”Ur bruket komna instrument” blev i slutet av 1800-talet av intresse för privata samlare, publika museer, musikforskare och musiker. De som intresserade sig för historiska instrument var, då liksom nu, ofta eldsjälar med olika ingångar och motiv till att bevara och använda instrumenten. I en doktorsavhandling i musikvetenskap har Madeleine Modin undersökt vilka föreställningar, kunskaper och faktiska musikinstrument som pionjärerna hade under bildandet och framväxten av Musikhistoriska museet i Stockholm, med ett särskilt intresse för de historiska konserter som museet arrangerade.

I genren självreflekterande musikmuseihistoria har det från Ringve museum i Trondheim under senare år utkommit inte mindre än två intressanta böcker. Den bok som här anmäls är författad av museets mångårige medarbetare Peter Andreas Kjeldsberg. Bara några år tidigare gav museet även ut en antologi i samband med museets 60-årsjubileum där museets historia också till viss del tecknas, men där också norska musikinstrumentforskare, nordiska forskarkolleger, liksom flera ur museets egen personal, bidrar med texter om Ringves roll i bevarandet och förmedlingen av det klingande kulturarvet. Det begynte med ett piano: Ringve museum 60 år följer nära det danska musikmuseets modell av jubileumsbok, som gavs ut i samband med dess 100-årsjubileum 1998, Musikkens tjenere: instrument – forsker – musiker (1998). Vid det svenska musikmuseets 100-årsjubileum ett år senare lyste historieskrivning på pränt tyvärr med sin frånvaro. Ringve Musikkmuseum har tidigare även utgivit den illustrerade museiguiden Ringve: en annen verden (2005) med kortare texter av museets vetenskapliga personal, samt boken Fru Victoria til Ringve (1984) om en av dess grundare, liksom några tidigare historieskrivningar 1972, 1988 och 1999.

The aim of this study is to elucidate the reasons and means to preserve and use historical musical instruments in a museum context more than a century ago. Advocates for historical instruments held ideological positions that were either close to musical perspectives, e.g. aesthetical performances for the living musical life, or emanated from a stance more typical of a museum, including activities to demonstrate cultural evolution or preservation of cultural heritage. This study confirms the dichotomy, but also shows how it is challenged when the goals coincide.

The plans for a museum of music history started after the Stockholm fair of Arts and Industry of 1897. A historical exhibition of theatre and music included historical instruments on loan from the Danish collector Carl Claudius, who imagined the idea of a museum of music history, which was officially founded in 1899. This thesis studies the museum’s emergence as a national institution until 1918, when the first director and co-founder of the museum Johannes Svanberg died. The thesis also analyses three historical concerts given by Musikhistoriska museet in Stockholm between 1900–1918 that clearly illustrate contemporary perceptions of historical musical instruments and can be seen as intersections between museum objectives and musical life. This study also develops a model for the analysis, covering all relevant aspects of the concerts. The main task has been to identify involved persons and their objectives, as well as their access to and knowledge of the historical instruments collected and used in the historical concerts.

Three major objectives for the promoting of historical instruments have been identified: preservation (bevarande), education (bildning) and vitalisation (vitalisering). The thesis’ theoretical framework is based on elaborations of these concepts. Three immaterial aspects of what to preserve have been pointed out: sound, handicraft skills and memories of important persons. The sound-saving project can be seen as both preservation of the cultural heritage for later generations, and as an act to vitalise the contemporary musical life. Among the involved persons, several of them were artists of visual arts and their notion of the instruments as objects of artful handicraft is noteworthy. Even though the goal was to accomplish a highly modern museum, and not a curiosa cabinet, some celebrities’ instruments were collected. They were meant to evoke feelings of the country’s glorious past, as well as to capture the interest of a needed broader public. Educational objectives are in this thesis distinguished between 1) formal musical education (utbildning), aiming at musical skills for professional musicians, researchers and instrument makers; and 2) an optional and non-instrumental education (bildning) derived from the German concept of Bildung,

The many musicians involved in the museum activities point at the aesthetical interest the historical instruments evoked, coinciding with objectives the French pioneers of historical instruments had. Notably many of the Swedish pioneers had experience of the French speaking Europe through studies or work in Paris or Brussels. Aims of vitalisation of musical life were prevalent.

