The project MUSA MUSEO MUSICA was inaugurated in April 1997 on the occasion of the ‘Settimana dei Beni culturali’, with musical events in important Florentine museums, including the Galleria dell’Accademia, the Archaeological Museum and Palazzo Pitti.
Following intense collaborations with other museums from various European countries, including the Byzantine Museum of Kerkyra (Corfu, Greece), the Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig (Germany), the Austrian Theatre-Museum of Vienna and the Museum of Musical Instruments of Kremsmünster (Austria), the project aroused international interest and was included by the European Commission in the triennial programme ‘Raphael 1999-2002’ for the enhancement and safeguarding of our cultural heritage.
The project was developed in collaboration with the museums of musical instruments of the Conservatory 'Luigi Cherubini' Florence, the University of Leipzig (Germany) and the Association 'Musica Kremsmünster' (Austria). It consisted of new research into the development of classical instruments, historical musical practice and the social conditions that have caused the changes in musical taste and style during the past four hundred years. Special consideration was given to the steadily growing sound level in modern life which seems to have reached a critical point in today’s acoustical environments.
The results of the project MUSA MUSEO MUSICA are documented in www.musikmuseum.org and in the volume of conference presentations Musica e crisis sonora (Music and the Crisis of Sound), Leo S. Olschki Editor, Florence, 2004.
