By linking two new, reciprocally interrelated research approaches – Genetic Text Criticism and the Digital Edition – the highly complex dynamics of compositional processes in Beethoven’s oeuvre, for the investigation of which source tradition and indexing provide ideal conditions, are to be explored, documented, and reproduced in exemplary digital editions in a new way.
The Berliner Klassik project will examine whether an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Berlin's unusual cultural heyday between 1786 and 1815 can provide an alternative to the Weimar-Jenaic Classicism. To this end, known and less known works and events of this epoch will be related to their internal and external correspondence and oppositions, their socio-cultural prerequisites and their…
The project “Bernd Alois Zimmermann-Gesamtausgabe, Historisch-kritische Ausgabe seiner Werke, Schriften und Briefe”, jointly sponsored by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz, is the first musicological edition project for music after 1945.
The project, which was developed in close cooperation with the music archive of the…
The systematic research into the Ethiopian manuscript culture is the aim of the long-term project “Die Schriftkultur des christlichen Äthiopiens und Eritreas: Eine multimediale Forschungsumgebung” (“Beta maṣāḥǝft: Manuscripts of Ethiopia and Eritrea”). Ethiopia and Eritrea are situated, from the perspective of cultural history, both at the periphery of the so-called Christian Orient and in the…
The Jewish diaspora in medieval northern France mastered Hebrew and Aramaic, since their main knowledge resources (Bible, Talmud, and Responsa literature) were written in these languages. However, Old French was their vernacular as it was for the Christian population. This medieval Judeo-French literacy is documented in various literary, scientific, and religious texts dating from the 11th to the…
The Bibliographische Annalen project continues and will complete the bibliographical handbook "Literatur in der DDR". Two volumes of the handbook were already published in 1986 by the Central Institute for History of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. The handbook is an internationally established scholarly reference work that bibliographically records all fiction and serial…
With its scope and diverse subject matter, Arabic literature is one of the richest in the world. Beginning in the 7th century CE, it blossomed within a civilization characterized by a vast network of cultural traditions and ties that were shaped by Islam. Like the Akkadian and Chinese literatures, Arabic literature is an ancient and erudite archive of knowledge. Until well into the 19th century,…
Patterns and interactions of plant diversity in disturbed and undisturbed ecosystems are analysed across scales from local field research to global information systems. On a continental to global scale, the main focus is on mapping diversity patterns and, above all, on analysing the relationship between geodiversity and plant biodiversity. Another central issue is the identification of hotspots…
The biotic structure of a water body, together with its physicochemical and hydrological properties, forms the most important basis for the assessment of its mass balance and the recording of environmental changes. The project focuses on the causal analysis of dominant processes and the long-term development of material flows and biological structures in reservoir ecosystems.
The brothers, Frederick and John of Saxony, were key figures in the early history of the Reformation. Frederick the Wise holds an established place in historiography as the founder of the University of Wittenberg and as Luther’s protector. His younger brother John the Constant is virtually unknown in comparison, although he was decisively influential in promoting the Evangelical cause at the…
Martin Buber (1878–1965) is arguably the most significant and still internationally influential thinker of the modern German-Jewish cultural and intellectual world, »alongside Einstein and Freud [...] one of the best-known Jews of the twentieth century«. In addition to Buber's writings in his diverse spheres of activity, it is in particular the correspondence (approx. 40,000 letters) with almost…
The second half of the 6th century AD marks a significant epoch in the history of Chinese Buddhism. In the years 577/578, the faithful suffered persecution under the secular state of Zhou. Concurrently, monks made great strides in translating the writings of the Buddha, resulting in a completely transformed appreciation of his teachings. Originally hailing from India, this religion was now adapted…
Ecclesiastical law had a lasting influence on Western and Central Europe until the 20th century and contributed fundamentally to the emergence of common European legal foundations. The ways in which these influences were transmitted are manifold and go back a long way. For it was not only since the 12th century - as is often claimed - that Europe developed into a unified area in many respects in…
The new Weber Complete Edition is based on the current status of musicological editing processes, with a clear focus on the historical aspect in addition to the critical aspect. It presents all of Weber’s musical works, including the piano excerpts from his own and foreign works as well as his arrangements of his own and foreign works, taking into account all available sources. Fragmentary…
The confrontation with classical antiquity is a decisive characteristic of Western culture. Research into the afterlife of antiquity, especially in the Renaissance period, is one of the central themes of art historical research. For the "Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance", the scientific discussion always starts from the concrete ancient monument that was…
The historical significance of Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbecks (1776 - 1858) lies in his scientific life's work as a botanist, zoologist and natural philosopher and in his committed socio-political effects. His life and work is in many ways a mirror of the scientific as well as the general history of the first half of the 19th century. Especially in his extensive correspondence lies the key…