International museum and library of music
Encyclopedia
History
The Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, founded in 1959 to hold the Comune di BolognaBologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
’s collection of musical objects, was renamed International Museum and Library of Music in 2004 with the opening of the museum’s site, the Palazzo Sanguinetti, in the historic center of Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. The building was reopened to the public after a long and careful restoration that brought the rich, interior frescoes back to their original splendor. These frescoes were completed between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, and provide one of the greatest examples of the Napoleonic and Neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
period in Bologna.
The institute is currently divided into two sites: an ample selection of volumes, paintings, and musical instruments is on display in the museum halls in Strada Maggiore 34 (Palazzo Sanguinetti), while the majority of bibliographic material is accessible in Piazza Rossini 2 (the ex-Convent of San Giacomo) in rooms attached to the G.B. Martini Conservatory of Music.
The idea to build a museum of music in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
began not only from the necessity to support the importance of the Bolognese experience in the art of music, but also from the demand to satisfy a number of intents. The first and most important intent was to bring awareness to the greater public of the rich variety of musical heritage that the Comune di Bologna owns and has kept for a long time. Until now, much of this heritage remained confined in warehouses for various reasons – the first and foremost being the lack of adequate space – and was only brought out occasionally for temporary expositions. In addition to this, the collection was not fully known by music experts.
In this context, Palazzo Sanguinetti offered the possibility to increase and enhance the cultural value of such precious musical heritage, fulfilling the double goal of reassuring an expository frame worthy of the priceless quality of the items displayed.
At the same time, it guarantees the best conditions for managing and conserving these items, which are essential requirements for the protection of a cultural heritage of any type.
The Palazzo Sanguinetti
At the beginning of the 16th century, the original core of the Palazzo Sanguinetti belonged to the Loiani family.In 1569, the building was sold to Bolognese brothers, Ercole and Giulio Riario. Originally from Savona, their family was related to the della Roveres. Having acquired land and neighboring buildings, Senator Ercole Riario had the home reconstructed and enlarged, according to the standards of magnificence and splendor that were set by other renowned families.
The single residences were united into one structure and construction on the impressive staircase, which still characterizes the building today, was likely begun around then. The second important structural reconstruction was desired by Count Antonio Aldini, to whom the Marquis Raffaello Riario Sforza had bestowed the building in a long-term lease in 1796. Count Aldini gave the architect Giovanni Battista Martinetti (1774–1830) the task of modernizing the building, attaching part of the neighboring house with the tower that belonged to the Oseletti family. He decided, then, to lower the large 5th century hall and divide it into two rooms.
The grand hall corresponded to the two most spacious rooms of the modern museum, the vestibule, or the Room of Virtues, and the Ballroom.
Following the fall of Napoleon and the economic ruin of Aldini, the palace was sold to the Cuban nobleman don Diego Pegnalverd, a former member of the Napoleonic government. Upon his death in 1832, the palazzo passed to the famous tenor Domenico Donzelli
Domenico Donzelli
Domenico Donzelli was an Italian tenor with a robust voice who enjoyed an important career in Paris, London and his native country during the 1808-1841 period.-Biography:...
. It’s noted that Gioachino Rossini was his guest, since Rossini’s residence, which was located not far away, was under reconstruction.
In 1870, the palace was acquired by the Sanguinetti family. They were responsible for the most recent decorations in the areas of the building destined to become the library and the so-called “Egyptian Room”. In recent renovations of the palazzo, marvelous frescoes were discovered in these two areas.
In 1986, the last heiress, Eleonora Sanguinetti, donated the larger part of the building to the Comune di Bologna in memory – as she wrote in her will – of “…my unforgettable father, Dr. Guido Sanguinetti. I wanted to donate the building in Strada Maggiore 34 in his name and memory, and for the love that he always had for his city and his home, so that it could become a music museum and library….”
The Frescos and Decorations
The decorations of the Palazzo Sanguinetti represent, for Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, one of the most meaningful testimonies of the Napoleonic years because of the array of artists involved and their variety of subjects. The significance of these decorations establishes the Palazzo Sanguinetti as an exemplary anthology of 18th and 19th century neoclassicism.
