The DFF Music Archive includes collections of sound recordings, written materials, playback equipment and instruments. It includes individual recordings as well as complete record collections, such as the archive of the Mechanical Music & Movie Center, Cornwall, and a private collection of soundtracks and music recordings from the 1950s to the 1980s. The Archive also holds approximately 1,500 shellac records and an extensive collection of sound recordings of movie organ music.
The archive includes approximately 1,000 international music anthologies of the silent film period, original scores (or compilations) and new compositions for silent films, including several original scores by film composer Giuseppe Becce. There are also other original scores, orchestral scores (primarily of German film music up to 1970) and about 2,000 sheet music. Of special note are the autograph scores of composers, including the estate of Wolfgang Keller with 300 scores. Books, articles, directories, cue sheets and publishers’ catalogs on film music from its inception to the present day are also held at the DFF.
DFF also preserves over 1,000 Edison reels from the early days of cinema, and our technical archives contain shellac record players, self-playing musical instruments including paper reels, and other playback equipment from early cinema, including 15 Edison reel-to-reel phonographs. All necessary playback equipment is available for listening and transfer of sound recordings.
Location
Archiv- und Studienzentrum des DFF
DFF Fassbinder Center, Frankfurt
Eschersheimer Landstraße 121
60322 Frankfurt am Main
Metro stop: Holzhausenstraße
Opening hours (by appointment):
Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 2 – 5 p.m.
Contact
Phone: +49 69 961 220 – 451
Email: sammlungen@dff.film
The Music Archive is staffed only intermittently,
therefore there may be delays
in responding to requests.
Links
Giuseppe Becce on filmportal.de
Wolfgang Zeller on filmportal.de
