Music Museum Research Articles

MODERN MULTIMEDIA DESIGN AND EXHIBITION ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIVITY IN STUDYING THE ACTIVITY OF MUSIC MUSEUMS

In this article, in studying the activities of music museums, modern multimedia design and improvement of the exposition environment are studied on the example of world and local museums. In this place, the specific aspects of museum expositions on the history of music are based on modern museum design devices, the descriptive conditions of the exposition environment, and the experiences of the promotion of music therapy, which is one of the types of art therapy, in the activities of the museum.

Virtual Citizenship and Revolutionary Transatlantic Republicanism in the Musical Lives of Exiled United Irishmen

Virtual Citizenship and Revolutionary Transatlantic Republicanism in the Musical Lives of Exiled United Irishmen

Robert Burns and the Refashioning of Scottish Identity through Song

Robert Burns contributed to the collection, compilation, and editing of several song collections, most notably The Scots Musical Museum (1797–1803), although he did not live to see it published. Attribution has proven to be a sticky point of consideration for literary scholars as Burns moved through this conceptual musical museum like a curator: changing, editing, and wholly rewriting sections of song texts to fit his poetic sensibilities. Some tunes were indeed traditional and even Scottish in origin, appearing as they had in earlier collections, while others were almost completely changed, with Burns altering the original text and subverting the traditional message. This, however, had been the traditional art of the ballad maker, and Burns embraced this role, changing both texts and tunes as part of a living, oral tradition. The study focuses on two tunes out of his larger collections, “Greensleeves” and “Ye Jacobites by Name.” “Greensleeves” was a well-known English tune, and “Ye Jacobites by Name” was a ballad that had been used both to attack and justify Scottish resistance to Hanoverian rule. Neither piece would seem to be a particularly promising representation of Scottish culture c. 1800. These pieces, however, highlight an aspect of Burns’s work that not only illuminates his attention to the musicality of these pieces—in an age when most song collections were still printed without notated music—but also his efforts to curate these works, refashioning them to suit a new, proto- Romantic Scottish identity.

Letters from the Morawetz Collection (Musicians of Czech Origin in European Centres at the Turn of the 18th and 19th Centuries)

The article deals with the oldest music-related documents from the Morawetz collection (most of which come from the collection of Friedrich Donebauer), which the Czech Museum of Music obtained in 2003 and 2008. Specifically, this involves letters of musicians from Bohemia who were working in German-speaking countries around the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th (Jiří Antonín Benda, Leopold Koželuh, Antonín František Bečvařovský, and Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek). The study presents a critical edition of six letters and one receipt and their translations into Czech and English. On that basis, there is an examination of context within the framework of the lives of the individual musicians and of the period musical milieu. The letters document cultural exchange, tastes, and the stylistic orientation of the period as well as of the music business in Europe at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. Voříšek’s letter documents the period reception of a Mass by Jan Václav Tomášek in Vienna in 1815.

Stálá expozice Českého muzea hudby – minulost, přítomnost a nové perspektivy

Exhibitions are one of the key presentation activities of museum institutions. In connection with the construction of a new depository and the gradual release of space in the historical building of the Czech Museum of Music, the museum gained the opportunity to expand and modernize its existing permanent exhibition, reflecting the reviews of experts and the general public. In 2024, the permanent exposition will celebrate twenty years of its existence, which is an opportunity to re-evaluate it as well as all the National Museum’s exhibition projects focused on presenting its music collections.

Degradation marks of phonograph cylinders from Tesař’s opera collection

Abstract Phonograph cylinders are the oldest commercially available recording media and are an valuable part of cultural institutions’ collections. Even though they are an essential part of sound history, they have long been overlooked as a relatively chemically stable media. The only degradation mentioned in the literature was a whitish cover, traditionally appointed to microbiological growth. In our study, we focused on unravelling the issue of these degradation products. A selected collection from the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music was subjected to microbiological and analytical examination via digital microscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, colourimetry and SEM-EDS analysis. From the results, some of the degradation pathways were proposed. The results also help us to focus future research and suppress the degradation so that the cylinders stay longer in conditions fit for digitisation and overall archivation.