The most important painters of the time, such as Pelagio Palagi
Pelagio Palagi
thumb|250px|Statue of [[Amadeus VI|Green Count]], made by Pelagi, in [[Piazza Palazzo di Città]], [[Turin]].Pelagio Palagi was an Italian painter, sculptor and interior decorator.- Early life :...
, Serafino Barozzi, Vincenzo Martinelli, and Antonio Basoli
Antonio Basoli
Antonio Basoli was an Italian artist born in Castel Guelfo who worked mostly in Bologna. He was a painter, interior designer, engraver, and professor at the “Accademia delle Arti di Bologna” from 1804 to 1826...
, collaborated on the enterprise under the direction of Martinetti.
On the ground floor, the landscape fresco (a magnificent trompe-l’oeil perspective) is attributed to Luigi Busatti, while the illusive architecture is the work of Francesco Santini (1763–1840). Also by Santini, with the probable collaboration of Serafino Barozzi (1735–1810), are the decorations on the walls of the grand staircase.
On the first floor, “…if you follow the designated course through the museum – Paola Foschi writes in the museum guide – the Woodland Room (Room 1), which was used as a dining room and called the Banquet Room, is a product of Vincenzo Martinelli’s (1737-1807) imagination: he illustrates landscapes rich with greenery and classical architecture in the distance. These classical elements surround the onlooker in the illusive step that supports hermas and statues of Bacchus and Ceres, works by the young Pelagio Palagi
Pelagio Palagi
thumb|250px|Statue of [[Amadeus VI|Green Count]], made by Pelagi, in [[Piazza Palazzo di Città]], [[Turin]].Pelagio Palagi was an Italian painter, sculptor and interior decorator.- Early life :...
(1777-1860).”
The Aeneas Room (Room 2) follows, and is dedicated to the legend of the Trojan Hero and to Dido, queen of Carthage, who was loved and abandoned by him. Palagi drew up the articulated pictorial structure and developed the themes on a black, “Etruscan”, background.
The following room (Room 3) is decorated with the Zodiac signs by Domenico Corsini (1774–1814) and contains the figure of Aurora, attributed to Palagi. The last small room of the east wing (Room 4) is decorated by artists from the Barozzi workshop.
The two rooms (Rooms 6 and 7) that conclude the surroundings of the west wing are decorated in “oriental” style by Barozzi and his workshop with curtains and pavilions, exotic plants, and feminine figures with small umbrellas.
At the end of the museum tour, there are the two salons in the apartment desired and designed by Aldini, which were the first two rooms to be decorated. The original room (Room 8), is decorated by Antonio Basoli
Antonio Basoli
Antonio Basoli was an Italian artist born in Castel Guelfo who worked mostly in Bologna. He was a painter, interior designer, engraver, and professor at the “Accademia delle Arti di Bologna” from 1804 to 1826...
(1774–1848) in an almost “semi-gothic” style. It contains figures, statues, and bass reliefs by Pietro Fancelli (1764–1850), and the Ballroom (Room 5).
Father Giovanni Battista Martini
Giovanni Battista Martini
Giovanni Battista Martini , also known as Padre Martini, was an Italian musician.-Biography:Martini was born at Bologna....
(Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, April 24, 1706 – August 3, 1784), who was one of the most famous and complex personalities of the 18th century Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an music world. He was also a great scholar and collector, a theorist and composer, and a teacher of counterpoint.Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
and Wolfgang Amadé Mozart were among his students.
At only 19 years old, he was appointed chapel-master of the Church of San Francesco
Church of San Francesco
The Convent of San Francesco is a church in Lucca, Italy.The presence of Franciscan monks in Lucca was already attested in 1228, and the new religious order had just took a prominent role in city life. The church, built out of gravel, is a single classroom with a trussed roof. It was completed in...
in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. His fame as an excellent teacher and connoisseur of music began to grow when he “won” a dispute with the scholar, Redi, regarding the interpretation of a mysterious canone dell’Animuccia that existed in the choir gallery of the Santa Casa di Loreto, where Redi himself was chapel-master.
This first triumph of Martini’s won him the complete admiration of the more important masters of the time, and his name began to be known in Italy and abroad. At the same time, not content with being only a scholar, he continued his music studies and affirmed himself as an excellent composer of Sonatas for the harpsichord, canons, and about 500 unpublished musical pieces.
