CIMCIM CIMCIMThe programme includes visits to 15 collections including all the most important museums with musical instrument displays in Britain, conference papers on musical instrument topics, concerts, and meals. The CIMCIM Presentations session will be from 14:15 to 15:45 on Wednesday 6th August in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The CIMCIM Business Meeting will will be subsequently from 16:00 to 17:15.
For more information please visit CIMCIM's website.
Invitation
For those who are joining the Galpin Society and the American Musical Instrument Society in Oxford at the beginning of August, I would extend to them the same invitation as to the other societies, to visit my own collection of some 2,500 instruments, as well as the museums here. The address is 171 Iffley Road, and I'll be at home Saturday 2nd from 15:00 to 17:45 on Sunday 3rd from 9:30 to\15:30, and Monday 4th from 9.30 to 15:45. If anyone is arriving early or staying on late, other days might be possible, but only by appointment.
Jeremy Montagu
jeremy.montagu@wadham.oxford.ac.uk
News from Köln
I am following all activities with great interest although I have been unable to attend gatherings for many years. It has always been a pleasure to receive postcards from CIMCIM meetings with greetings from old friends and new members. It is the number of names unknown to me that shows that CIMCIM is well able to attract professionals from all continents.
My occupation is teaching the conservation of wooden objects of all kinds, including furniture, ethnographic material, wooden painted surfaces, wooden constructions in monuments and last but not least musical instruments. The latter field has only been peripheral to me with a limited number of objects treated in our university of applied sciences, including an early pianoforte by Hofmann of Vienna (our Committee Secretary will remember this instrument well), a viol by Michel Colichon, Saxonian instruments of the violin family and a beautifully veneered square piano by Jeckel of Worms. Last summer we did the thorough examination of an organ from the 18th/19th century on the isle of Lopud near Dubrovnik, Croatia. Outside the field of musical instruments we run (or ran) projects in Brazil, Poland, Croatia and lately in Nepal, just North of the Himalayan central range. I am just now getting ready for another trip to this country.
This summer I will retire reaching the age of 65. I will move to Hamburg, the city of Joachim Tielke. This instrument maker will take much of my wife's and my time since we plan to bring my father's book on this maker into a new and much revised edition. It is in this context that I will contact a number of CIMCIM members for information on their Hamburg bowed and plucked instruments, hoping also to find hitherto little known works from the workshops of Tielke, Goldt, Voigt etc. And this will hopefully also give me the opportunity to renew in person the contacts with old members and meet new ones.
Friedemann Hellwig, hellwig@re.fh-koeln.de, friedemann.hellwig@t-online.de
Musée de la Musique, Paris
Special projects and applied research
The Museum's laboratory is conducting various research projects focusing on its collection of instruments. These include:
Appraisal of the playing quality of the quartet instruments
A systematic study is being conducted into the feasibility of restoring quartet instruments to con-cert condition. A commission comprised of musicians, experts and members of the Museum's scientific team is studying the technical possibilities, ethical constraints and musical significance in respect of each instrument. This year, having completed its study of the collection's 19th-century instruments, the commission is deliberating on its 20th-century instruments. It will subsequently examine the older instruments.
Old string instruments
Current work on bowed string and keyboard instruments in the Museum's possession which are either in concert condition or could be restored to concert condition calls for a more extensive knowledge of the technology and the types of strings used in these instruments.
Research is being conducted in two areas:
string instruments from the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, and harpsichord and hammered cordophones.
Varnish and waxes - natural coatings and adhesives (2002/2003)
Research concerning this type of coating material is focusing on three precise areas:
Varnish in the making of quartet instruments: knowledge, study and conservation issues.
Contemporary varnishes and coatings: synthetic varnishes, conservation, and restoration.
Waxes: the study of non-European instruments requires a knowledge of the coatings and waxes used in instrument-making in India and Africa.
Leather and cloth
Chemical and physical characteristics, and research with a view to implementing historical techniques.
Wood
Study of the woods used in instrument-making: identification and determination of mechanical characteristics.
Study of anisotropy and absorption.
Wood and/or substitutes for varieties listed by CITES.
Digital facsimiles
Conservation of electric and electronic instruments.
Reflection on the functionality of musical instruments.
Mechanical and acoustical study of Indian flat-bridge instruments, with particular focus on the Rudra Vina.
Determination of acoustical criteria to be used in defining a typology for vihuelas.