Hus-Hussite Themes and Other Repertoire in the Manuscript Songbook “Písně Baborovy” (Babor’s Songs)

The study deals with a manuscript source, the content of which was heretofore known only to a small extent thanks to J. V. Šmejkal’s book Piseň pisni narodu českeho (Song of Songs of the Czech Nation, 1935). The collection known as “Pisně Baborovy” (Babor’s Songs) was rediscovered by the author in the collections of the Czech Museum of Music, and he focused on summarising existing information about the songbook and introducing the authors (including the Babor family tree) and the notated repertoire in it, which he examines from the perspective of a musical historiographer. There is a detailed probe of the source’s Hus-Hussite elements. At its conclusion, the study outlines the manuscript’s importance in the context of similar sources (printed and manuscript).

An Aria by František Škroup for Halévy’s opera La Juive

At the Czech Museum of Music there is a manuscript of an aria composed by František Škroup as an insertion for Halévy’s opera La Juive. As the conductor of the Estates Theatre, Škroup wrote it for the first German-language performance of the opera in Prague in 1838. The aria was inserted into the role of Eudoxie/Isabella so the singer of the part, Katharina Podhorsky, would get to present herself as a soloist, having been denied that opportunity by the cuts in the printed score of Halévy’s opera. The aria was suitably placed at the beginning of Act IV, but the German text by an unknown author departs from the drama’s sequence of cause and effect found Scribe’s libretto. The insertion takes the form of a two-part aria (Cantabile – Cabaletta) of the kind used for large vocal numbers in emotionally intense situations. The composition conforms to the practice at that time of inserting arias by different composers into operas, and Podhorsky also engaged in this practice. The coloratura writing at the conclusion of the aria was apparently intended to feature her strengths as a singer.

Ad fontes Ioannis Neanderi artis et vitae: The Estate of Jan Novák at the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music in Prague

Ad fontes Ioannis Neanderi artis et vitae: The Estate of Jan Novák at the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music in Prague

Zpráva z konference Dokumentace, konzervace a restaurování hudebních nástrojů

The conference of the Methodological Center for Documentation, Conservation and Restoration of Musical Instruments presented specific approaches and methods of care for musical instruments in museum collections. Great attention was paid to restoration ethics or terminology in the documentation of musical instruments. At the end of the program, specific examples of restoration practice were presented as part of an excursion to the restoration workshops of the Czech Museum of Music.

Planning of Chinese National Musical Instrument Museum Based on Digitalization

Objectives: With the advent of the digital era, digital information technology has been widely used in various fields of society, and digital museums have also been born one after another. Methods: Its birth has brought unprecedented impact and challenges to traditional museums. Results: In order to adapt traditional museums to the development of the times, this study integrates digital methods with the planning of the Chinese National Musical Instrument Museum, and proposes three ways to improve the interaction between the museum and visitors, the information of the museum, and the entertainment and gamification of the museum. The museum has been planned and verified by examples. Conclusion: It is hoped that through this study, we can make a certain reference to the planning of our national musical instrument museum.

Über Ziele und Ansätze der angewandten Musikethnologie als Ausdruck sozialer Verantwortung

This article functions as an introduction to the following articles of this themed issue of Die Musikforschung. It frames the idea of an applied ethnomusicology, understood as an approach guided by principles of social responsibility, and as scholarship, knowledge and understanding put to practical use. The article discusses the emergence and relevance of applied ethnomusicology in Anglophone academia as well as the German-speaking world and gives insight into different fields in which applied ethnomusicology can be practiced: from traditional areas such as musical archives and museums to activism against social justice and for the rights of indigenous people and minorities, activism for musical and cultural sustainability or health, to musicological interventions in conflict situations and, finally, ethnomusicological contributions to music pedagogy. The authors do not claim to present a final definition of applied ethnomusicology, but rather aim to demonstrate the potential of this field and to show problems emerging in the course of ethnomusicological projects of an applied character.

