Berlin Musical Instrument Museum
Encyclopedia
The Berlin Musical Instrument Museum (German
: Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin) is located at the Kulturforum
on Tiergartenstraße. The museum contains a collection of over 3,500 musical instruments from the 16th century onward and is one of the largest and most representative musical instrument collections in Germany.
The museum was founded in 1888 as a collection of ancient musical instruments by Philipp Spitta
and Joseph Joachim
from at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin. The first exhibits were from the Applied Arts Museum
. Today the museum is part of the State Institute for Music Research, and is thus part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Since 1984, the museum has been located in a Edgar Wisniewski-designed building at the Kemper Platz, next to the Berlin Philharmonic at the Cultural Forum in Berlin. There are about 800 exhibits presented in a permanent exhibition and those that are still playable are played regularly.
The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) and the National Institute for Music Research (SIM) form a unit in Berlin. Their common building was constructed between 1979 and 1984 by Edgar Wisniewski after the designs of architect Hans Scharoun
, who had died in 1972. The museum is one of the few places where a theater organ can be heard live: the 1929 Mighty Wurlitzer organ (with 1228 pipes, 175 stops and 43 pistons), which had been formerly in the concert hall of Ferdinand Werner von Siemens's villa, the grandson of the Siemens
founder. Every Thursday after the guided tour at 6 pm and every Saturday at noon the instrument is played publicly.
The collection focuses on harpsichords of the Ruckers
family of Flemish instrument makers, Moeckel-fiddles, Italian master violins of Amati, Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari, fortepiano
s, virginals and clavichord
s, Bechstein
upright pianos and grand pianos, wind instruments of the Baroque, Moritz-brass instruments, and automatic musical instruments (music boxes, orchestrion). In the Historical Division of the SIM a history of music theory is being written and published for the Institute as a series of books.
The museum has its own concert hall, the Curt-Sachs
-Saal, where chamber concerts take place regularly.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin) is located at the Kulturforum
Kulturforum
The Kulturforum is a collection of cultural buildings in Berlin, Germany. It was built up in the 1950s and 60s at the edge of West Berlin, after most of the once unified city's cultural assets had been lost behind the Berlin Wall...
on Tiergartenstraße. The museum contains a collection of over 3,500 musical instruments from the 16th century onward and is one of the largest and most representative musical instrument collections in Germany.
The museum was founded in 1888 as a collection of ancient musical instruments by Philipp Spitta
Philipp Spitta
Julius August Philipp Spitta was a German music historian and musicologist best known for his 1873 biography of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Biography:...
and Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...
from at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin. The first exhibits were from the Applied Arts Museum
Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin
The Kunstgewerbemuseum, or Museum of Decorative Arts, is an internationally important museum of the decorative arts in Berlin, Germany, part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin...
. Today the museum is part of the State Institute for Music Research, and is thus part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Since 1984, the museum has been located in a Edgar Wisniewski-designed building at the Kemper Platz, next to the Berlin Philharmonic at the Cultural Forum in Berlin. There are about 800 exhibits presented in a permanent exhibition and those that are still playable are played regularly.
The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) and the National Institute for Music Research (SIM) form a unit in Berlin. Their common building was constructed between 1979 and 1984 by Edgar Wisniewski after the designs of architect Hans Scharoun
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun was a German architect best known for designing the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall and the in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of Organic architecture....
, who had died in 1972. The museum is one of the few places where a theater organ can be heard live: the 1929 Mighty Wurlitzer organ (with 1228 pipes, 175 stops and 43 pistons), which had been formerly in the concert hall of Ferdinand Werner von Siemens's villa, the grandson of the Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
founder. Every Thursday after the guided tour at 6 pm and every Saturday at noon the instrument is played publicly.
The collection focuses on harpsichords of the Ruckers
Ruckers
The Ruckers family were Flemish harpsichord and virginal makers based in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th century whose influence stretched well into the 18th and to the harpsichord revival of the 20th.The Ruckers family contributed immeasurably to the harpsichord's technical development,...
family of Flemish instrument makers, Moeckel-fiddles, Italian master violins of Amati, Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari, fortepiano
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
s, virginals and clavichord
Clavichord
The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...
s, Bechstein
C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik
C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG is a German manufacturer of pianos, established in 1853 by Carl Bechstein.-Before Bechstein:...
upright pianos and grand pianos, wind instruments of the Baroque, Moritz-brass instruments, and automatic musical instruments (music boxes, orchestrion). In the Historical Division of the SIM a history of music theory is being written and published for the Institute as a series of books.
The museum has its own concert hall, the Curt-Sachs
Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs was a German-born but American-domiciled musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology , and is probably best remembered today for co-authoring the Sachs-Hornbostel scheme of musical instrument classification with his fellow scholar Erich von Hornbostel.Born in Berlin,...
-Saal, where chamber concerts take place regularly.