From numerous letters conserved in the library (around 80 volumes with more than 6,500 letters), one understands how many, and which, famous people, musicians, nobles, singers, and Cardinals had friendly and esteemed relationships with him.
Even when the Emperor of Austria
Emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...
passed through Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, he wanted to meet Padre Martini. In addition to enriching his library day after day, gathering manuscripts and musical works of various kinds, Padre Martini collected portraits of musicians (with equal diligence). These portraits adorned the walls of his library in the Convent of San Francesco, almost as if they were a sort of visual and immediate reference to the contents within the library itself.
Exhibition Path
Rooms 2 and 3 are dedicated to the spiritual father of the new museum, pictured in an oval by Angelo Crescimbeni: Giambattista Martini, whose priceless moral heritage, both intellectual and material, is celebrated here and made known to the greater public.
In Room 3, the relationships between Padre Martini and the stand-out personalities of the music world of the time, such as the young Mozart or Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
, who is represented in the famous portrait by Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, are displayed. In the same room, one can also admire the famous Sportelli di libreria musicale by Giuseppe Maria Crespi.
Room 4 (“The Idea of Music”) follows, which is dedicated to the musical scholars from the 15th century to the 17th century, with important examples of musical treatises, and portraits of their respective authors. This room also contains some musical instruments of great importance, like the unique omnitonum harpsichord by Vito Trasuntino (Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
1606).
Some of the more relevant pieces are on display in the following Room 5 (Arts Room), which is dedicated to the “Books for music and instruments of the 16th and 17th centuries.” In this room, rare texts from ranging the 15th century to the famous Harmonice musices Odhecaton A., the first printed musical book by Ottaviano Petrucci
Ottaviano Petrucci
Ottaviano Petrucci was an Italian printer. His Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, a collection of chansons printed in 1501, is commonly misidentified as the first book of sheet music printed from movable type. Actually that distinction belongs to the Roman printer Ulrich Han's Missale Romanum of 1476...
, can be admired. They are kept inside very modern, circular cases in the center of the room, which matche the rich decoration of the floors.
Then there are the instruments: lutes; the harmony of flutes by Manfredo Settala of 1650, which represents a real unicum;
the pochette, various little violins used as instruments by dance instructors, the ghironde, the serpentoni, the extraordinary series of horns and cornets from the 16th and 17th centuries, and finally, a unique performance instrument: the tiorba, which is in the shape of a khitára.
Italian opera is the focus of the following room.
The 18th century are first in Room 6, dedicated to the famous singer Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli
Farinelli
Farinelli , was the stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera.- Early years :...
.
His beautiful portrait, painted by Corrado Giaquinto
Corrado Giaquinto
Corrado Giaquinto was an Italian Rococo painter.-Early training and move to Rome:He was born in Molfetta. As a boy he apprenticed with a modest local painter Saverio Porta, , escaping the religious career his parents had intended for him...
, dominates the room, together with the portraits of the castrati from various periods and of composers from the time, such as Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
and Domenico Cimarosa
Domenico Cimarosa
Domenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school...
.
Room 7 places the visitor in the 19th century with Gioachino Rossini, whose name is forever tied to Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. Portraits, busts, and libretti from the first recitals of Isabella Colbran
Isabella Colbran
Isabella Colbran was a Spanish opera singer, who was known in her native country as Isabel Colbrandt. Many sources note her as a dramatic coloratura soprano but, some believe that she was a mezzo-soprano with a high extension, a soprano sfogato...
, a singer and Rossini’s first wife, can be found here. Also of interest is the original score of The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
and some rather curious personal effects, like a dressing gown and a wig. Finally, one can behold Rossini's grand piano, which was constructed in 1844 by Camille Pleyel.
The path proceeds through the centuries, the musical uses, and styles in Room 8, which is dedicated to “Books for music and instruments in the 18th and 19th centuries.” There are viole d’amore and flutes along with the original scores composed by Torelli
Torelli
Torelli may refer to:*Torelli Bicycles, 40-year-old custom bicycle and parts manufacturer*Giacomo Torelli, seventeenth century Italian set designer*Giuseppe Torelli, Baroque composer from Bologna...