Tension. Expressionist Artistic Style in Stage Design and Original Artworks of the First Half of the 20th Century

Despite turning professional in the first decade of the 20th century,the material and practical capabilities of Estonian theatres initiallyremained modest. This hindered the development of stage design– a field dependent on the creative ideas of artists as well as ontechnical resources. The stage designs that used stock scenery, werestylistically uneven and often not suitable for a play’s material,received criticism from viewers-critics who were familiar with themodern developments in European and Russian theatre, especiallyfrom the members of the group Young Estonia.While Estonian artists were already familiar with the avantgardetrends in the European, and specifically German culturallife prior to WWI, in Estonian theatres expressionism appearedin the 1920s, both in terms of ideas, ideals and stylistic methods.Larger theatres were able to refresh their theatrical language withthe expressionist, stylised acting methods and new visual andscenographical solutions. The stage designer for Estonia Theatre’sinnovative productions was Peet Aren, who had already establishedhimself as an expressionist artist by the 1920s. On the stage, he alsorealised his unique artistic style: by luxated perspectives, deformedshapes, excessive colourfulness and playfulness.The ideological plane of expressionism was central in MorningTheatre (Hommikteater), active in Tallinn in 1921–1924. MorningTheatre’s troupe of amateurs under the direction of the visionaryAugust Bachmann brought out three plays which were expressionistin their message and style. Although in theatre history the stagedesigns of Morning Theatre have been associated with Peet Aren,the study of original sketches in the archive of the Estonian Theatreand Music Museum confirms that the author of Morning Theatre’sstage designs was artist Aleksander Möldroo, a representative ofthe more powerful and robust style of expressionism. With MorningTheatre’s laconic, stylised scenography, Estonian stage design madean important developmental leap from commonplace stage designtowards a theatrically conditional and artistic stage décor.

Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein and his Russian Publishers

The article presents a focused look at the professional relations of the composer and pianist Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829—1894) with his main Russian publishers — V.V. Bessel and P.I. Jurgenson. The article is based on musical and historical research concerning the history of the Bessel and Jurgenson publishing houses, works on copyright, A.G. Rubinstein’s epistolary, and archival documents from the Russian National Museum of Music. For the first time in music science, there are revealed some pages of the history of personal and business contacts of the three named persons, primarily the conflicts related to the rights to publish the composer’s works in Russia. The first documented contract for the publications of A.G. Rubinstein was received by P.I. Jurgenson (for op. 82, 1868). However, the contract of A.G. Rubinstein with the trading house “Bessel and Co.”, concluded in 1871 (though Rubinstein’s first work had been published by Bessel two years earlier), was much more extensive and significant. Under this contract, it was supposed to publish more than fifty A.G. Rubinstein’s works of various genres, so in the 1870s, V.V. Bessel became the main Russian publisher of the composer. However, in 1879, A.G. Rubinstein unexpectedly changed his main publisher in Russia. This position was taken by P.I. Jurgenson, whose trading house also published an extensive list of Rubinstein’s compositions, as well as his literary works. This is evidenced by several notarized contracts, stored in the Russian National Museum of Music, between Rubinstein and “P.I. Jurgenson” company. Thus, the two leading Russian publishers of A.G. Rubinstein legally formalized their relations with the composer, which allows us to follow, in a reasoned and substantive way, the process of maturation of the institution of copyright for music publications in Russia in the last third of the 19th century.Using the example of A.G. Rubinstein, in comparison with the position of M.A. Balakirev, the article also raises the issue of granting copyright to a publisher not only in Russia, but also “forever and for all countries”. The comparative analysis of publications of the same composer by different publishing companies is also new to Russian musicology, this helps identify certain accents that publishers put in popularizing A.G. Rubinstein’s works. The publication of the composer’s works by various publishers also highlights new aspects in his creative process, in the history of the creation, receipt of the opus number, and the titles of some of his works.

PENGELOLAAN KOLEKSI DI MUSEUM MUSIK INDONESIA SEBAGAI UPAYA PELESTARIAN WARISAN BUDAYA

The Museum Music Indonesia is the only museum that houses a collection of music by Indonesian musicians. Located in Malang City, this museum has approximately 35.000 music collections of various types including cassettes, vinyl, compact disks, posters, magazines, musical instruments, audio equipment, and even artist/musician clothes. This paper aims to describe how the collection management at the Museum Music Indonesia uses a qualitative descriptive approach. The results found in the field include; Most of the collections contained in this music museum are obtained from grants from the music lovers community, collection management begins with the collection, data collection, presentation, and information to the public, the management is still done manually due to limited resources. With the cooperation and attention of all stakeholders, MMI can continue to live and develop as a preserver of the nation's treasures that are attractive to the community.

