The Cologne Musicology Instrument Museum in the network of the Nazi era

Funded by the German Lost Art Foundation

Start: January 2017

Head: Prof. Dr. Federico Spinetti
Involved: Prof. Dr. Ekaterini Kepetzis
Staff member: Patricia Pia Bornus 
 

The Instrument Museum of the Institute of Musicology at the University of Cologne has undergone many historical, university and institutional changes in its more than eighty-year history. Established in 1932 at the instigation of Professor Theodor Kroyer, the first full professor of musicology after the re-founding of the University of Cologne in 1919, the collection grew to over 180 exhibits between 1932 and 1991 - including historical string and wind instruments, non-European instruments and models for teaching purposes. The focus of the collection is on historical and modern keyboard instruments, which make up the largest part of the collection. As part of the project, the history and development of the collection as a tangible historical legacy of the University of Cologne and its Institute of Musicology will be explored. The focus here is on the analysis of acquisitions for the collection during the Nazi era in connection with local, national and international networks, as well as the clarification of unexplained acquisition relationships.

The aim of the project is to work through the historical background of the collection's instruments with particular consideration of the Nazi past and, building on this, to examine micro-political processes in the context of the work of public institutions. The results of the project are to be presented on the centenary of the re-founding of the University of Cologne in 2019.

The Museum of Musical Instruments at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Cologne has undergone numerous historical and institutional transformations. Founded in 1932 by Theodor Kroyer, the first professor of musicology to be appointed after the re-establishment of the University of Cologne in 1919, the collection grew over eighty years - the last acquisition took place in 1991 - now counting more than 180 artefacts, including European string and wind instruments, non-European instruments, and models for teaching purposes. The focus of the collection is on historical and modern keyboard instruments, which constitute the majority of the exhibits. The project aims to study the history and the development of the collection as a tangible heritage of the University and its Institute of Musicology. Its goal is to trace and illuminate the local, national and international networks that have historically enabled the acquisitions for the collection. Particular attention is devoted to uncovering the historical trajectories of the instruments during the Nazi period and to investigating the micro-politics of public institutions in that era. The results of this project will be presented as part of the centennial jubilee of the re-establishment of the University in 2019.

Link to the project on the website of the German Lost Art Foundation.