Ringve Museum
Encyclopedia
Ringve Museum is Norway
's national museum
for music
and musical instruments, with collections from all over the world.
. Ringve Farm was the childhood home of the Danish-Norwegian nobleman, Peter Tordenskjold. It is situated in a park on the Lade
peninsula just outside Trondheim
with a view over the Trondheimsfjord
, the park forming botanical gardens run by NTNU (the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
). The first house on the site was built in 1521, but the current group of buildings dates from the 1850s onwards.
When the estate was auctioned in 1878, it was purchased by the Bachke family and one of the sons, Christian Anker Bachke (1873-1946) acquired the estate in 1919. In late 1919, he married Russian émigré Victoria Rostin Bachke
, an artist who fled from the Russian Revolution. The couple had no children but put their considerable energies into their love of music and assembling a collection of historical musical instruments; the museum first opened in 1952. There are now around 1,500 instruments in the collection, alongside other artifacts associated with music – pictures, recordings.
The museum is based on the private collection of founder Victoria Bachke and was opened to the public in 1952. Jon Voigt (1928-1997) succeeded Victoria Bachke as director in 1963 and continued until 1997. Over the years many famous musicians visited Ringve, including Artur Schnabel
, Lilly Krauss, Ignaz Friedman
, Percy Grainger
and Kirsten Flagstad
, as well as the artist, Edvard Munch
.
The first room is called the Mozart room and contains a spinet
, clavichord
and a domestic or house organ, from the 18th century. A Murano
glass chandelier
hangs from the ceiling.
The next room is called the ‘Beethoven’ and contains a harp piano of 1870 by Dietz, and a piano of type favoured by Beethoven.
A room dedicated to Chopin comes next, with examples of the composer’s preferred pianos, as well as a death mask
and casts of his hands. There are also watercolours by George Sand
and memorabilia about Chopin and Liszt
. A card table and sofa that came from Chopin’s Paris home, and which were inherited by his Norwegian pupil Thomas Tellefsen are on display.
Upstairs there is a room based around singers Elisabeth Wiborg and Adelina Patti
and includes a piano which Patti insisted on being accompanied. This is followed by a display of Hardanger fiddles, a ‘Grieg’ room, a room of instruments associated with church and worship, and finally a room of curiosities, including a Cecilium, a Norwegian-made barrel-organ, musical toys and a Janko
piano.
(species from the Northern hemisphere) around a lake, a floral maze representing a systematic presentation of perennial plants, a Renaissance (herbal) Garden and, in front of the Manor House the historical ‘English’ garden of the 1800s.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's national museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
for music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and musical instruments, with collections from all over the world.
Background
Ringve Museum is located in the historic Ringve Farm in TrondheimTrondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
. Ringve Farm was the childhood home of the Danish-Norwegian nobleman, Peter Tordenskjold. It is situated in a park on the Lade
Lade
Lade may refer to:People* Brendon Lade , Australian rules footballer* Sir John Lade , baronet and Regency horse-breeder* Heinrich Eduard von Lade , German banker and amateur astronomer...
peninsula just outside Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
with a view over the Trondheimsfjord
Trondheimsfjord
The Trondheimsfjord , an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's third longest fjord at long. It is located in the west central part of the country, and it stretches from Ørland in west to Steinkjer in north, passing the city of Trondheim on its way...
, the park forming botanical gardens run by NTNU (the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology , commonly known as NTNU, is located in Trondheim. NTNU is the second largest of the eight universities in Norway, and, as its name suggests, has the main national responsibility for higher education in engineering and technology...
). The first house on the site was built in 1521, but the current group of buildings dates from the 1850s onwards.
When the estate was auctioned in 1878, it was purchased by the Bachke family and one of the sons, Christian Anker Bachke (1873-1946) acquired the estate in 1919. In late 1919, he married Russian émigré Victoria Rostin Bachke
Victoria Bachke
Victoria Bachke is most widely known as the founder and first director of Ringve Museum, the national museum of music and musical instruments at Lade, Trondheim, Norway. She is one of the few Russian persons who left tracks in modern Norwegian history...
