Just before Christmas, the Municipality of Amsterdam announced its decision to start the procedure for the free market sale of the building, which houses the Amsterdam museum for player pianos already for nearly a quarter of a century. Under the current market circumstances, it is unavoidable that this will lead to the closure of the museum. Please, sign the petition to support the Geelvinck Pianola Museum!
What happened?
The Geelvinck Pianola Museum is located on the ground floor of a listed historic building, which a century ago was originally built as a police office. It is situated in the buffer area of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Amsterdam Canal District’ in the midst of the historic Jordaan Quarter, which is probably most internationally known for the Anne Frank House (itself the former location of the only Dutch production company for player piano rolls ‘Euterpe’). The museum foundation rents the ground floor space of the building, which is still owned by the Municipality of Amsterdam. The solid and at the time stylishly designed building has not been refurbished ever since. Although its rather unpretentious front shows unmistakable signs of decay, decades long lack of repair by the owner (the Municipality), also guaranteed its charming interior being kept intact (lovingly treated by the museum’s staff): thus the visitor happily steps back in the impression of a enchanting time capsule of the Roaring Twenties. The museum is considered a hidden treasure for foreign tourists (Lonely Planet) and in addition, it regularly receives music lovers interested in player pianos from all over the world. However, since a few years the current strategy of the municipal domains department dictates the market value sale of municipal real estate with the ultimate goal to diminish its holdings and to create a lean municipal balance sheet. We fear, that a profit driven new owner will not stand favourable towards keeping the museum. Although the museum is for about 90% financially self-sufficient (it receives a modest annual subsidy from the Central City District), a significant increase of the rent would be detrimental for its continuity.
Why this museum is important?
The collection of the museum encompasses over 30.000 player piano rolls, by far the largest in the Netherlands. In addition, the museum has over a hundred original period player pianos for being able to play the rolls. It is the only specialised museum for the player piano in the Netherlands and one of the few worldwide. The initiator, former director and current conservator-restorer, the historian Mr. Kasper Janse MA, is considered the foremost Dutch expert on player pianos.
Original late 19th – early 20th c. Player Music
The Geelvinck Pianola Museum is the only place in the Netherlands where the public can enjoy original player piano music on a regular basis. The museum organises over 120 concerts per annum in its premises, combining sound heritage with its period interior. Next to player piano concerts and music combined with silent film, the tiny music hall of the museum gives a successful podium to young professional musicians, who try-out new programs, often late 19th Century or early 20th Century, including early jazz, tango and charlston.
PIanola Museum & Geelvinck Museum
Since two years, the Pianola Museum closely cooperates with the Geelvinck Museum, which is geared to the fortepiano from the 18th up to the mid 19th Centuries and includes the famous Sweelinck Collection (formerly the Sweelinck Museum at the Conservatory of Amsterdam). Together these museums, which now act under the name Geelvinck Music Museums, present to a growing national and international audience the full development of the piano and its music up to WWII. In 2017 the Geelvinck Museum, which originally was located in Amsterdam also, moved to Zutphen (in the Eastern part of the Netherlands), thus the Geelvinck Music Museums are both present in Amsterdam and Zutphen, so having a more or less nationwide coverage. This is emphasised by having developed itself into an expert institute for the historic piano within the Dutch museum environment, having period pianos on loan and organising concerts at various museums, historic houses and castles, including the Museum Cromhouthuis (Amsterdam Museum). Our main aim for these series of concerts is to combine the music of the original period piano with the historic spirit of place, thus giving the audience an historically informed impression of its sound heritage.
Wide Network:
Last year, the Geelvinck Music Museums received a significant subsidy of the (national) Mondriaan Fund to renovate the public presentation of the Pianola Museum, as well as to further unlock both museums’ collections on internet, including MIMO. The Geelvinck Music Museums cooperate with the musical instrument department of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and together recently initiated under the aegis of the Foundation National Music Museum a Dutch platform for musical instruments collections. The Geelvinck Museum is also an active member of ICOM CIMCIM and an institutional member of ICOM ICLM, ICOM DemHist and Europa Nostra, as well as being actively involved in several other international organisations such as REMA (European network for Early Music) ICOMOS (sound heritage) and Interpret Europe. In addition, the Geelvinck Music Museums organise a significant annual period piano festival, which, starting next year, will collaborate with the renown Early Music Festival in Utrecht, This festival includes a fortepiano competition and an expert symposium, as well as a call for new compositions for early pianos. The coming festival, music related to the player piano will be more integrated into the festival repertoire. The Geelvinck Music Museums also cooperate with the early music departments of conservatories and universities, as well as with the academy for piano technicians.
International Support from ICOM CIMCIM
On 10 January, the President of ICOM CIMCIM, Prof. Gabriele Rossi Rognoni wrote:ICOM CIMCIM – International Committee of Collections of Instruments and Music – holds distinguished institutions as its members like:
– Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)
– Cité de la Musique (Parijs)
– Glinka National Music Culture Museum (Moscow)
– Germanische National Museum (Neurenberg)
– Royal College of Music (Londen)
– Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow)
– Metropolitan Museum (New York)
– Deutsches Museum (München) and many more museums in Asia, Latin America, Africa – In short: global support
How can you help?
In short, closing-down the Geelvinck Pianola Museum would be a considerable loss for the world of historic musical instruments in general and for the City of Amsterdam in particular. Please support our effort for keeping our Amsterdam premises open for the public by signing the petition!
For more information, please e-mail: info@geelvinck.nl
Geelvinck Music Museums