VENERABLE AMBASSADORS
FROM A DISTANT CULTURE
The following plan has been conceived in light of a study of over thirty museums of musical instruments all over the world, which we carried out several years ago.
Museums of musical instruments in general do not attract the general public at all. (Only very few are interested in the measurements of a Stradivari violin!). Therefore, if this museum were to be successful, considerable imagination and creativity need to be employed in order to make a visit to the museum truly unforgettable for any individual, regardless of his previous background in music or the fine arts. Our museum has to be experienced through all five senses in a very spectacular way. Below, you will find a sketch of the overall plan of the displays, which will give you an indication of what our visitors will experience.
Again, our plans for the total integration of the museum with the communities of the region, ideas drawn from the dynamic - almost aggressive, in a marketing sense - structures of the Shrine to Music Museum (South Dakota, USA), will set a path for others institutions to follow. These include aspects like the collegium musicum, membership to the museum, school programs and the concert series.
EXIBITION 2004: OUTLINE OF THE DISPLAY HALLS
1. URBINO: MUSIC AS PART OF THE EDUCATION OF A GENTLEMAN
THE BEGINNINGS OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Replica of a hall in the Ducal Palace of Urbino. Instruments on Renaissance chairs, facsimile of music on Renaissance table, portraits of the Dukes of Urbino, musicians at court, Raffaello’s portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, quotes from Il Corteggiano about the music of Urbino.
ITALIAN CONSORT - 16th C. - PALAZZO DUCALE URBINO
Instruments:
Ital. Trebles (2), Linarolo, Violone D,
Furniture:
Music Table, Cards-Tables, cloth cover, chairs,
Displays:
Monteverdi, Duke Urbino, Intarsia Urbino, Palace Urbino, Isabella d'Este, Mantegna, Castiglione, Veronese, Ganassi, Voice as model for the viol,
Audio: CD or DVD-Player, Video? Josquin, Isaak, Merulo, Gabrieli
2. ENGLISH CONSORT - ELIZABETHAN, JACOBEAN
Instruments:
Five English viols, Lute (Renaissance), Virginal (spinett), Organ
Furniture:
Music Table, cloth cover, period chairs
Displays:
Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I, Dowland, Cromwell, William Lawes, William Byrd, Mace Music room,
Simpson, tablature music, facsimile music on table
Mace on fantasies,
Audio: CD or DVD-Player, Video? Hume two players on one viol!
3. GERMAN CONSORT - 17th C.
Instruments:
Festoon trebles (2), Seeloß, Albanus, Theorba (Baroque), Violone in G
2 Violins, viola vs. violett
Spinett?
Furniture:
Music Table, Cards-Tables, cloth cover, chairs
Manequin Soldat (30J Krieg)
Displays:
Consort Braunschweig, Schein, Schütz, Buxtehude, Praetorius Syntagma, Breughel Madrid,
Audio: CD or DVD-Player, Video? Schein, Scheidt, Schütz, Buxtehude, Rosenmüller
4. VIOLA DA GAMBA IN SHAPE OF VIOLONCELLO
Instruments:
Maggini, Grancino, Claude Boivin
Violoncello to compare
Furniture:
Displays: various, Stradivari models,
Audio: none
5. CORELLI ORCHESTRA / VIVALDI
Instruments: violins, violas, violoncellos, violone Eberle, Giusti harpsichord,
Furniture: Instruments displayed in orchestral disposition
Displays: Corelli, Vivaldi, La Pietà Venice, Palazzo della Cancelleria Roma, facsimiles, music stands wood,
Special display: baroque / modern violin
Audio: Corelli, Vivaldi
6. VIENNA - HABSBURG VIOLIN-MAKING
The Austrian violin-making school, well represented in our collection, is very little known outside of Austria itself. This display will make more people aware of the very considerable Austrian contribution in this field.
Instruments:
Families Leidolff, Stadlmann, Thir, Posch
Furniture:
Low tables for celli, display cases for violins, violas
Displays:
Bridge collection, Salzburg, Vienna 17th, Leopold I, Joseph I
Fux, Biber, Muffat, Caldara,
7. MARAIS: THE OPERATION OF THE GALL STONE
The hall reproduces an operation room of the baroque, reproductions of paintings of surgical operations. Medical implements and tools of that period.
Marais: The Operation of the Gall Stone
Furniture: The hall reproduces an operation room of the baroque. Medical implements and tools of that period, operation table.. mannequin?,
Displays: Marais, surgical operations, Louis XIV,
Instruments: 7-String Vdg, Theorba (?)
