years Michael E. Gunrem has researched the history of sound recording and reproducing technologies of discs and cylinders. He owns an important collection of operatic, personality, jazz and blues recordings as well as the world´s largest collection of German record labels of the 1899-1925 period (partly published as the "Record Labels" calender for 2000). He conducts record auctions since 1978.

Klaus Krüger, a lecturer and medical doctor at a university hospital, owns a large collection of jazz, dance and personality recordings as well as related pre-1950s print media (books, magazines, sheet music, programs, photographs, etc). Since 1986 he is editor of "Fox auf 78", the leading German language journal for historical sound documents.

Rainer E. Lotz is a mechanical engineer and economist and lecturer in political science and development policies. He owns an important collection of historical sound recordings and compiled LP and CD anthologies. His many publications on ragtime, jazz, radio broadcasting, sound recording, discography and ethnology have been published in Germany and abroad. He conducts record auctions and is member in several international associations such as IASA/FIAT, IAJRC and ARSC. He was presented the 1998 ARSC Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his work in published recorded sound research.

The late music historian Andreas Masel is founder/manager of the Volkskulturarchiv (archive for folk culture) >from 1989, head of the Lower Bavarian music division and freelance music specialist for the Upper Bavarian district authority. His many publications include translating and editing works on musicology as well as treatises on musical instruments, record research and Bavarian music and folklore.

Walter Roller manages the radio broadcast and spoken word division of the German Radio Archives at Frankfurt am Main, which holds some 20.000 titles. His publications include "Tonaufnahmen zur deutschen Rundfunkgeschichte 1924-1945" (1972), "Tondokumente zur Zeitgeschichte 1888-1932" (1977), "Tondokumente zur Zeitgeschichte 1933-1938" (1980), "Literatur, Kunst, Wissenschaft - Tondokumente 1888-1945" (1982) as well as "Tondokumente zur Kultur- und Zeitgeschichte" (1998). He has compiled various historical CD anthologies.

The late Manfred Weihermüller was legal adviser for the "Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung". He operated his own record label, "Discophilia", specializing on operatic and personality reissues; drawing on his vast collection of shellac discs. After his premature death in 1995 his work is carried on by Axel Weggen, a musician who teaches music at the Jitzchak Rabin-Schule, Düsseldorf. He is also active as a choir director and piano accompanist for Lieder recitals. He owns an important collection of operatic and vocal recordings.

Since 1983 Oliver Wurl has been employed by a Berlin city library as reference librarian for music. He is a collector of instrumental music on shellac discs for more than 25 years. He contributed to the first volume of "Discographie der deutschen Gesangsaufnahmen", is co-author of volume two and presently compiles volume one of the envisaged "Discographie der deutschen Instrumentalaufnahmen" (conductors and soloists).

Susanne Ziegler, an ethnomusicologist, is a researcher at the Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde, where she is in charge of the historic Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv; her publications include essays on the phonogram archive..

Christian Zwarg has been researching the history of early recordings and their optimal reproduction since 1985. As a result, he has developed a special technique of digital sound restoration, used on his own reissue label "Truesound Transfers" and on several other CD projects. Other fruits of his labour include a database currently listing some 315,000 acoustic recordings, enabling him to date and identify most records made before 1926 and thus contribute to various discographical projects including the GND.

At present work concentrates on the following five series:

The German National Discography Editor: Rainer E. Lotz [ISBN 3-9802656-7-6]

Series 1: Discography of German Personality / Discographie der deutschen Kleinkunst [ISBN 3-9802656-6-8 / 978-3-9802656-6-9]
Volumes 1 to 6 have been published.

Series 2: Discography of German Dance Music/ Discographie der deutschen Tanzmusik [ISBN 3-9802656-5-X / 978-3-9802656-5-2]
Volumes 1 to 8 have been published

Series 3: Discography of German Operatic and Lieder/ Discographie der deutschen Gesangsaufnahmen [ISBN 3-9803461-0-2 / 978-3-9803461-0-8]
Volumes 1 to 4 have been published

Series 4: Discography of German Spoken Word Recordings/ Discographie der deutschen Sprachaufnahmen ISBN 3-9803461-3-7 / 978-3-9803461-3-9]
Volumes 1 to 4 have been published

Series 5: Discography of Ethnic Recordings/ Discographie der ethnischen Aufnahmen [ISBN 3-9805808-3-0 / 978-3-9805808-3-0]
Volume 1 has been published 

Series 6: Discography of Judaica Recordings/ Discographie der Judaica-Aufnahmen [ISBN 978-3-9810248-3-8]
Volume 1 has been published