Work on harpsichord measurements
Congratulations
1st July 2003, marks the thirtieth anniversary of Laurence Libin's appointment as curator of musical instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, succeeding Emanuel Winternitz. As department head for 26 years, Libin supervised acquisition, conservation, interpretation, and administration of the collection while simultaneously teaching at several schools and universities. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1978 and in 1989, thanks to a generous endowment, he was named the first Frederick P. Rose Curator in Charge. As Research Curator since 1999, he travels widely for study and consultation with cultural institutions. In March 2003, Libin delivered the inaugural academic lecture at the new school for conservation and museography of the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City, where he is the external advisor for musical instrument conservation; he is also an advisor to the Institute for Historic Organs in Oaxaca, the Medici Archives Project in Florence, the Musica Russia Foundation, and the Boston Baroque orchestra, and is a governor of the American Organ Archives. Since 1995 Libin has collaborated with V. Koshelev in St. Petersburg; this activity led him to identify the 1774 Zumpe & Buntebart piano designed by Robert Adam for Catherine the Great. Libin currently assists with documenting the keyboard collection at Villa Medici Giulini, and chairs the Noah Greenberg Award committee of the American Musicological Society. He lectures this year at New York's Lincoln Center and Juilliard School, Steinway & Sons' piano factory, the City University of New York, Boston University, and the Royal College of Music, London.
16-18 October 2003
A symposium on the Viennese piano will be held at the Sammlung Alter Musikinstrumente in Vienna. The final program will soon be published.
Alfons Huber
Kloster Michaelstein, Germany
20-23 November 2003
24th Symposium on Musical Instrument Making
The Musical Instruments of the Burial Chapel of the Freiberg Cathedral
Opening Thursday, 20.11.2003, 2 p.m.
Excursion to Freiberg Sunday, 23.11.2003,
End of the conference Sunday, 23.11.2003, 6 p.m.
Concert Saturday, 22.11.2003, 7:30 p.m.
Musica Freybergensis,
Saxonian Sources, ca. 1600
During the conversion of the choir of the Freiberg cathedral into the burial chapel of the princes of Wettin in the years between 1585 and 1594, the puttos on the cornice below the vault were equip-ped with 30 musical instruments (5 bowed string instruments of the violin family, 4 lutes, 4 citterns, 3 harps, 3 shawms, 4 trumpets, 2 trombones, 3 cornetts, 2 frame drums, and 2 triangles). All of the instruments, which are partially labelled, were built in Saxony, mostly in the small town of Randeck. Their exceptional significance results from the extraordinary information they contain regarding both musical practice and instrument making in Lutheran Saxony and central Germany. Nowhere else in Europe has an instrument making school prior to 1600 been so comprehensively documented. A major research project, involving several working groups recruited from fellows of various institutions (museums, laboratories, colleges, etc.), is concerned with a scientific inquiry into the musical instruments. The project is underwritten by the Institut für Musikinstrumentenforschung "Georg Kinsky" of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum der Universität Leipzig, with significant support by Ständige Konferenz Mitteldeutscher Barockmusik.
During the 24th symposium on instrument making in Michaelstein, the results of the research are going to be presented and submitted to public discussion. Apart from a presentation of photos, x-rays, analyses of the material, and technical drawings, reproductions of the Freiberg instruments will be shown; and they can also be heard in the concert on Saturday.
Further information: Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein, Frau Monika Lustig, Postfach 24, D-38881 Blankenburg, Tel.: +49-(0)3944-903012, Fax: +49-(0)3944-903030, e-Mail: m.lustig@kloster-michaelstein.de
What the "single standard" for handling musical instruments is concerned, there is not only the rarity of an object to be taken into consideration, but also the type of instrument. As Dr Heyde remarked, "although the material of brass instru-ments is not subject to ageing, their usually thin metal is extremely vulnerable and at risk to mechanical damage".
I am not of opinion that playing is necessary to preserve the timbre of historic musical instru-ments. Why should the "drying and ageing of their wood" take place? If a museum is conceived in such a way that the exhibition halls and storage rooms are provided with air conditioning and that air with a correct percentage of relative humidity can reach the objects in cupboards and drawers in the storage area, why should the wood dry and age?
In any case, the person or persons responsible for the preservation of the collection should always be asked, whether it is possible or not to use a musical instrument or a number of instruments for the purpose they were built for: to make music. And it goes without saying that the person or persons responsible should know something about music and its playing techniques. Please allow me to quote two cases in my experience. After all, 30 years work in a museum (in my case 1954-1984) does, indeed, provide a person with some experience.
The first case did not take place in one of the two museums for which I was responsible, but in a private collection somewhere on this planet. A Russian pianist had been invited to play a concert on a Viennese early 19th century piano. If it was possible, the player lifted his hand or hands about a meter above his head, and then -bang- on the keyboard. During the rather long interval the technician succeeded in tuning at least the worst out-of-tune notes in the treble, but of course a hammer was broken. In "my" museum the pianist would not have had a chance.