Gaelic Tune Sources in The Scots Musical Museum

Robert Burns was an important eighteenth-century song collector and preservationist, as well as a songwriter and poet. Like many of his contemporaries, Burns did not compose the music for his songs...

Průzkum sbírky fonografických válečků Českého muzea hudby

The paper presents the interdisciplinary survey of the phonographic cylinders collection of National Museum – Czech Museum of Music. The text was created for the New Phonograph: Listening to the History of Sound project. The paper focuses on the characterisation of long-term storage of the collection and a common form of degradation – a fair overlay on the cylinder‘s surface. As for dealing with the wide spectrum of samples in the collection, the survey is focused on the most commonly occurring phonographic cylinders and their enclosures. A representative selection of samples was analysed to clarify the character of the degradation products and its origin.

The Film Music of Luboš Fišer

Luboš Fišer (1935–1999) was a prominent and original composer of the twentieth century. All his life, he worked as a freelance composer of classical music and film music. He combined these two fields, and in both he won a number of Czech and international awards. The article surveys Fišer’s film music from four decades (1960s–1990s) in the context of the music of other Czech composers, and it relies on the collection of source material from Luboš Fišer’s estate kept at the Czech Museum of Music, which was subjected to continuous comparison with available film databases. Fišer collaborated with important Czech film directors and took part in making many television series. He was able to compose original music for any film genre and to make his music into a dramaturgically substantive, full-fledged component of a cinematographic work.

Violins and cellos from Portuguese collections. A tree ring study as a historical source of the Portuguese heritage

• Dendrochronology of Portuguese violins and cellos reinforce the historical records. • Imported wood was used by luthiers in Portuguese workshops in XVII–XIX centuries. • Attributions to makers was confirmed by dendrochronology for most instruments. • For two violins a reassignment of the attribution should be considered. This first dendrochronological study of 13 violins and cellos from Portuguese workshops of the XVIII and XIX centuries aims at a deeper knowledge of dates and origin of the top woods used to build the instruments, as well as adding to the understanding of specific assembly techniques. A similar study was also made on 10 violins and cellos of foreign manufacture from the XVII and XVIII centuries, which are currently in Portugal, showing the scientific potential as well as limitations of the dendrochronological approach. The best chronological references which were applied to date the musical instruments manufactured in Portugal came from the Alpine regions of Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy, but the identification of specific wood sources was not possible. The only known musical instrument in Portugal attributed to Antonio Stradivari (cello Chevillard) belongs to the collection of the National Museum of Music (Lisbon). The growth patterns on two pieces which compose the belly were compared with those of five other instruments made by the same luthier and was allowed to conclude that the wood came from the same region and, in one specific case, from the same tree. The terminum post quem obtained by the dendrochronological dating allowed the confirmation of attribution to a maker for most of the instruments but for two violins the attributions proved erroneous making the case for a reassignment of the two instruments. Dendrochronology led us to the conclusion that the Portuguese musical instruments can be seen as a physical proof of the historical records which document Portuguese maritime wood trade with Europe, mainly with Italy.

Preferred Learning Styles for Digital Native and Digital Immigrant Visitors in The Malaysian Music Museum

The majority of museum experts have agreed that museums are informal learning environments, however, most of the previous studies on digital learning have focused on formal education institutions instead of informal environments. Hence, adapting the new fast-changing technology in museum learning has become one of the major challenges for the digital native and digital immigrant populations due to their different learning styles. These two generations have different levels of thinking patterns, experiences, and digital exposure that lead to different levels of technology accessibility in the learning environment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the preferred learning styles of museum visitors in the Malaysian context based on the learning styles of digital natives and digital immigrants. A total of 265 respondents participated in this study representing the population of N=792 at the Malaysian music museum in the data collection process. These descriptive results on the cross-tabulation analysis from the survey indicated that most of the visitors preferred the digital natives’ learning styles compared to the digital immigrants’, regardless of personal factors (gender, age, nationality, education level, or occupation). Thus, museum institutions should take the necessary steps to enhance or maintain the learning approach for digital natives with elements of entertainment and fun, provide internet connection, less text, out of school environment, digital use, and multi-task activities for skills enhancement. The minority of digital immigrants are suggested to assimilate and become part of the digital native group to stay relevant in this digital era.
 Keywords: Digital, Education, Learning, Malaysia, Museum