Bologna città della musica
The City of Bologna and Music

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• -> laws and public financing for the show business
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• -> music museums

The Civico Museo Bibiliografico Musicale (Musical Bibliographical City Museum) was created as an evolution of the bibliographical and historical-artistic heritage of Father Martini. The collection is one of the most prestigious as far as the repertoire of printed music from the 16th to the 18th century is concerned, and is run in collaboration with the Conservatory.

Saved form Napoleon’s confiscations thanks to the intervention of Stanislao Mattei, pupil and successor of Martini, in 1816 the immense bibliographic heritage (at the time made up of around 17.000 volumes) was donated to the Liceo Musicale of the City Council of Bologna, established in 1804 near the former Convento degli Agostiniani (Augustinian convent) in the church of San Giacomo Maggiore. The library grew considerably during the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, thanks not only to the material produced by the teaching activity of the Liceo (many famous figures attended the Liceo, among which Rossini – on exhibition in the Museum, besides the autograph scores of The Barber of Seville and of the Stabat Mater, there are various objects that belonged to him such as the bed, the dressing gown, the wig and other objects of various kinds – Donizzetti and Respighi; the Liceo was directed by Mancinelli, Martucci and Busoni), but also to the acquisition of rare volumes. Under the direction of Gaetano Gaspari, appointed librarian in 1855, the collection was enriched by a number of donations. Gaspari carried out the complex work of filing all the material of the library.

The Library is divided into three parts: the first contains the theoretical and literary works; the second the works and the compositions for the practice of the art; the third includes the collection of opera librettos. The City Council of Bologna keeps the ownership of the bibliographic heritage of Father Martini and of the annexed picture gallery.

The Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della musica (International Museum and Library of Music). Opened in 2004, the International Museum and Library of Music gathers in a distinguished location, thanks to its history and artistic prestige, the main bibliographic, iconographic-musical and music instrument heritage of the city. The exceptional character of the Museum is reflected especially in the synergy established among the collections – one of the most precious heritages of the illuminated spirit with which, in the 18th century, Father Martini gathered his fortune –, that enhances its intrinsic, outstanding importance. Among the uncountable “music histories” that the documents testify, the present mounting has chosen to present those histories that the documentary richness shows in the best way, almost without the help of explanations: the history of his main creator, Martini, and of his friends and correspondents (such as Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Christian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Burney); the history of the book of music from the 16th to the 20th century; the history of the Italian opera in the 18th century, revolving around the figure of Farinelli, and of the 19th century, revolving around Gioacchino Rossini; the history of the theoretical conceptions of music from the 15th to the 18th century; and the history of the personalities and of the institutions of the musical life of Bologna. The library collection is, without exaggerating, one of the most prestigious at international level, in particular for the music history from the 15th to the 18th century. The musical editions from the 16th to the 17th century preserved in the Museum are really remarkable (among the many unique books, there is the very first edition of the Odecathon A. by Ottaviano Petrucci, 1501, the first music print done completely with movable type), the same can be said for the theoretical treatises and the opera librettos, and the importance of the manuscripts, starting with the famous Q.15, unique repository of an important portion of the polyphonic repertoire of the 15th century, is outstanding; nearer to us, the most precious objects are the autograph score of The Barber of Seville by Rossini and the heirlooms of Respighi. The iconographic collection has its centre in the paintings commissioned by Father Martini as a visual completion of the library collection: there are portraits of old composers, theoreticians and musicians and of the main representatives of the musical life of the 18th century; some pieces are of exceptional value, for example the full-length portrait of Johann Christian Bach painted by Thomas Gainsborough, the spectacular portrait of Farinelli with the Spanish Royal Family by Corrado Giaquinto and the world-famous bookcase doors with shelves of music books by Giuseppe Maria Crespi. The collection of music instruments, which historically began in the music institute, covers a time span of four centuries, from the renaissance flutes to the 19th century pianos. Many of the instruments are interesting because of the particular conception behind them (like in the case of the 17th century Flute harmony of Manfredo Settala), because of their historic value (like in the case of the enharmonic harpsichord of Vito Trasuntino, with 31 keys for each octave), because of their functional peculiarity (like in the case the theorbo in form of kithara, used perhaps at the beginning of the 17th century as theatre-stage object) and because of their artistic value (like in the case of the 19th century horn of D. Jahn, with its richly decorated bell). The evidence connected to the study of musical instruments finds its complement in the faithful and functional reconstruction of the luthier’s workshop of Otello Bignami (1914-1989), pupil of Gaetano Pollastri and leading exponent of the luthier’s school in Bologna.

During its first seven months of life, the museum was visited by around 20.000 people. The idea of creating a Museum of music in Bologna originated non only from the necessity of reasserting the importance of the experience of Bologna in the art of music, but also from the necessity of satisfying a plurality of purposes: first of all, to acquaint the wide public with the rich and varied musical heritage (pictures, volumes, instruments) that the City Council of Bologna has owned and preserved for a long time.

In this context Palazzo Sanguinetti has offered the possibility of promoting the growth and cultural valorisation of this precious musical heritage, achieving the double aim of guaranteeing an exhibition frame worthy of the value of the objects treated and, at the same time, of guaranteeing the best possible running and preservation conditions, essential for the preservation of a heritage of whatever kind.

This year, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth and of the 300th of Father Martini's one, the Museum promoted “Nonsolomozart”, a series of initiatives that will investigate the figure of the Austrian genius and of the great musicians that lived in Bologna at the time. Besides, the exhibition “La regola e il genio. Mozart, Martini, Bologna. (Rule and genius. Mozart, Martini, Bologna)” has been planned for the autumn of 2006. Both the programmes have been included in the calendar of events of the European Mozart Ways Association.