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The piano by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1722) |
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Claviciterium (17th century) |
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Positive organ of Neapolitan school (18th century) | |
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The Barberini harp (17th century) |
Participants who will make use of the bus service from Rome to Perugia (see the application form for details) will have the opportunity to visit the National Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome. The bus will leave saturday September 8 at 9 a.m. from the ICA conference venue (Department of Engineering of the University of Rome "La Sapienza"), the stop to the museum is scheduled for 9.30 a.m. The tour will be guided by the Director of the musuem, Dr. Antonio Latanza, and by Prof. Patrizio Barbieri by the Pontificia Università Gregoriana in Rome.
A brief history
The museum consists in several founds, the largest one being the collection left by the tenor Evan Gorga (1865-1957). Gorga was a lover of collecting: among the large quantity of pieces he collected the most important part was formed by musical instruments. During his life, due to economical difficulties and space problems he was forced to deprive himself with of about a half of this collection. Nonetheless he left a group of about 3.000 pieces to State that, by a convention on 1949, agreed to pay his debts and to give him a life allowance. After many vicissitueds, mainly due to the difficulties in finding a seat, the collection of musical instruments was gathered in a museum that was instituted in 1974 in Rome on the initiative of Luisa Cervelli, who directed it until she was succeeded by Antonio Latanza, the current director. During this period some important musical instruments have been acquired, among these there are the Barberini enharmonic harp, dating back to early 17th century, and a piano by Bartolomeo Cristofori. At present the museum patrimony comprises about 3.000 pieces: 840 of them are exposed in the 18 halls of the first floor, the remaining ones are shared between the second floor and the store. Besides the instruments of the western music the collection includes a section devoted to instruments of ancient cultures (Egyptian, Greek, Roman) and one to instruments of non-European countries (China, Japan, Laos, India, Arabia, Turkey, Persia, America, Africa, Oceania).
Some pictures from the museum
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The piano by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1722) |
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Claviciterium (17th century) |
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Positive organ of Neapolitan school (18th century) | |
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The Barberini harp (17th century) |
Contacts:
Patrizio Barbieri: patrizio.barbieri@tiscalinet.it
National Museum on Musical Instruments
P.zza S. Croce in Gerusalemme, 9/A
00185 Roma
Tel. +39 06 7014796 / +39 06 7029862