Another case took place in a museum I was working in at that period. A cellist and a pianist had come to prepare the playing of a record i. e. with the Schubert arpeggione sonata. The pianist was led to one of the Graf pianos in the museum. After about a quarter of an hour I returned to the instrument hall, where the pianist, one of the best in Germany, I was told, was banging on the Graf. Of course I pulled the man away from the Graf and told him that the playing of historic pianos was a special art, often introduced into the program of some conservatories. The chap did not enjoy the scene, and neither did I, but it had to be lived through. Thank goodness there was a reason, why the arpeggione of the collection I was then working for could not be used: Schubert goes up to e''' on the e' string and therefore only an instrument with 24 frets was usable, while our arpeggione only had 19. So there was reason enough to use the instrument of another museum, which solved the problem. But a curator or conservator or whatever should have musical training enough to make such decisions.
Conclusions:
Dr J.H. van der Meer
In October 2002, the Musée de la Musique opened the Galerie contemporaine, dedicated to exploring post-1945 musical creation from a multidiscipli-nary perspective encompassing music, video and the plastic arts. The gallery will present tours, based on a different theme each year.
2002-2003: Electric body / Le corps en scène (19 October - 13 July)
This exhibition will allow the public to discover the "off-limits" experiments conducted by artists after the Second World War with a view to reaffirming the importance of the body and bodily movements in music. It will feature works by Mauricio Kagel and Laurie Anderson, costumes used by Madonna and David Bowie, musical instruments, clips, etc.
2003-2004: Music and Space
2004-2005: Music and Politics
Temporary exhibitions
2003: Inde du Nord: Gloire des princes, louange des dieux / Northern India: Glory of princes and praise of the gods (19 March - 29 June) After exhibitions dedicated to Africa (Harpes d'Afrique centrale - Central African harps), in 1999, and to China (La Voix du Dragon - The voice of the dragon) in 2000, the Musée de la Musique is now focusing on the music of Northern India, from the first Islamic influences to the present day. The exhibition features remarkable musical instru-ments, many of them never before seen in Europe, along with miniatures from the main Islamic and Hindu schools.
There will also be two smaller exhibitions this year:
André Jolivet, les objets de Mana / André Jolivet - objects associated with Mana (11 January - 23 March)
Six gifts from Edgar Varèse to André Jolivet have been added to the Museum's collections. These will be on view along with a large number of unpublished documents which cast light on the universe of André Jolivet.
György Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre (14 May - 13 July)
Sketches and stage set items relating to Ligeti's work.
BIRGIT HEISE: Membranophone, Idiophone; Europäische Schlag- und Friktionsinstrumente (third volume of "Instrumentarium Lipsiense")
The new catalogue contains studies with impor-tant information on the history of the described category, descriptions and measurements of the instruments, black and white and colour photographs of each instrument, and technical drawings to the details of construction. This book represents a milestone in cataloguing of idiophones and membranophones.
The volume of 272 pages costs EUR 24,90 including a CD with the 11 sound examples
Orders: musik.museum@uni-leipzig.de
SCRIPTA ARTIUM No. 2
Study series of the art collections of the university of Leipzig, Germany.
Thematic volume on works made by Bartolomeo Cristofori by Kerstin Schwarz, Irmela Breiden-stein, Klaus Gernhardt and Rainer Behrends. Contributions to history of arts, organology and conservation with a very important study by Kerstin Schwarz to the construction of wingshaped instruments (harpsichords and fortepianos).
68 pages, brochure, 21 x 29.7 cm, black and white illustrations and technical drawings, price 12.50 EUR. In addition a 4/4 colour brochure with the instruments of Cristofori can be ordered (5.50 Euro) Orders: musik.museum@uni-leipzig.de
MUSEE DE LA MUSIQUE, Paris, France: Les Cahiers du Musée de la musique
A new publication series, which focuses on the Museum's collections and on the colloquia which it organises:
No. 1: "Altos" (Violas), April 2000. Documents from the colloquium entitled "L'alto, de la facture à l'interprétation" (The viola, from the workshop to the concert hall). Catalogue of the exhibition
"L'alto en formes, histoire d'un instrument" (The viola takes shape - history of an instrument)
No. 2: "Archéologie et musique" (Archaeology and music), February 2001. Documents from the colloquium of the same name.
Forthcoming publications:
Exhibition catalogues
Catalogues are published for all of the temporary exhibitions organised by the Musée de la Musique. The latest, entitled Electric Body, appeared in October 2002. The next catalogue will cover the exhibition Inde du Nord. Gloire des princes, louange des dieux / Northern India: Glory of princes and praise of the gods (March 2003).
