# Composer´s Museums



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Have been to a few composer´s museums
in the past few years:

Elgar´s near Worchester;
Dvorak´s in Prague;
Smetana´s in Prague;
Jaroslav Jezek´s in Prague;
Ravel´s in Montfort l´Amaury near Paris
Nielsen´s on Funen (actually only saw the building 
from the outside, though, since it was closed)
Brahms´in Hamburg (alas also closed due to restoration)
De Falla´s in Granada
Bartok´s in Budapest

It has always been interesting to see a composer´s home & 
his personal environment & style; it gives a more personal dimension 
to the music as well, and often some surprises - 
Ravel´s villa is a dollhouse with many small treasures in a lovely
town on a hillside and had a charming French guide, Jezek´s small 
apartment had a library of many contemporary literary and musical 
works, and De Falla´s was a gem as well, for instance.
The Smetana (the one near the Charles´ Bridge) was merely an exhibition 
of documents, though. 

Hope to visit more museums like that in the future, especially in Central & 
Eastern Europe. There must be at least 20 more composer´s museums
in Europe, I guess. But - does anyone know of these similar, rather 
neglected treasures ? Are there any other composer´s museums in the US 
or Great Britain ? They are often absent from general guide-books ...


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Troldhaugen - Griegs house near Bergen, excellent and beautiful place - no wonder he wrote such gems!

Also Siljustol - The home of Harald Saeverud also near Bergen, a huge estate in the middle of a park, beautiful also. Its only open on weekends I think.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Hadn´t heard about the Saeverud, I think - makes a first
trip to Norway even more interesting, and the Grieg must be 
essential - and so close to some of the best Fjord country ...


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

There's the Grainger Museum in Melbourne, Australia. The only reason I've heard of it is that Percy Grainger wanted it to display his skeleton after he died. However, apparently the museum wasn't too keen on the idea, and didn't do it.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Interesting, knew that he was a bit eccentric, but didn´t know that. 
He composed "In A Nutshell-Suite", but apparently, in this case, 
went nuts a bit too much to most peoples taste ... .


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## Stunt21 (Jan 22, 2010)

Ainola, the house where Sibelius lived, is now property of Finland, and it's opened as a museum 

Greetings.


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## Welsh Classical Fan (Jan 31, 2010)

May I also offer the following suggestions here in the United Kingdom:

The Holst Birthplace Museum in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
The Elgar Birthplace Museum in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England
The Handel House Museum in London, England


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## hankz (Jan 13, 2010)

How about Mozart's home/musem in Salzburg?

There is a Brahms musem in Gmunden, Austria

Check out the International Mahler Society in Vienna (may not qualify as a museum, in your terms).


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Thread just doesn't seem complete without a mention of Villa Wahnfried and 
the "Living Museum" that's the epicenter of Richard Wagner nation... _Bayreuth_!


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## rojo (May 26, 2006)

One interesting place to visit is the Thomaskirsche in Leipzig.

I was there a long time ago, and saw Bach's tomb. I remember it was behind a sort of metal fence. There was also a little museum nearby. This was before the wall came down; things may have changed since then.

The church was charming, although it showed it's age with the outer stones blackened with dirt of some sort. I bet it's been cleaned and restored since then.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Stunt21 said:


> Ainola, the house where Sibelius lived, is now property of Finland, and it's opened as a museum
> 
> Greetings.


Yes indeed! I was there in September. It's a beautiful rustic house with all sorts of interesting art on the walls. I particularly loved his library with the myriad books and sitting area where he would spend time sipping whisky, smoking cigars and listening to music on the radio very loudly. Sounds like good time to me!

Perhaps even more spectacular than the house are the woods on his property. You can walk on trails through them, and one can surely hear the tone poem Tapiola begin to play...!

And, of course, he and his wife are buried on the grounds as well near their garden. Very moving to visit such a spot.


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

The Liszt Museum in Budapest was quaint and quite nice. The "guards" (a couple of 60+ ladies that watched EVERY move we made) were a bit unsettling but all in all the place (Liszt's apartments) was a nice side trip.

Jim


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I visited some more composer´s museums since back then, just a couple of days ago it was

- the Brahms Museum in Hamburg
- the KomponistenQuartier Museum in Hamburg, just opened, dedicated to Telemann, CPE Bach, Hasse, Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn and Mahler. 
Those were both informative museums, but to a very large degree without authentic material, except a copy of Mahler´s bicycle (! - with a surprisingly modern design) and a Brahms piano.

Also, in the years since the earlier posts, I visited:

- the Liszt Museum, Weimar
- the Liszt Museum, Budapest
- the Bartok Museum, Budapest (revisited)
- Grieg´s Villa Troldhaugen, Bergen
- Ole Bull´s palace, Bergen-Lysøen, Norway
- the Sæverud Siljustøl Museum, Bergen, Norway (closed, so only from the outside)
- the Valen museum, Valevåg, Norway
- the Ciurlionis Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania
- the Martinu I-II museums in Policka, the Czech Republic
- the Smetana Museum in Litomysl, Czech republic
- the Szymanowski Museum in Zakopane, Poland
- the tiny Langgaard exhibition in Ribe´s cathedral, Denmark
- Krushelnytska Musuem, Lviv, Ukraine
- the Stanislav Lyudkevich Museum in Lviv, Ukraine
- the Kosenko Museum in Kiev, Ukraine 
- the Chopin Museum, Mallorca


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> I visited some more composer´s museums since back then, just a couple of days ago it was
> 
> - the Brahms Museum in Hamburg
> - the KomponistenQuartier Museum in Hamburg, just opened, dedicated to Telemann, CPE Bach, Hasse, Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn and Mahler.
> ...


Nice, the combination of Mahler & a bicycle. Just some suggestions for CZ: Janacek birthplace https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam%C3%A1tn%C3%ADk_Leo%C5%A1e_Jan%C3%A1%C4%8Dka
Dvorak birthplace http://www.nm.cz/Ceske-muzeum-hudby/Long-term-Exhibitions-CMM/Antonin-Dvorak-Memorial-in-Nelahozeves.html?xSET=lang&xLANG=2 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelahozeves
Nelahozeves has a castle that belonged to count Lobkovic, to whom Beethoven dedicated among others the Eroica symphony after being disappointed in Napoleon.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Yeah, the cozy Czech provincial towns are really lovely to experience & a joy to wander through, I hope to visit more of them. And few countries have such a density of museums, castles, architectural richness & other cultural sights.


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