Museum of Musical Culture. M.I. Glinka was created in Moscow in 1943. Based on memorial museum N.G. Rubinstein (founded in 1912 at the Moscow Conservatory). Since 1982 in a new building (architect Loveyko I.I.)
Even at the Moscow Conservatory, the foundation of the museum collection was laid, where from the first years of the existence of the Conservatory, rare musical materials (documents, autographs, manuscripts, collections of instruments) were collected and the foundation of the museum collection was laid. On March 11, 1912, next to the Conservatory Library, the opening of the Museum named after N.G. Rubinstein, dedicated to the memory of an outstanding musical public figure, founder of the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society and the Conservatory.
Throughout its history, the Museum also experienced difficult moments when it was in complete oblivion and was close to closing. Three decades Museum named after N.G. Rubinshtein carried out the function of the service department at the conservatory, akin to the educational library, was mainly engaged in storage, and to a small extent - collecting. In the late 1930s, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Moscow Conservatory, the direction of his activities changed. His collection began to increase, exhibition work became more active. In 1941, on the basis of the conservatory unit, was created Central Museum musical culture. In 1943, the museum separated from the conservatory and received the status public institution. Since that time, the GTsMMK began to gain popularity and determine its own, special place in the musical and museum world. In the mid-1940s, the name of N.G. Rubinstein disappeared from the official name of the Museum, and in 1954, in connection with the anniversary of M.I. Glinka, the GTsMMK was named after the great Russian composer.
In 1974 the Museum received the status of a research institute. The museum has changed address twice. After the conservatory for several decades, it was located in an ancient architectural monument - in the chambers of the boyars Troekurovs in Georgievsky lane. And in the 1980s, he finally moved to a building specially built for him on Fadeeva Street.
Today, in the museum, children and adults can get acquainted with ancient and modern musical instruments and music of the peoples of the world. The museum has many musical instruments. There are old pianos with candlesticks, harpsichords, hurdy-gurdies, the oldest organ in Russia; many instruments of different peoples of the world. Visitors say they are hearing about them for the first time and seeing them for the first time too. Therefore, we highly recommend visiting the museum for little music lovers of three or four years and older, but it is better with a children's tour. With children from six years old, you can attend concerts from the cycle "In the world of musical instruments" or piano concerts classical music; listen to museum lectures or a symphonic tale.

In November 2009, at the State Central Museum of Musical Culture named after M.I. Glinka (now the All-Russian Museum Association of Musical Culture named after M.I. Glinka) and State House-Museum P.I. Tchaikovsky in Klin, a two-day All-Russian meeting was held on the preservation and promotion of musical cultural heritage. In 2009, the Museum of Musical Culture hosted the All-Russian Conference on the preservation and promotion of musical cultural heritage. At the meeting, it was decided to establish the Association music museums Russia in order to coordinate their activities and implement common cultural programs. Later, in connection with the entry into the organization of music museums of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, it was renamed the Association of Music Museums and Collections (now - the Association of Music Museums and Collectors).

During the five years of its existence, 53 museums of musical orientation in Russia and foreign countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine) have become members of the Association.

As part of the work of the Association, both individual exhibition and educational events and festivals are held. The TERRA MUSICALE festival took place from June 2011 to June 2012. It was attended by 26 museums from Russia and the CIS countries, represented by 22 exhibition projects in 14 regions and republics.

In 2013, the Association took a course towards more effective promotion of the promotion of museums included in the AMMIK and priceless collections in their funds. Thus, a joint project of the Association and the Russian State Musical Television and Radio Center called "Expomusic" appeared. This is a cycle of radio broadcasts on the waves of the radio station "Orpheus" about each of the museums of the Association. The project is being successfully implemented at the present time. All programs are available in the public domain on the website of the Orpheus radio station (http://www.muzcentrum.ru/orpheusradio/programs/expomusic). Work on the project continues.

The work plan of the Association for 2015 included the following activities:
- the second scientific and methodological seminar "Museums of Musical and theatrical art, musical and sound instruments” (March 2015, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France);
- participation of AMMiK as a co-organizer in the International Museum Forum dedicated to the 120th anniversary National Museum Republic of Tatarstan. The forum will have a section of music museums;
- a number of events on the topic "Updating and ways of development of museum-apartments" (including a round table on the most topical issues activities of apartment museums);
- launch of the official website of AMMiK;
- participation of AMMiK in International Festival museums "Intermuseum-2015".