, Vivaldi, Bertoni
Ferdinando Bertoni
Ferdinando Bertoni was an Italian composer and organist.He was born in Salò, and began his music studies in Brescia, not far from his birthplace. Around 1740 he went to Bologna, where he studied till 1745 with the famous music theorist Giovanni Battista Martini...
, etc. There are also clarinets and the beautiful Buccin, created in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
by Jean Baptiste Tabard (1812–1845).
Concluding the exhibit, Room 9 pays a proper tribute to two important people in the Italian and Bolognese musical culture, Giuseppe Martucci
Giuseppe Martucci
Giuseppe Martucci was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. As a conductor he helped to introduce Richard Wagner's operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of English music...
and Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
. This room displays the composer’s portraits, photographs, and a selection of works from the Respighi property, which were donated to the library in 1961 by his widow, Elsa, for the 25th anniversary of his death. In the same room lies the portrait of the musician Arrigo Serato, painted by the famous artist Felice Casorati
Felice Casorati
Felice Casorati was an Italian painter, sculptor, and printmaker. The paintings for which he is most noted include figure compositions, portraits and still lifes, which are often distinguished by unusual perspective effects.-Life and work:Casorati was born in Novara and showed an early interest in...
.
Collections
The first floor of the Palazzo is home to the nine rooms of the exhibition, which illustrates about six centuries of the history of EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
. There are over one hundred paintings of famous people from the music world, which are a part of the picture gallery started by Padre Giovanni Battista Martini, more than eighty antique musical instruments, and a large selection of valuable historical documents, such as treatises, volumes, opera libretti, letters, manuscripts, original musical scores, etc.
Library
Saved from the Napoleonic confiscations due to the intervention of Stanislao Mattei
Stanislao Mattei
Stanislao Mattei was an Italian composer, musicologist, and teacher. A pupil of Giovanni Battista Martini, Mattei's music bares a close resemblance to his style of composition...
, Martini’s disciple and successor, the valuable bibliographic patrimony was donated to the Liceo musicale di Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
in 1816. The Liceo had been founded in 1804 at the ex-convent of the Agostinians in the church of San Giacomo Maggiore. The library grew considerably throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, thanks to the amount of materials produced from the didactic activity of the Liceo (famous students of the Liceo included Rossini, Donizetti, and Respighi and directors Mancinelli, Martucci, and Busoni).
The library also grew because of the valuable items and rare volumes that were acquired by Gaetano Gaspari
Gaetano Gaspari
Gaetano Gaspari was an Italian composer, bibliographer, and historian of music. He composed mainly liturgical music, including the Offertorium of the Messa per Rossini. He also served as chorus master of the Imola Cathedral, and taught vocal exercises at the Liceo Musicale...
, who was appointed as librarian in 1855.
Gaspari directed the library for many years with a unique zeal and knowledge. After many years of hard work and constant effort, he was able to excellently organize and card-catalogue all the library material (also from this period came the posthumous publication, the "Library Catalogue of the Liceo Musicale di Bologna", which bears his name and is now also available online).
In 1942, when the Liceo musicale was transformed into a state institution – Regio Conservatorio di Musica – the Comune di Bologna chose to maintain ownership of Padre Martini’s bibliographic patrimony and the attached picture gallery.
The Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale was founded in 1959 in order to conserve and make the most of the bibliographic patrimony and portrait gallery.
Picture Gallery
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
during the 18th century. From the valuable letters of correspondence that Padre Martini kept with different well-known people of the time (for example, musicians that were his students in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, members of the Accademia Filarmonica, music theorists, composers, nobles, illustrious intellectuals, chapel masters, and custodians of Franciscan convents), it is evident that there was a complex network of informers and intermediaries that were responsible for finding the portraits he desired.
Many of the portraits were commissioned to the artists directly by Padre Martini. The painters drew the features of the musicians from engravings of the time. In reality, he wasn’t interested in the artistic worth of the paintings as much as their plausible resemblance to the model. He was also more interested in whether they were in harmony with his century’s interest in the physiognomic reading of faces with the intention of giving iconographic testimony of the people bonded by one common denominator – music. It was also important that the paintings had a direct relationship with his Library.