Audio: Marais, “The Operation of the Gall Stone”, narrated in Italian, English, German, French, perhaps even Japanese!
Requisiten: Staatsoper??? Technisches Museum (Gallensteinoperation?),
8. VIRTUAL VIOLA DA GAMBA CONSORT
A computer screen shows the musical score of a work for five viole da gamba. Two sopranos, a tenor and two bass violas da gamba with players on five images projected onto screens all-around. An apparatus with levers, each controlling the volume of one of these instruments/players. The visitor can vary the loudness of each of the instruments independently, can turn them off, the players on the video stand up and leave, etc. VERY ENTERTAINING!
This sort of invention has already been tried out in Vienna.
Music: viola da gamba consorts by Ward, Holborn, Purcell...
Similar with a string quartett!
9. HALL OF GLORY
The finest instruments of the collections are displayed each in their own “altar”, with descriptions, information as to origin, maker, etc. These will include names like Amati, Testore, Maggini, Linarolo, etc. The lighting in the display case turns on when approached by the visitor, dims when he moves away from the case.
HALL OF FAME
Instruments:
Violins: Amati, Testore, Albanus, Tielke 5-string
Violas: Italian ca. 1700
Violoncello: Italian ca. 1760,
Viola da gamba: Tielke, Stainer,
Furniture:
Cases for smaller instruments, tables for larger
Lighting tricks
Displays:
Other Amatis with wood pattern, Documentation Tielke (Döbereiner, Eva Heinitz),
Audio:
Samples of these instrument, on one
10. HAYDN AT ESTERHAZY
Recreation of the hall of the Palace of Esterhazy, where Haydn was Capellmeister for many years.
Haydn at Esterhazy
Recreation of the hall of the Palace of Esterhazy, where Haydn was Capellmeister for many years. Ambience created with chairs and tables from the classical period, facsimile music on wooden stands with candles, wax figure of a servant with wine
Instruments: baryton, Leidolff viola, Leidolff violin, Posch violoncello, violone
Furniture: table with candles, wine; manequin in costume (servant), period chairs, subdued lighting (evening), drapery
Displays: Portraits of the Palace, Haydn, Prince Esterhazy, musicians at court, barytons, story of Haydn and baryton,
Audio: Trios for baryton, viola and basso;
11. VIOLA D'AMORE
Instruments:
5 viola d'amore
Furniture:
Glass cases - two
Displays:
Attilo Arisoti, Treatises with vd'a, display resonant strings, blowups of details of instruments (heads, pegbox, etc)
Audio: CD: Bach passion aria, Arisoti sonata
12. THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
Subdued light, three or four spotlights: on a detail of a fresco on ceiling, on a detail of the fireplace, on a renaissance viola da gamba. A set of reclining egg-shell chairs which can be tilted backwards, for relaxing. The visitors learn about Athanasius Kircher, Kepler and the “Music of the Spheres”: how the Renaissance composers studied the movements of the planets and tried to reproduce this celestial harmony in the proportions of their music, how each voice moved independently, yet harmonized with all other voices, etc. A very quiet and relaxing experience for our visitors!
Instruments: viola da gamba (Linarolo?)
Furniture: Egg-shaped reclining chairs, "fresco", fireplace
Displays: Projection of the heavens - planets, stars, astrological zodiac signs rotating on ceiling
Audio: ricercare by Bassano, Conforti, Padovano, Cotes,
13. VIDEO ROOM
14. TOUCH AND PLAY ROOM
How does a harpsichord work? A fortepiano? Play a violin, a viola da gamba, a violin maker's shop, etc. Cut out, file away, varnish a violin?
PLEXIGLASS PLATES: four grouped together to form a single display case. Open on top, but lighting can hang down from top.
Requisiten: Staatsoper??? Technisches Museum (Gallensteinoperation?),
SPECIAL DISPLAYS:
- Baroque/modern violin (Bridges, fingerboards, tailpieces)
- Different models of viola da gamba
- Baroque/classical/modern bows
- Gut strings / modern strings
- Lute (vihuela) - viola da gamba - violin (characteristics from both families)
- Elegies: Monteverdi on strings, Mersenne,
Bach: The Orchestra of Cöthen
The Palace of Cöthen, Bach, musicians at court. On display: all the instruments used by Bach in the works written in this period: strings, viola da gamba, harpsichords, trumpets, oboes, flutes...
Audio: Brandenburg concertos, Orchestral Suites, works for violin, viola da gamba, cembalo, etc.