The Glinka Museum, or the Central Museum of Musical Culture, displays a huge collection of instruments from all eras and peoples, the number of exhibits of which is close to a thousand. From historical rarities to modern sound extraction devices can be seen in this extensive collection. The main building of the museum association was built specifically for this repository, which was based on exhibits collected by enthusiasts from the Moscow Conservatory since its foundation in 1866.

The lobby of the Glinka Museum greets visitors with a bust of the great composer, musical and text quotes from the author of the Patriotic Song, which for some time was the Russian anthem. The notes of this work are accompanied by an unofficial text, which, together with music, claimed the status of a state symbol back in tsarist times.

Here, visitors get acquainted with the announcements of events, leave outerwear, purchase entry tickets for a permanent exhibition or thematic exhibitions. Main permanent exhibition located on the 2nd floor, temporary screenings on various topics are organized on the 3rd floor.

The lobby houses one of the remarkable exhibits, the recent acquisition of the Glinka Museum - the European orchestra. This mechanical instrument recreates the sound of an instrumental orchestra, such devices have been used in a number of European countries as musical accompaniment to dance events.

Musical instruments, located on the front side of a kind of orchestra, emit their characteristic sounds, while accordions even demonstrate the movements of bellows. In Russia, such instruments were not distributed, the more interesting it is for our lovers of musical curiosities to get acquainted with the orchestra.

The second floor, which contains the main exposition of the Glinka Museum, begins with a spacious hall where various exhibitions dedicated to musical culture are held. The main decoration of the room is a picturesque colored stained-glass window, which is much larger in size from the outside of the building.

A massive staircase leads to the 3rd floor to visit the thematic temporary exhibitions. The composition of several bells recalls the role of church bells both in the life of the Russian people and in Glinka's musical tastes.

Also in the hall there is an organ made by the German master Ladegast, which was owned since 1868 by a descendant of the Khludov merchant family, the only surviving product of this master. Presented to the Moscow Conservatory and having changed several more owners, the instrument was practically ruined.

The difficult restoration of the insides of the organ was carried out in 1998 by Vilnius organ masters under the guidance of Guchas. Now this instrument is positioned as the oldest organ in Russia that has retained its working capacity, and it is actually used at organ concerts organized by the Glinka Museum.

The permanent exposition of the Glinka Museum, which tells about the history of origin and a wide variety of musical instruments of the peoples of the world, is located in five halls on the second floor. With different background colors of showcases, they are visually separated from each other. The division of the halls, representing the oldest known instruments, is made according to the geographical principle. A separate room is dedicated to European exhibits divided by countries, the rest of the continents are divided inside another room with expositions of individual countries highlighted.

Further halls represent instruments that differ in belonging to wind or symphony, percussion and keyboards. Selected mechanical and electronic musical instruments, devices for recording sound and playing it from various media.

Ancient European musical instruments

How correct this choice of the principle of demonstrating musical instruments is for professionals to understand, but the differences in the method of extracting sound seem to be more fundamental and obvious than national and state ones. After all, the shape of the pipe, no matter how great the differences, is still recognizable.

You can't confuse a drum or other percussion instruments with anything else. And finding out information about the place of origin of the exhibit, attributing it to a certain type of musical instruments and other details is still carried out by the majority of visitors according to explanatory inscriptions.

Russian folk musical instruments are collected in the Glinka Museum in a large assortment and species diversity. Here are the instruments of other peoples inhabiting national republics within the RF. Percussion instruments are widely represented - after all, they use the simplest, but most diverse method of extracting sounds, from simple collisions of objects, for which even wooden spoons are used, to rattles of various devices and designs.

