History

The history of the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin is closely connected to Berlin's political situation and development. The opening of the Academy in 1950 was essentially politically motivated. After the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Berlin's only music college and all of its music schools were located in the western part of the divided city. The GDR Ministry for Education therefore resolved to open a new music college for the city's eastern sector. On October 1st, 1950 the Deutsche Hochschule für Musik (German Academy of Music) was founded in Wilhelmstraße.
 
The Academy's first director was the musicologist, Professor Dr. Georg Knepler. The teaching staff comprised outstanding artists, scholars and teachers with starkly contrasting political backgrounds, e.g. Rudolph Wagner-Régeny and Hanns Eisler (composition), Helmut Koch (conducting), Helma Prechter and Arno Schellenberg (voice), Carl Adolf Martienssen and Grete Herwig (piano), Gustav Havemann and Wilhelm Martens (violin), Bernhard Günther (cello), Werner Buchholz (viola) and Ewald Koch (clarinet).
 
The Academy has borne the name Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin since 1964.
On September 1st, 1950 a specialist music school was opened. The motivation behind the establishment of the school was the urgent need to support and encourage young musical talent. This resulted in the dovetailing of both institutions, and in 1965 this "special school of music" was placed under the direct administration of the Academy. In 1991 the school was renamed the Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach high school.
 
In the course of German reunification the Academy was taken over by the State of Berlin. It is now one of the state academies of Berlin and is under the jurisdiction of the Senate department of science, research and the arts.


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