Re: New Museum of Music in Paris
By Mick Hamer
I went 'round to the museum when I was in Paris over the weekend and it is indeed an impressive collection -- although, as Phillipe Rouille said, it's a little light on mechanical instruments. When you enter the museum you are given a set of headphones. At this point you choose your language and there are different headphones for English, French and probably several other languages as well. The headphones give a full commentary in your chosen language on the collection as well as record- ings of what some of the instruments sound like. There are also a couple of musicians demonstrating instruments.
Unfortunately the museum was very busy over the weekend. We had to queue for an hour and a half to get in. The queue was remarkably slow-moving, I think becuase of a shortage of headphones. The visitors' book was full of complaints. When we arrived at the start of the tour we caught the last few notes of a piece on what I assume was the Steck Duo-Art grand. But this instrument is at the end of the tour and by the time we got round to it the museum was closing. The museum advises you to allow two and a half hours for the tour. I wanted at least three and a half hours, which is not a complaint, but more a reflection of how interesting the collection was.
A footnote to the museum of mechanical music that used to exist in Paris: I went 'round to this museum more than five years ago. In addition to the player pianos there was also a large collection of mechanical (clockwork) puppets and figures. At the end of the tour the woman who ran the place asked me to sign the visitors' book and pointed out the signature of the last native English-speaker to visit the museum. It was Steven Spielberg !
Mick Hamer -- now back in a rather damp London
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(Message sent Wed 22 Jan 1997, 12:26:16 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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