Literary archive

From 1957, the literary archive was a sub-label of the record company Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft , under which literary recordings - mainly spoken ones - were published. One of the co-founders of this brand was Ernst Ginsberg , who at the time was head of the word department at Deutsche Grammophon , who had an “acoustic reference library of world literature” in mind.

Self-image

In a self-portrait printed on the first record pocket, the aim of the label was stated that one wanted

give the poet's word spoken by the first interpreters the same homeland rights on the record as music (...) has. After a time in which the lively relationship to language and poetry seemed to dissolve through haste and hardship about everyday life, it is now a great and grateful task to counteract an impending alienation. The path that opens up here for the spoken word made audible leads into the breadth and breadth, into the depth and height of the poetry of the world. The literary archive wants to recruit new interest, new understanding and new love for them.

First performers

“First interpreters” primarily meant stars of spoken theater and authors. In the early years, the speakers of the literary archive included Ernst Ginsberg z. B. Will Quadflieg , Maria Becker , Erich Ponto , Gottfried Benn or Erich Kästner . In addition, historical word recordings were used. a. from the existing Deutsche Grammophon catalog , e.g. B. the complete recordings of Kabale und Liebe and the Gründgens staging of Faust I , the success of which in previous years may have encouraged society to found its own literature label, or recorded readings by Thomas Mann .

From word label to literary label

Initially conceived as a pure word label (cinematographic works appeared until the 1960s , a "sub-sub-label" literary cabaret or even when Polydor ), the developed literary archive to a literary label under which the German Grammophon all the shots category "Literature" summed up , including sung literary texts, etc. a. by Ernst Busch , Gisela May and Therese Giehse or later Katja Ebstein , as well as classic songs of the cabarets of authors like Kaestner or Tucholsky . Only settings of literary texts that belonged to the “ Classical Music ” category continued to appear under the DG's classical label .

Lasting success

Up until the last few years, recordings were available in stores under the literary archive , most recently on CDs. Until a completely different picture emerged on the market due to the increased emergence of audio book publishers , it was for a long time the most important label for literary recordings in Germany. The attempt to establish the brand abroad, for example in France as archive litteraire , was less successful.