Music
Germany and Austria enjoy global recognition for a variety of music genres. Both countries have produced some of the world’s best-known composers - die bekannteste Komponisten der Welt.
Question
Do you know which composers come from which country? – Woher kommen die Komponisten?
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart kommt aus Österreich.
- Ludwig van Beethoven kommt aus Deutschland.
- Friedrich Händel kommt aus Deutschland.
- Joseph Haydn kommt aus Österreich.
- Johann Sebastian Bach kommt aus Deutschland.
- Franz Schubert kommt aus Österreich.
Music of the 80s
During the 1980s – in den achtziger Jahren – several German bands featured in the UK and US charts. Nena topped the charts with her song 99 (neunundneunzig) Luftballons.
Cutting-edge music
Germany has a reputation for being the global capital for cutting-edge electronic, dance and trance music; starting with the band Kraftwerk who had a massive hit in the early 1980s, to more recent artists like Scooter and internationally renowned DJ, musician and producer Paul Van Dyk.
Types of music
Like TV and films, many of the words for music genres are cognates, so not too difficult to learn.
Hilfsvokabeln– Helpful vocabulary
die elektronische Musik(f) – electronic music
der Hip-Hop(m) – hip hop
die klassische Musik(f) – classical music
die Popmusik(f) – pop music
die Oper(f) – opera
die Rockmusik(f) – rock music
der RnB(m) – RnB
Here are some useful German phrases that you might hear about music:
Ich höre Musik auf meinem Handy.– I listen to music on my mobile.
Sie hört immer Radio.– She always listens to the radio.
Man kann Musik leicht vom Internet herunterladen.– You can download music easily from the internet.
Er geht regelmäßig auf Konzerte.– He regularly goes to concerts.
Es gibt im September ein Musikfestival in Berlin.– There is a music festival in Berlin in September.
Ich benutze Kopfhörer beim Musikhören.– I use headphones when listening to music.
Did you know?
Mozart's popularity in particular has endured so much that a bilingual English and German pop song called Rock Me Amadeus was written about him in the 1980s by the Austrian singer Falco. The song charted at number one in both the UK and the US.
