Museum of Musical Instruments of Leipzig University
Established | 1929 |
---|---|
Location | Germany |
Coordinates | 51°20′16″N 12°23′17″E / 51.3377°N 12.3881°E |
Visitors | 30,000 |
Website | mfm |
The Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig (
It is one of the largest music instrument museums in Europe, alongside those
History
In 1886 the Dutchman Paul de Wit opened a museum of historic musical instruments in Leipzig, but he sold the collection to the paper merchant Wilhelm Heyer in 1905. The "Wilhelm Heyer Museum of Music History" opened in 1913, containing De Wit's collection alongside that of the Florentine Baron Alessandro Kraus[1] and keyboard instruments from the Prussian manufacturer Ibach. The collection was bought by the University of Leipzig in 1926, paid for partly by the State of Saxony and partly by the publisher C.F. Peters, and was opened in the New Grassi Museum in 1929.[2]
Parts of the collection were removed for safekeeping during World War II, but a large number of the remaining items were destroyed during a bomb raid on the building in 1943, including the Ibach pianos, the archive and the library. After the war it transpired that the items which had been removed were also significantly damaged or lost, owing to improper storage or theft.[2]
Starting in the 1950s, the museum was gradually rebuilt and reopened to the public. The collection was expanded anew over the following decades, through purchases and donations. All or part of the De Wit, Heyer, Kraus and Ibach collections still survive.[2]
The museum is a member of the Konferenz Nationaler Kultureinrichtungen, a union of more than twenty cultural institutions in the former East Germany.
Exhibition
The permanent exhibition presents the major eras of musical history (in particular that of Leipzig) and
University connections
The museum has been part of the
See also
Notes
- ^ "Barone Alessandro Kraus : Console di San Marino in Firenze : [carte postale]". Gallica. 1903. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ^ a b c The History of the Museum of Musical Instruments Archived 2010-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Grassi Museum and the University of Leipzig Archived 2010-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Eszter Fontana, Birgit Heise: Für Aug' und Ohren gleich erfreulich. Musikinstrumente aus fünf Jahrhunderten. Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig, Halle/Saale, 1998. ISBN 3-9804574-1-9. (in German)
- Helmut Zeraschi: Geschichte des Museums, Issue 2 of Schriftenreihe des Musikinstrumenten-Museums der Karl-Marx-Universität, Leipzig, 1977. (in German)
- Herbert Heyde: Trompeten Posaunen Tuben, Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Leipzig - Katalog. Band 3 (ISBN 3-7651-0213-X)