The Musée de la musique Conservation and Research Team is part of the Centre for Research on Conservation (CNRS-USR 3224) and the Institut Collegium Musicæ at the Sorbonne University.
Its research focuses on the Musée de la musique collections and draws on fields from the humanities to the physical sciences to further knowledge in the music history, organology, conservation and restoration of musical instruments and artworks. In particular, this research explores:

• the objects’ physical history, by examining their materials and structures, and instruments’ musical functions and evolution;
• an instrument’s cultural history, to better understand the heritage it represents, as both an art object and a functional object.
• and contributes to the knowledge and safeguarding of the intangible dimension of music past and present.

In addition, this research has equipped the Musée de la musique with expertise in the restoration of instruments to playing condition and related maintenance issues.
Remontée filtrée de magazine pour tout ce qui est lié à l’actualité de la recherche (décider ensemble du filtre à appliquer, différent de celui de la home Musée)
 

To continue enriching and expanding its collection, the Musée de la musique pursues an ambitious acquisition policy. Each year, new instruments or works selected for their uniqueness, renown or rarity are brought into the collection.

As a recognised ‘Musée de France’, the Musée de la musique plays an official advising and coordinating role in the network of France’s public music-related collections. From its founding, the Musée de la musique has worked with museums both in France and abroad, as well as other public collections, in association with:

• acquisitions;
• loans (in and out);
• restoration;
• and facility installation;
• for projects relating to instrument-making.

It belongs to a major international network focused on the study and conservation of music heritage and is an active member of the CIMCIM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Musical Instruments). Teams at the Musée de la musique are also involved in several international research programmes, allowing for broad dissemination of its research and the hosting of guest researchers on site. 
As co-manager of the MIMO (Musical Instrument Museums Online) project, the Musée de la musique has created a database providing access to data from numerous instrument museums around the world.

Musical Instrument Museums Online

The history of instrument-makers and their craft and know-how is an important part of the history of musical instruments. The Laboratory team works closely with present-day luthiers, instrument-makers and musicians, whose technical expertise provides valuable insights on the collection. Also conserved at the Musée de la musique are sizeable workshop inventories (‘fonds d’atelier’), representing thousands of tools and objects, which it studies to discover what these items can tell us about obscure or forgotten instrument-making techniques and methods.

Over the past 25 years, the Musée de la musique has produced and exhibited facsimiles of instruments in its collections, also allowing the public to hear them being played, such as a theorbo by Matteo Sellas, an Érard piano, a viol by Michel Collichon, and a 19th-c. serpent. These facsimiles are the result of extensive organological research conducted by the museum in collaboration with instrument-makers and luthiers. While it is not always possible to create an exact reproduction of the original in every detail, producing these facsimiles provides a sound as close as possible to that of an original instrument that is no longer in playing condition. For original instruments maintained in playing condition, creating facsimiles can also protect these artefacts from overuse, as in the case of the Goujon harpsichord or the Hotteterre flute.

Working with talented musicians, instrument-makers and restorers, the Musée de la musique Conservation and Research Team allows instruments from the museum’s collections to be heard again, reviving rare and long-lost timbres for the modern ear. These collaborations with professional musicians can lead to concerts and recordings on instruments from the collection or their copies and facsimiles.

When permitted by their conservation conditions, museum instruments are played for concerts in the Amphitheatre or concert walks, or by musicians performing live each day within the permanent collection. The instruments’ timbre is explored through authentic repertoires, in the spirit of the period music salons.

Recording campaigns

Since 2004, the Musée de la musique has been recording original period instruments and facsimiles as a means of sharing and expanding the heritage within its collections. Since 2013, these recordings have also been filmed, which allows the playing techniques to be observed and can help familiarise viewers with lesser-known instruments. Here, link to the online collection with filters for “audio recordings of Musée de la musique instruments” and “video recordings of Musée de la musique instruments” The museum also seeks to enliven its collections with imaginative initiatives, such as playing and recording a score pictured in a painting by Jean-Marc Nattier conserved within the museum walls. This musical exploit is the culmination of extensive iconographic research: the painting informs us about not only the score but also the playing position, the social context, etc.

Album recordings

The Musée de la musique has an ambitious publishing policy which in 2018 and 2019 led to the creation of two new album collections, co-produced with record labels. The first, entitled ‘Stradivari / Musée de la musique’, a collaboration with Harmonia mundi, features the release of three records per year on a museum instrument played in a historically informed perspective. The second, co-produced with InFiné, interweaves musical heritage and emerging electronic music scenes, renewing the language and poetry of early instrument timbres.

Since 2017, commissioning new works has also been adopted as a means of showcasing instruments in playing condition, in a modern-day context. By placing this heritage of sound in the hands of present-day composers, the museum seeks to celebrate the authenticity and creative potential of today. With the InBach project, the Musée de la musique commissioned Arandel to create an electronic work from recordings of twenty-one period instruments in the collection. This collaboration led to a performance during the Nuit blanche (Up All Night) event in 2017, and an album release with the label InFiné in 2020.

As a conservatory of heritage and know-how, the Musée de la musique also opens its doors to luthiers and instrument-makers, musicians, and researchers in musicology and organology, to allow them to examine works in the collection. Access to museum works is arranged by appointment, after review of a substantiated request stating the purpose, submitted using this form: link to the access to works page.

Fill out an access request form