It’s worth noting that there are many paintings by famous artists present in the collection, including the portrait of Farinelli
Farinelli
Farinelli , was the stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera.- Early years :...
by Corrado Giaquinto
Corrado Giaquinto
Corrado Giaquinto was an Italian Rococo painter.-Early training and move to Rome:He was born in Molfetta. As a boy he apprenticed with a modest local painter Saverio Porta, , escaping the religious career his parents had intended for him...
, the portrait of Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
by Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, and one of Charles Burney
Charles Burney
Charles Burney FRS was an English music historian and father of authors Frances Burney and Sarah Burney.-Life and career:...
by Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
.
It also seems that the prestige of Padre Martini, who was considered the most knowledgeable Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an expert on the art of music, was so great that it was important for a musician of that time to have their portrait in his gallery. This served as a recognition of the musician’s merit.
The picture gallery remained in the convent of San Francesco even after Martini’s death, surviving the Napoleonic confiscations thanks to Martini’s successor, Padre Stanislao Mattei. Only in 1801 was it transferred to the ex-convent of the Agostinians at the Chiesa di San Giacomo Maggiore. Today, the collection consists of 319 paintings, the majority of which are oil on canvas with some pastels and drawings.
The Collection of Musical Instruments
The musical instruments displayed in the rooms of the museum originate from the collections of two important Bolognese institutions: the Museo Civico Medievale and the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale. The core of this collection from the Museo Civico Medievale comes from the Liceo musicale, which was founded in 1804. As Federico Parisini (the Liceo librarian from 1881 to 1891) explained, following the Napoleonic suppressions, “the instruments, many famous musical works, chorus books, rare instruments, and other items related to music were sold publicly.”The central administration of the Dipartimento del Reno had asked the government of the Repubblica Cisalpina to purchase and conserve the objects that risked being dispersed. The recovered instruments were then entrusted to the Liceo and, in 1881, were finally added to the Museo Civico Medievale, where they have remained until today.
Among the most valuable instruments now displayed in the rooms of the museum is the Trasuntino harpsichord of 1606 (displayed in Room 4). It was constructed for Camillo Gonzaga, the Count of Novellara, and afterwards was passed to Giuseppe Baini (1775–1844), the celebrated author of the first biography of Palestrina
Palestrina
Palestrina is an ancient city and comune with a population of about 18,000, in Lazio, c. 35 km east of Rome...
. In his will, Baini bequeathed the harpsichord to the Liceo Musicale. Other valuable instruments on display are the Trasuntino monochord, which was built to tune the cymbal, and the 5-reed flute, which is able to mimic several flutes playing in harmony. There is also the polyphonic flute (displayed in Room 5), which bears the mark of Manfredo Settala (1600–1680), a Milanese rector, who was a great collector and famous personality in the cultural panorama of the 17th century.
The origin of the collection of musical instruments in the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale is more uncertain. The collection includes some particularly important models, such as eight pianos, five of which are grand pianos and three of which are rectangular. These pianos date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Among these are the priceless Erard from 1811 (that possibly belonged to Paolina Borghese), which was restored for the inauguration of the museum and is now exhibited in Room 8. Also included are Gioachino Rossini’s Pleyel piano of 1844 (exhibited in Room 7), and the so-called “spinette of Padre Martini”, a rectangular Glonner from 1780 (displayed in Room 3). Other important instruments on display are the Heckelphon of 1900 (Room 8), various English horns, some cornets, and two oboes.
Services
Museum- Laboratory
- Audioguide
- Bookshop
- Coatroom
- Minibar
Library
Though it is to be transferred to a new site, the library is located in Piazza Rossini 2. It is made up of a single reading room, which is shared with the Conservatorio di Musica “G.B. Martini”. The room has 20 seats, twelve of which are exclusively reserved for the consultation of antique and particular texts. There are two microfilm (and one microfilm/microfiches) machines available in the room, and a space for bibliographic and catalogue searches.
See also
- Frate Giambattista Martini
- Rossini
- MartucciGiuseppe MartucciGiuseppe Martucci was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. As a conductor he helped to introduce Richard Wagner's operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of English music...
- Farinelli