The Museum of Early Pianos
Concerti di musica da camera organizzati dalla Fondazione Masiero Centanin nel mese di maggio nella Sala Centrale di Villa Centanin
In 1993 Giulia Centanin had the idea of housing in an outbuilding of Villa Centanin part of the private pianoforte collection belonging to the pianist Franco Angeleri, who would later become the Artistic Director of the Masiero-Centanin Music Foundation, set up after the death of Giulia Centanin. The Foundation continued and completed her wishes by transferring the instruments (including pieces from other collections) to the former wine vaults of the Orazio Masiero Wine-Growers and Producers company, having first restored the building and made the necessary alterations; and so, in 1998 a museum of period pianofortes was opened. The museum received official recognition from the Veneto Region in the year 2008. Additions have been made to the collection through individual donations, and there are grand pianos, table pianos, upright pianos, and other unusual types of instrument produced between the late eighteenth and the late nineteenth centuries. The collection includes instruments from some of Europe’s foremost piano makers, and there is a section devoted to instruments manufactured in the Veneto region. The collection also includes a quantity of printed matter on musical themes: portraits of musicians, illustrations of instruments, and scenes featuring music in general. There is also a small collection of plucked string instruments used in popular traditional music in the late nineteenth century. The museum is open to the public, and guided visits with live performances can be arranged; also visits and seminars for students from conservatories of music. The instruments exhibited here are played at concerts organised by the Foundation, and for making recordings.
Information:
Fondazione Musicale Masiero-Centanin