, an artist who fled from the Russian Revolution. The couple had no children but put their considerable energies into their love of music and assembling a collection of historical musical instruments; the museum first opened in 1952. There are now around 1,500 instruments in the collection, alongside other artifacts associated with music – pictures, recordings.
The museum is based on the private collection of founder Victoria Bachke and was opened to the public in 1952. Jon Voigt (1928-1997) succeeded Victoria Bachke as director in 1963 and continued until 1997. Over the years many famous musicians visited Ringve, including Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel was an Austrian classical pianist, who also composed and taught. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura...
, Lilly Krauss, Ignaz Friedman
Ignaz Friedman
Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman (also spelled by languages Ignace or Ignacy; exactly Solomon (Salomon) Isaac Freudman(n), (February 13, 1882January 26, 1948) was a Polish pianist and composer. Critics (e.g. Harold C. Schonberg) and colleagues (e.g...
, Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
and Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...
, as well as the artist, Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...
.
The Manor House
The period interiors of the Ringve Manor House provide the setting for themed rooms of working – mainly keyboard – instruments. In this section, open by guided tour only, the guides (often graduate music students) play an appropriate piece of music (or extract) as the tour proceeds.The first room is called the Mozart room and contains a spinet
Spinet
A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ.-Spinets as harpsichords:While the term spinet is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the bentside spinet, described in this section...
, clavichord
Clavichord
The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...
and a domestic or house organ, from the 18th century. A Murano
Murano
Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1.5 km north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 . It is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking...
glass chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
hangs from the ceiling.
The next room is called the ‘Beethoven’ and contains a harp piano of 1870 by Dietz, and a piano of type favoured by Beethoven.
A room dedicated to Chopin comes next, with examples of the composer’s preferred pianos, as well as a death mask
Death mask
In Western cultures a death mask is a wax or plaster cast made of a person’s face following death. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits...
and casts of his hands. There are also watercolours by George Sand
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...
and memorabilia about Chopin and Liszt
Liszt
Liszt is a Hungarian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Franz Liszt , Hungarian composer and pianist* Adam Liszt , father of Franz Liszt* Anna Liszt , mother of Franz Liszt...
. A card table and sofa that came from Chopin’s Paris home, and which were inherited by his Norwegian pupil Thomas Tellefsen are on display.
Upstairs there is a room based around singers Elisabeth Wiborg and Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti was a highly acclaimed 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851 and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914...
and includes a piano which Patti insisted on being accompanied. This is followed by a display of Hardanger fiddles, a ‘Grieg’ room, a room of instruments associated with church and worship, and finally a room of curiosities, including a Cecilium, a Norwegian-made barrel-organ, musical toys and a Janko
Janko keyboard
The Jankó keyboard is a musical keyboard layout for a piano designed by Paul von Jankó in 1882.Based on the premise that the hand can barely stretch more than a 9th on the piano, and that all scales are fingered differently, Jankó's new keyboard had two interlocking 'manuals' with three...
piano.
The Barn (Museet på Låven)
The collections on display in the Barn are divided in two parts:- Instruments mainly associated with western classical and popular music over four centuries. A Kirkman harpsichord of 1767, a Erberle viola d’amore of 1755, a five-octave Stein piano of 1783, a soprano saxophone by Sax (son) of 1907, along wide early electronic instruments and a 1948 jukeboxJukeboxA jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
. - Folk instruments from all around the world, including a Runebomme (a type of Sami drum), a Tibetan zang-dang (horn), a nadomo (arched harp) from Congo and hardanger fiddles.
Ringve Botanical Garden
Ringve Botanical Garden was established in 1973. The botanic garden has three main parts, the 19th century garden, the arboretum, and the systematic section. The 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) botanical gardens consist of an arboretumArboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
(species from the Northern hemisphere) around a lake, a floral maze representing a systematic presentation of perennial plants, a Renaissance (herbal) Garden and, in front of the Manor House the historical ‘English’ garden of the 1800s.
Other sources
- Guldahl A.S., Guttormsen S., Kjeldsberg P.A., Krouthén M. (2005) Ringve – a world apart (Trondheim: Ringve)
- Voigt, Jan (1984) Fru Victoria til Ringve (Cappelen) ISBN 978-8202098513