A national museum rich in a collection of nearly 9,000 instruments and works of art, the Musée de la musique is fully part of the everyday life of the Philharmonie, whose heritage ambitions it nourishes. The Museum indeed holds one of the most important sets of instruments in the world, both in terms of rarity and the diversity of the objects.
The Museum's new route unfolds a vast history of music in the world, from the late 16th century to the present day. The collection illustrates the musical "modernity" explored in Europe, from the Renaissance to contemporary and electronic experiments. In contrast, it highlights the richness and vitality of the musical cultures of Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas. With this new, more inclusive museography, the route fosters the reconnection of musical heritages across the world, while illustrating their historical developments and their contemporary dynamics.
The scenography includes multimedia devices. A musician, present every day in the Museum, brings this route to life. He plays, talks about his instrument and exchanges with the public. During the concert-walks or musical tales organised on Sunday afternoons, all the spaces buzz with words and sounds. At any time, the visit to the Museum, open to all, young and old, is a real musical experience!
Polyphonie
The route begins with a vast cabinet of curiosities, celebrating the diversity of the Museum's collection. Musical instruments of many periods and of all origins rub shoulders with paintings, sculptures, or luthiers' tools. These objects are remarkable for the craftsmanship of their makers, their unusual forms or decorations, their association with personalities of the musical world, or their historical importance.
Musique et pouvoir
In the 17th century, from Mantua to Versailles, as well as in Northern India or the Ottoman Empire, a refined court music in the service of sovereigns developed. The model of the hall of the Palace of Mantua evokes the 1607 performance of L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, considered the first opera in history. A unique collection of instruments bears witness to the musical practices of the time: keyboards, lutes, cornetts, cittern...
At the Château de Versailles, Louis XIV fostered the flourishing of Baroque music. In parallel, the worlds of art, and notably that of instrument making, benefited from the rise of the trade routes linking the continents. Motifs and materials circulated as much as the objects: ivory, ebony, mother-of-pearl or tortoiseshell are found on European viols and guitars as well as on the prestigious instruments of the Mughal courts.
L'imaginaire des Lumières
In the 18th century, in France, music gradually left the court. The salons of aristocrats and cultivated bourgeois fostered the rise of instrumental music. The harpsichord, the harp... were played there. The era was also marked by an idealised vision of nature, which gave rise within cultivated society to the vogue for pastoral music.
The decorations of "africanerie", of "chinoiseries" and the musical style "alla turca" emerged in a context of exploration, trade exchanges but also slavery. The evolution of musical taste towards greater expressiveness favoured the appearance of a new instrument, the pianoforte. Public concerts developed, including those of the Concert Spirituel, and welcomed renowned foreign musicians such as Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
L'Empire de la musique
The violin, which occupies a central place in the repertoire and the European classical orchestra, has travelled and spread across all continents. A double display case celebrates its transcultural history and honours the violins of Antonio Stradivari held by the Museum.
The soloist's art and the rise of the symphony orchestra constitute the two poles of instrumental music in nineteenth-century Europe. Motivated by growing needs in terms of timbres and power of orchestras, notably those of Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner, new instruments came into being: the octobass, the saxophone, the Wagner tuba...
The virtuoso composers and pianists Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin, linked to the piano makers Érard and Pleyel, embody the figure of the Romantic musician. Orientalism made its appearance, notably in opera, where sounds of Oriental inspiration are emphasised by spectacular sets and costumes.
Explorer l'inouï
The work Ionisation (1931) by Edgard Varèse illustrates how percussion opened an unprecedented sound field in the 20th century, while new musical languages were being invented. The advent of electricity also revolutionised music with the invention of new instruments, notably by Léon Theremin, Maurice Martenot or Laurens Hammond.
The technological upheaval of analogue and then digital tools is represented at the Museum by the 116 C console of the Groupe de Recherche Musicale, the Upic machine of Iannis Xenakis or the 4X computer developed by Ircam. Popular music fully benefited from these technical revolutions. Simultaneously, the rise of recording and globalisation fostered access to the music of other regions of the globe, from Russian folklore to Javanese gamelan. A gallery devoted to the electric guitar presents mythical models of guitars and basses by Fender, Gibson or Rickenbacker.
Des musiques et des mondes
The crowning point of the Museum's redevelopment, the last space renews the exhibition and the discourse on the instrumental heritage of Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Moving beyond a strictly geographical and ethnographic approach, the display directs attention to the singular history of the objects, made of musician-men, social and cultural practices engaged with the most diverse imaginaries, now globalised.
From the history of the banjo connecting Africa and the Americas, to the planetary destiny of the Hawaiian guitar; from the diasporic trajectory of the gnawa musicians of Morocco to that of the griots of West Africa: the archipelago of stories deployed reflects the historical depth of instrumental heritage across the world, but also its contemporary dynamism, under the effect of cultural interactions and processes of hybridisation.
Studio Pierre Henry - ouvert du mercredi au dimanche
Since 2019, the Musée de la musique has housed in a new space the instruments, devices and objects of Pierre Henry's Studio Son/Ré. At the dawn of the 1950s, Pierre Henry engaged in research on experimental lutherie. Collected noises and sounds replace notes, to be assembled and transformed by machines, then broadcast over loudspeakers. A sound sculptor, Pierre Henry very early on became a reference for many composers. His studio, reconstituted within the permanent collection of the Musée de la musique, invites the visitor to grasp his place in history and to experience, through sound manipulation, his imprint on today's music.
L'Amusette
L'Amusette is a play bag lent free of charge to children aged 2 to 4, to discover the Museum in a playful way. Entrusted to parents at the start of the visit, the Amusette brings together three games, an MP3 player specially designed for toddlers and an explanatory booklet. Memory, duo puzzle, small storybook... parents and children will recognise familiar games, highlighting certain works in the Museum. Small instruments that are simple to handle and fun complete the device. Finally, thanks to the MP3 player, children can listen to musical excerpts, some played on instruments from the collection. A playful, simple way, adapted to the child's pace, to visit the Musée de la musique!
Muséojeux
The Muséojeux bag is lent free of charge to families with children from age 4 to discover the collection while playing!
The Musée de la musique and the association Môm'art offer a new tool for the visit, the muséojeux. These bags full of playful activities to do as a family bring the route through the Museum to life and make each person, whatever their age, an active participant in their discovery. Mime, riddles, drawing, music quiz... through play, observation and listening, the twelve cards contained in the Muséojeux bag raise awareness of the works in the collection, while encouraging exchanges between parents and children!