For information concerning orders, visit the Cité de la Musique Web site at: www.cite-musique.fr
To consult the Museum's collection database, which features almost 15,000 digitised photos, visit: http://servsim.cite-musique.fr/museedelamusique/default.asp
MIMI S. WAITZMAN: The Early Keyboard Instruments in the Benton Fletcher Collection at Fenton House
A new book about the collection of the National Trust house in
Hampstead, London has just been published. It includes a great deal of
new information about the 19\instruments in the collection, commentary,
technical data, colour and black and white photographs, action drawings
and a CD (Terence Charlston, keyboard player) of music played on the
various instruments. The cost of the book is Lstg 24.99 (plus p&p) and
it is available from the National Trust website
MUSIQUE, IMAGES, INSTRUMENTS, VOL.5 Revue française
d'organologie et d'iconographie musicale
After three years of interruption, Musique, Images, Instruments is
back! and now published by CNRS EDITIONS.
Volume 5 is available (28 EUR + porto) at the following address :
CNRS EDITIONS, 15, rue Malebranche, 75005\PARIS, www.cnrseditions.fr
claude.laverre@cnrseditions.fr
It contains the following articles :
Florence Gétreau, Éditorial John Koster, The Compass as Musical Tool and Symbol
Nicoletta Guidobaldi, Mythes musicaux et musique de cour au
début de la Renaissance italienne
Colin Slim, A composition by Orlando de Lassus in a Vanitas painting
attributed to Sébastien Stoskopff (1597-1657)
Les "violons de Charles IX" : Romà Escalas, Vincent Gibiat, Ana Barjau. Les instruments
à vent de la cathédrale de Sala-manque entre histoire,
acoustique et organologie
Hervé Oursel, Jean-François Muno, Claire Combe, La
restauration de l'orgue positif du musée national de la
Renaissance Sébastien Bouvet, Les couteaux de
bénédicité conservés au musée
national de la Renaissance
Florence Gétreau, Un portrait énigmatique de l'ancienne
collection Henry Prunières
Laurence Libin, Claude Vignon's portraits of François Langlois
La musique dans les vanités de Simon Renard de
Saint-André (1614-1677) The next issues (Vol. 6 to be published in March 2004 and Vol. 7 to
be published in March 2005) will contain studies on "Regional
Schools in Organology and Musical Iconography". Proposals for
articles, short notes, reviews, news, can be send to Florence
Gétreau (florence.getreau@culture.gouv.fr).
Publications for review should be sent at the following address:
Florence Gétreau, Directeur de la revue
Musique-Images-Instruments, Institut de Recherche sur le Patrimoine
musical en France, UMR 200 du CNRS, Bibliothèque nationale de
France, 2, rue de Louvois, F-75002 PARIS).
Postal addresses:
Archibald, Joanna
Leclair, Madeleine
Libin, Laurence
Loidi, José Luis
Rausa, Carlos
Sturm, Gary
Thompson, Susan E.
Fax numbers:
Kjeldsberg, Peter Andreas: +47 73 87 02 81
Krouthén, Mats: +47 73 87 02 81
Menzel, Ursula: +49 89 15893563
Pilipczuk, Alexander: +49 40 248 542834
Powley, Harrison: +1 801 422 0533
Weinheimer, Corinna: +47 73 87 02 81
E-mail addresses:
Pilipczuk, Alexander: service@mkg-hamburg.de
Thompson, Susan: susan.thompson@yale.edu
Libin, Laurence: ksl@nic.com
Lipsett, Frederik: lipsett@magma.ca
Powley, Harrison: ehp@email.byu.edu
Please send your contributions, preferably by e-mail, by July 15th
to the editor:
Corinna Weinheimer
Communications about the content of these pages to Arnold Myers,
Co-ordinator, CIMCIM Communications Working Group: E-mail
Arnold.Myers@ed.ac.uk.
Text © CIMCIM, 2003.
This page updated: 19.6.03
Addenda and Corrigenda to the CIMCIM Mailing list
27 Daws Avenue, Bournemouth, Dorset,
BH11 8SB, UK
Responsable des collections d'ethnomusicologie
Musée du Quai Branly
15, rue J.B. Berlier
75013 Paris, France
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028, USA
Musica para Ver
P° Colón, 32 - 6° izda
20301 Irun, Spain
E-mail: loidi@arrakis.es
Calle Gordón Nº11, 1º F - 29013 Málaga - Spain
E-mail: cerausa@terra.es
Assistant Chair, NMAH, Smithsonion Inst.
NMAH 4100 MRC 616
Washington D. C. 120560, USA
Curator, Yale University,
Collection of Musical Instruments
15 Hillhouse Ave
P.O. Box 208278, New Haven, CT 06520-8278, USA
Bulletin 53
Ringve Museum
Pb 3064 Lade
N-7441 Trondheim, Norway
Fax: +47 73 92 04 22
e-mail
corinna.weinheimer@ringve.museum.no