Royal Academy of Music Museum
The Royal Academy of Music Museum is a museum of musical instruments and artefacts and a research centre of the Royal Academy of Music in London.
The building
The building was designed in 1822 as part of the main entrance to Regent's Park, and was an important feature in John Nash’s architectural designs for Regency London. The interior of York Gate was largely destroyed by bomb damage in the 1940s, but the Nash exterior has Grade 1 listed building status. The Royal Academy of Music moved to Marylebone Road in 1911, and held a lease on part of York Gate during the 1920s and 1930s. A grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the Academy to acquire and refurbish the building to house studios and practice rooms and a museum.
The galleries
The Museum has three permanent galleries, alongside regularly changing displays and exhibitions. Together they cover an array of eras, instruments and subjects, including stringed instruments from the 16th century onwards. The galleries act as a showcase for the work of performers, composers, instrument makers and scholars from a wide range of musical and other relevant disciplines.
The exhibition features pianos placed on loan by Kenneth and Mary Mobbs, Oswald de Sybel, Andrew Hunter-Johnston, the Beare family, and the Stodart grand piano bequeathed by Frank Brown.
The collections
Since its foundation in 1822 the academy has acquired important collections of instruments, manuscripts, letters, performance editions, artworks, teaching materials, memorabilia and other objects. Within this are many collections named after individuals, including those relating to the conductors John Barbirolli, Otto Klemperer, Henry Wood and Charles Mackerras, pianist Harriet Cohen, the concert agent Norman McCann, lutenist and scholar Robert Spencer, composer Arthur Sullivan, jazz star Kenny Wheeler and the Foyle Menuhin Archive. The collections also include items concerning the history of the institution such as student registers, programmes, prize boards, certificates, medals and commemorative photographs.
Manuscripts
The academy houses original manuscripts by Purcell, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Brahms, Sullivan and Vaughan Williams, musical memorabilia and other exhibits.
String instruments
The academy holds a collection of more than 200 stringed instruments from the violin family. These have been acquired for the benefit of students and recent leavers and they are maintained by the academy's resident luthier. The collections include several instruments of the Stradivarius family, including the Rutson, Kustendyke, Viotti-ex-bruce, Maurin, and the Habeneck, violas Archinto, cello Marquis de Corberon-ex-Loeb. Other instruments include Nicolo Amati violin, Girolamo II violin and violin, violin by Antonio and Girolamo Amati and a Hieronymus Amati violin.
Other collections
Other collections include the Foyle Menuhin archive, Jenny Lind Collection, David Munrow Collection, the Priaulx Rainier Collection and The McCann Collection.