News archive – In the news
Herrnhut is World Heritage
On Friday, 26 July, Herrnhut became a UNESCO World Heritage Site! To be more precise, the settlements of the Moravian church in Herrnhut were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list: Christiansfeld in Denmark has been on the list since 2015, and now Gracehill in Northern Ireland, Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, and...
8 August 2024
Preserving Ukrainian musical heritage
In January we reported on an initiative of the German Musicological Society (GfM) to help Ukrainian institutions preserve their musical heritage. This time we are pleased to share the news that, at the instigation of RISM and the GfM, the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine in Kyiv (RISM library siglum:...
1 August 2024
Bad Ischl in the Salzkammergut: European Capital of Culture and musical hotspot
Alongside Tartu in Estonia and Bodø in Norway, Bad Ischl is this year’s European Capital of Culture. The title turns the spotlight not only on Ischl itself, but on the entire Salzkammergut region extending across three Austrian federal states: Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. Putting aside the broader cultural implications,...
16 May 2024
The Musical Public Domain in 2024
If you follow copyright news at all, then chances are you’ve come across the names Walt Disney and Sergei Prokofiev several times already this month. Mickey Mouse and the music to Peter and the Wolf have now entered the public domain—but only depending on where you are in the world....
25 January 2024
The German Musicological Society supports the preservation of Ukrainian cultural assets
Since the devastating Russian attacks on Ukrainian cultural assets such as historic churches, theaters, cultural centers, museums, libraries and archives, have been going on for almost two years and no end is in sight, it is urgent to save these from total destruction and provide help if they have suffered...
22 January 2024
The Musical Public Domain in 2023
Every year, the public domain grows, enriching the pool of works that can be drawn upon to inspire creativity. In law, the “public domain” refers to works without copyright, usually because copyright has expired. In the European Union, the works of people who died in 1952 are now in the...
14 February 2023
Animal of the Year 2022: Donkey
As in previous years, various organizations have made selections for a plant or animal “of the year” for 2022. The German environmental organization NABU has a good overview. Apart from this list, the non-profit organization Bündnis Mensch & Tier has picked the donkey as the domestic animal of the year....
11 August 2022
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Embedded in a Worldwide Network: Projects of the Ukrainian RISM Working Group
Ukraine still features a number of music collections especially in the western part of the country, in venerable Lviv. The musical sources that are preserved in this multiethnic and multiconfessional trading town represent several music cultures. Besides the Greek Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox confessions, Lviv also has a Polish Catholic...
2 March 2022
The Musical Public Domain in 2022
What do the composers Arnold Schönberg, Armin Knab, and Camillo de Nardis have in common? They all died in 1951, so their music entered the public domain in the European Union on January 1, 2022. This means that they, and others who died the same year, died long enough ago...
20 January 2022
The Robin and Music
The fall bird migration is just about over here in Germany and many species have found their way to their winter quarters. But the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) stays with us throughout the year and continues to show up at backyard feeders even as the days grow colder and darker....
29 November 2021
