Hanns Eisler Prize


The Hanns Eisler Prize was an East-German music award, named after the composer Hanns Eisler. It was awarded by Radio DDR – with advisory participation of the music section of the Akademie der Künste der DDR in Berlin and the – and on the occasion of his 70th birthday on 6 July 1968, the first time in the ballroom of the. The Hanns Eisler Prize was endowed with 10,000 marks and was one of the most renowned music prizes in the German Democratic Republic.

Statute

The statutes stated: "The Hanns Eisler Prize shall be awarded for new compositions and musicological works which make outstanding contributions to the socialist musical culture of the GDR". Thus, one or more composers and musicology were honoured. The prize-winning pieces were then premiered in a special concert.
Among the first prize winners in 1968 were Peter Dorn, Gerhard Rosenfeld and Ruth Zechlin. The composers Reinhard Pfundt, Gerhard Rosenfeld and Udo Zimmermann each received two awards. In 1990 and 1991, the prize was awarded by the Deutschlandsender Kultur, most recently to Klaus Martin Kopitz and Hans Tutschku. Since 1993, the has been awarded by the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" to young performers and composers.

Laureates (1968–1991)

Distinguished by Radio DDR 2:
Awarded by Deutschlandsender Kultur: