EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Hatchlands, a property of the National Trust, stands in a handsome, wooded park, landscaped by Humphrey Repton, and is just 23 miles from London. Splendid rooms designed c. 1758 by Robert Adam are furnished with the Cobbe Collection of Old Master paintings and composer instruments.

Alec Cobbe formed the collection of some 50 historic keyboard instruments during the last forty years, his purpose being to assemble instruments by makers who were highly regarded or patronised by composers. Eighteen of the instruments were actually owned or played by some of the greatest creators of classical music, such as Henry Purcell, Johann Christian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Fryderik Chopin, Franz Liszt, Georges Bizet, Gustav Mahler and Edward Elgar - the largest group of such composer-related instruments to be seen in one place anywhere in the world.

The instruments are maintained in playing condition and are used for concerts. In 1997 they were given to the Cobbe Collection Trust, a charity which aims to enable musicians and audiences to hear music sounding as nearly as possible to what the composers themselves would have heard."

Category: Museums/Libraries/Collections/Institutes

Added on: Feb 02, 2008 | Hits: 550