Naturally, our ancestors had horns made of cow horns and pipes made of wood. Craftsmen could extract sounds even from a saw blade and a scythe blade, but this is more likely from the field of musical eccentricity. The main stringed instrument of the Russian people is the harp, used in Russia since time immemorial. The balalaika also belongs to the plucked string instruments, with all the simplicity of the device, virtuosos perform any melodies on them. Finally, the Russian accordion is the main folk instrument for a long time

String instruments of different peoples are visually similar, but the progenitor of all stringed instruments, the Scythian harp, differs from other relatives. It does not yet have a resonating body and neck, and a common feature is the way to extract sounds by plucking the strings with your fingers.

Plucked stringed instruments developed from the ancient lyre and harp to the lute, domra, mandolin, balalaika and guitar, which has retained the greatest popularity to this day. Harpsichords, piano and piano are also related to plucked stringed percussion instruments on strings, for which they came up with keys with a drive system.

In the updated exposition, the European section has been replenished with instruments of Belarusians and Ukrainians, Moldovans and the Baltic peoples. As before, the instruments of the Mediterranean and Scandinavian countries, Central and Eastern Europe are widely represented. String instruments are exhibited both plucked and bowed, with different forms of resonating body and bow arrangement. The simplest xylophones represent a group of percussion instruments.

Several modifications feature bagpipes that are commonly considered Scottish and Irish. traditional instruments. This is true, but other peoples used a similar device with air fur and pipes with reed formation of sounds. These are the French Musette, the Portuguese Gaita, the Duda and the Dudeizac of the countries of Eastern Europe.

Musical instruments of Eastern countries

The countries of the East were the first to invent bows to extract sounds from stretched strings, historians consider the musicians who lived on the territory of present-day Uzbekistan to be the pioneers. From here the bows came to China and India, to the Arab countries and from them to the Pyrenees. A pastoral violin with three strings - a rabel, as well as a viola with a large number of strings. The latter were later supplanted by violins and their larger relatives. Oriental stringed instruments often feature longer necks, although there are also designs with short ones.

The wind and percussion instruments of the Eastern peoples are distinguished by a great variety. For brass, bamboo trunks and other hollow stems of plants were often used. Percussion instruments also made from tree trunks, hollowing out the core. Dressed animal skins stretched over frames made of various materials were also used. In addition to stationary drums, hand drums such as tambourines, sometimes supplemented by bells, were popular.

Japanese identity national clothes much more striking than the differences between Japanese musical instruments and all others. The percussion instruments of the Japanese were usually located on figured stands; different materials, even porcelain and other ceramics. String and wind instruments have forms close to traditional for other nations, and it is difficult to invent something different in these areas.

Eastern countries used a variety of materials to make musical instruments, from stone, wood and metal to silk, leather and even hollowed-out gourd shells. Special attention local craftsmen paid attention to the external design of their products, their decorative appeal.

Painting and carving, traditional for every nation, also adorned musical instruments, it is by these elements that it is easiest to identify xylophones, drums and other instruments from those belonging to the culture of other countries.

Ancient violin workshop in the Glinka Museum

The creation of violins and other bowed instruments has long been and is now a work of great complexity. The preparation of wood for various parts and parts of tools required the possession of many technological operations - cutting and drilling, measurements and various methods of joining parts. The tools and devices necessary for these works are presented on the workbench of the violin maker in the recreated interior of the workshop for the manufacture of musical instruments.

Violin makers could make a product of any size, from violin and viola to cello and giant double bass. The violin could also be both classical sizes and half or even four times smaller.

In the restored room at the Glinka Museum, you can see all the stages of instrument manufacture, from a wooden board to a finished violin or cello. You can consider all the components - the front and back deck and the shell connecting them, the neck with the neck and the jumper for laying the strings.

Classical musical instruments of the Glinka Museum

The instruments used by contemporary musicians are presented to the visitors of the Glinka Museum in several expositions. Components of symphony and brass bands, accessories of musical ensembles of various composition are exhibited. Strings - bowed and keyboards coexist with wind, wood and brass.

One of the museum corners contains genuine treasures - a concert harp and a collectible piano for home use. The perfectly balanced harp is stable on its small base, the precious wood resonator is in harmony with the gilding of the column and neck, the shape of which is especially whimsical and attractive.

Showcases of bowed instruments are located on the sides of a painting depicting the greatest master playing the violin by the Genoese Niccolò Paganini. It was this violinist and composer who developed the technique of playing the violin, which has remained almost unchanged to this day.