This thesis demonstrates that the pioneers’ collecting and use of historical instruments at the Musikhistoriska museet were more intentional and multifaceted than is generally understood.

Performance was a natural part of the activities in several of the early musical instrument museums formed in the second half of the 19’s Century. The Stockholm Museum of Music History (Today called Swedish Museum of Performing Arts) was formed in 1898, after an idea the initiators got during the Theatre and Music exhibition at the Stockholm Exposition of Arts and Industry in 1897. In the declaration of the new museum was clearly stated that the instruments should be put into playable condition to fulfil their educational significance. In this paper the aims and settings of the world- and national expositions will be examined, with a special focus on the Stockholm events in 1897. The deliberate combination of the ultra modern and historicism at this exposition can be said to mirror the complexity of the early music revival that was promoted in this context through the many performances going on in conjunction with the exhibitions. Historical concerts on period instruments as a part of the early history of musical instrument museums were probably an important trigger and perhaps a precondition for the instrumental Early Music Revival. The investigation is based on extensive source material from the Stockholm Expo of 1897 and the archives of the Stockholm Music Museum and forms part of the authors on-going doctoral thesis.

I fas med den övriga samhällsutvecklingen i Sverige, lade Musikhistoriska muséet under 1960-talet stor vikt vid att levandegöra sina musikinstrumentsamlingar för en vidare publik genom en utvidgad pedagogisk och utåtriktad verksamhet. Folkbildningstanken fortsatte sedan gammalt att vara den överordnade ledstjärnan och museets progressiva medarbetare hade stora pedagogiska visioner som de implementerade med hjälp av ny ljudteknik, utvidgat musikfält och utarbetade undervisningsformer. Musikinstrument i samlingarna renoverades i stor utsträckning och användes i den pedagogiska verksam-heten, liksom de frikostigt uppläts för den livaktiga konsertverksamheten, samt för in-strumentbyggare och forskare. Folkmusik och jazz började få en plats i konsertprogram-men, samtidigt som den etablerade tidigmusikscen, som museet redan drev, fortsatte att dra internationellt framstående musiker till sig. Den svenska organologin hade en blomstringsperiod med en verksamhet starkt knuten till museets instrumentsamlingar och monografier som Jan Lings doktorsavhandling om nyckelharpan tillkom under detta decennium. Presentationen utgör en del av en pågående doktorsavhandling.

The idea of education or rather that of Volksbildung has been most central to the public museums throughout the 20th Century.  At the Stockholm Music- and Theatre Museum one of the ways to achieve this were, already from the beginning, to arrange concerts with a repertoire of music rarely played on other stages, and often historical instruments were used. Until the big change in the 80’s when access to the museum objects became much more restricted, the idea was to let the instruments from the collections sound in lectures and concerts. As a consequence many of the instruments in the collection were restored to playing condition, especially in the 50’s and 60’s. Did collectors select instruments for the museum due to their playability? This paper will deal with the history of concert activities at the Stockholm Music and Theatre Museum, with a special focus on the Early Music Movement and the Folk Music Revival, presenting some of the persons and ideologies involved.

The instrument collections of the Museum of Music History  (Musikhistoriska museet) in Stockholm, today called Stockholm Music- and Theatre Museum (Musik- och teatermuseet), was important for the revival of early music in Sweden. The museum was formed in 1899 and already the next year a concert was arranged by the museum where some of the most prominent musicians in Sweden at the time were playing 18^th Century music on period instruments from the collections. In the 50’s and 60’s the museum held a strong position as a centre for early music, with international top musicians performing in the frequent concert series, often on instruments from the collections, newly restored by instrument makers from all around Europe. This paper aims to present the activities connected to the Early Music Movement and its roots, taking place at the Music Museum in Stockholm.  Some of the important musicians, scholars and instrument makers behind the revival and their domestic associations and international network will also be presented.  The intentions and ideologies motivating the activities, such as the movement’s connection to modernism, will also be discussed.