Permanent collections

Collection history

When the Conservatoire National de Musique was instituted in 1795, the Convention decided to add to it a collection of “ancient or foreign instruments, and those used by us and whose perfection can serve as a model”. Although this heritage mission was one of the objectives of the establishment’s founders, music teaching needs took precedence, to the detriment of the conservation mission. Of the original collection, just a dozen pieces have survived (violins, altos, cellos and horns) all of which are severely damaged.

It wasn’t until 1861 that the instrument museum was finally opened to the public, when the State purchased the collection of the composer Louis Clapisson. Important gifts followed, enriching the collections, in particular from Victor Schoelcher in 1872, from the raja Sourindo Tagore in 1879, and from Paul Cesbron in 1934. More recently, the museum received the collection of Geneviève Thibaut de Chambure, the museum’s illustrious curator from 1961 to 1973.

In 1978, when the project of building a Cité de la Musique was born, the decision was taken to transfer the collections from the Conservatoire National to the State, thereby giving birth to the Musée de la Musique, which opened its doors in 1997. This innovative museographic project, which has since been copied by other musical instrument museums, was implemented under the impulse of Henri Loyrette. Going beyond the framework of a strictly instrumental museum, the Musée de la Musique is open to all facets of musical life, integrating iconography, concert hall models and audiovisual documents. The sound tour, created in 1997 and since completed, lets visitors discover many recordings of the collection’s works.

The Musée de la Musique is classified a Musée de France.

Major lines of the collections

Following these various acquisitions (purchases, donations or bequests), the Musée de la Musique has built a major collection of close to 6,000 objects, one of the most important collections in the world. Some of its especially rare works of art and instruments are:

• > 17th and 18th century Flemish and French harpsichords (Rückers, Couchet, Vater, Hemsch, Taskin, Goujon-Swanen)
• > instruments from the quartet of the Cremona school (Stradivari, Guarneri, Amati) and French school (Vuillaume, author of the famous octobass)
• > 19th century French pianos, including Pleyel and Erard pianos having belonged to Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, respectively
• > 17th century lutes from the Germanic-Italian school (Sellas) and from the 18th century Germanic school
• > baroque guitars (Voboam), late 19th century romantic French and Spanish (Torres) guitars and 20th century electric guitars (Fender, Gibson)
• > 17th and 18th century Hotteterre instruments
• > Adolphe Sax’s instruments
• > Asian, especially Indian, instruments as well as African instruments.

Recent acquisitions

Two instruments which the State has classified as National Treasures were recently added to the museum’s collections: Ioannes Couchet’s (1652) and Antoine Vater’s (1732) harpsichords, acquired with the help of the Fonds du Patrimoine. A John D’Angelico guitar acquired in 2007, which belonged to Jacques Liébrard, official accompanist of Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, Barbara and Juliette Gréco, completes the museum’s major collection of 20th century guitars, which includes, in different registers, Django Reinhardt’s guitar and the famous Bouchet guitars of the Presti-Lagoya duo.

We continue to develop the collection through the support of donors. For more information on donations and sponsorship, contact the sponsorship department.
Contact: scook@cite-musique.fr

Previous page Next page