In addition to the violin, Paganini also impeccably owned the mandolin and guitar. The great performer's own compositions, written both for violin and guitar, are popular. The world's most popular violin competition is held annually in Paganini's homeland, Genoa, Italy.

A showcase of classical wind instruments shows them in order of increasing size, varieties displayed first wooden tools, then - copper. This division has been preserved since ancient times and now does not correspond to reality - the flutes, clarinets, oboes and bassoons included in the group of wooden flutes can be made not only from wood. They can be plastic and metal, flutes - even glass. Attributed by musicologists to the wooden one according to the principle of operation, the saxophone, which had no ancient analogues, was always made of metal.

On the other hand, copper tools were made only from this metal only at the dawn of the development of metallurgy, now copper alloys or silver are used. The group of brass instruments includes trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba. The tools of this series are of increasing size and complexity of the device. The trombone stands somewhat apart, having a movable rocker for a smooth change in pitch.

Almost all wind instruments are included, in addition to brass bands, in symphony orchestras and ensembles. Dixielands and jazz groups also use them.

The combination of stretched strings and percussion mechanisms controlled by the keyboard is typical for concert musical instruments, which include pianos, grand pianos and pianos. Some experts consider the grand piano and piano as varieties of the piano, which differ in the horizontal or vertical arrangement of the strings.

Since the middle of the last century, only grand pianos and pianos have been produced, traditional pianos, which have less expressive possibilities due to the shorter string length, have gone down in history. Grand pianos are mainly used in concert activities as a vocal accompaniment instrument or independently, pianos - for home or chamber music.

Demonstrated in the Glinka Museum and the predecessors of the current keyboard instruments both strings and reeds. Strings include percussion clavichord and plucked harpsichord, and reed harmoniums are related to harmonicas, button accordions and accordions. The first instrument with air bellows was the table harmonica of Kirchner, a Czech who worked in Russia. Unlike it and the hand instruments we are accustomed to, the bellows at the harmonium were driven by foot pedals.

From barrel organ to synthesizer

The last hall of the Glinka Museum presents several instruments that are not part of ensembles and orchestras, ancient means of reproducing recorded sounds. Here are unique exhibits, quite rare in the collections of museums and individuals. Among them stands out the hurdy-gurdy, about which many have heard, but not all visitors have seen.

The tool according to the device is a small organ, air injection and the operation of the sound mechanism are provided by rotating the handle on the body. Barrel-organs were used by wandering musicians, their sounds accompanied the performances of farce circus artists.

The creation of the first sound recording and reproducing devices has a specific pioneer, he was the famous inventor Edison. The phonograph he designed in 1877 ensured the recording and reproduction of sounds with a sharp needle on a roller wrapped in tin foil or waxed paper.

Recording on a flat round plate was invented by Berliner; sound was reproduced by devices with an external horn - a gramophone. Devices with a horn hidden in the case were produced by Pate, hence the name of the gramophone. Further progress in sound recording was rapid: magnetic tapes, laser discs, high quality digital sound recordings.

A rare photoelectronic sound synthesizer ANS, named after the initials of the great composer Scriabin, was invented by Russian Murzin in the late 30s of the last century, and was made only in 1963. The unusual sounds of this device can be remembered by the audience of science fiction films by Tarkovsky and Gaidai's Diamond Hand.

The music on it was created by the composer without writing notes and involving the orchestra. Synthesizers also developed rapidly, with the invention of transistors, they became compact and affordable. Now synthesizers have all the musical groups of various genres.

Another notable exhibit of the Glinka Museum was the giant drum kit of the musician and composer, tireless experimenter R. Shafi. Manual control of such a complex complex of drums and drums is clearly impossible,

Shafi invented a unique control pedal Serpent Gorynych, which, due to the number of serviced instruments, got into the Guinness Book. There are other interesting exhibits in this section, including personal instruments of famous musicians.

A visit to the Glinka Museum may seem optional after a story about him, but such an impression is extremely erroneous. There are many interesting things here that are difficult to describe in a cursory review, there are new interesting forms of working with visitors. Visiting here is informative and interesting for people with any level of interest and understanding of music, after visiting this interest will definitely increase.