A Seborgan musical adventure

As we were wandering around the fun little Principality of Seborga, part of the Italian Rock Villages behind the Riviera dei Fiori, enjoying their Medieval Knights Templar theme everywhere, we came across this amazing little antique musical instruments museum. 

The door was open (most everything else didn't seem particularly animated the day we were there), the entry was free, so we checked it out.

What an amazing treasure trove we discovered!  Perhaps you'll also enjoy some of the highlights I captured.

Museo Strumenti Musicali

There wasn't any kind of fancy sign for this place, just this poster on the door.  It looks like a flyer that can fold up, but we didn't see anything available to take home with us.  According to the info, in Italian, there are 135 instruments from the years 1744-1930, but they've obviously added a few since then.  In fact, they were in the process of adding more while we were there, we had to be careful not to trip all over them on the floor!  A native of Seborga collected all these instruments for over 50 years, and in 2008 he gave them all to his birthplace so that others could also enjoy them. 

Doc Leo was in seventh heaven, very appreciative of this gesture.  As he walked around, he kept remarking how much he'd love to bring his son there, hoping he'd also enjoy it all just as much.  Perhaps one day that will be possible, as Seborga is an easy day trip away from home.

The Doc like a kid in a candy store

Wire recorder

One of the first things that caught the Doc's attention was some weird item that didn't mean anything to me, so I didn't understand what he was so excited about.  But seeing this thing totally transported him back to his childhood, and I guarantee you that his interest in such toys has never abated!  If there ever was a born engineer, he completely fits the bill.

Turns out it's called a wire recorder, which had its heyday from the end of WWII through the mid-50's, when better technology, the tape recorder many of us grew up with, was developed.  His uncle came across one of these and gave it to his nephew who was around ten at the time, when his lifelong love of electronics was developing.  What he had was almost identical to this model on the other side of the world half a century later.

My three kids:  Keyboard, string, wind

Our kids grew up very involved in an active music studio, all playing portable instruments, and our summer vacations usually involved traveling around the US to national competitions.  The studio's primary instrument was the accordion, which was not a common childhood instrument at the time.  So our oldest ended up playing one for over ten years and was part of an accordion symphony orchestra. 

The keyboard became popular just as our second was ready for lessons, and our youngest did the guitar.  When their school started a band program, we added clarinet, sax, flute, and oboe to the collection.  We did not have at home the drum set or tuba our son played with, however!

So when I came across this particular display, my Mom sentiments kicked in, and I was transported back to my own life of chauffeuring my offspring all over the place for lessons or performances or competitions involving similar instruments.  It was those same emotions that drew me to the little sculpture at the top of this page that they just had sitting on top of something when I walked in the door.

Isn't it funny how two people who've shared almost half a century of life together can have such different emotions visiting the same place at the same time?

Lampaphone

Side view of a Lampaphone

I tried to photograph a number of the really unusual items we saw, assuming if they interested me they might interest a number of you.  I have no idea what some of these do or their significance in history, it was all just fun to look at.  Including this lampshade affair.

Italian, from 1914

Russian, and as old as I am!

Naturally, this accordion collection caught my attention.  They had quite a few, these were some of what I found more interesting or that my camera managed to capture.

Marked Dachau 1943

Marked Auschwitz 1940

I can only assume that the left one marked Dachau 1943 and the right one labeled Auschwitz 1940 were recovered from those places, as neither were German brand names.  Rather sobering to imagine what their histories must have involved.

Born in France

If only Diggle could practice on this

Having just visited our son in Paris, who has treated himself to a really nice modern keyboard (he was the only one who did not do keyboards as a child), this particular entry also caught my attention.  While the date has to be wrong, as Alexandre Père (father) wasn't yet born in 1800, it's still from sometime in the 1800's.  What impressed me was that it was born in Paris, as was our own keyboard concert virtuoso also born in Paris!  I could just imagine him sitting at this one tinkling the ivories.

I found these mutants really fun to look at. If you understand these instruments, I can imagine your eagerness to get your hands on one.  Imagine a violin amplified by a horn instead of the typical wooden box.

Melophone from Paris, 1840

Stroh violin 1900

Odd brass instruments

German Silent Night disk

Pretty player with multiple disks

Aren't these not-so-compact disc music boxes pretty?  They were popular around the turn of the century (not this last one, for you younger generation).  The methods of playing recorded music has definitely changed over the past century, yet not by quite so much (disregarding downloaded tunes played on the computer, they all mostly involved a round disc being processed one way or another to create sound.)

A cylinder container

An Edison phonograph on the other side of the world

While most objects were of some kind of European origin, it was fun for this American to see that our own Edison managed to make it across the ocean to be included here, too.  His cylinder phonograph, also turn of the century era, as well as several wax cylinders were nicely represented.

I hope you've enjoyed this blast from the past tucked away in a tiny little almost Italian village, as it was definitely fun sharing it with you.  I've really only scratched the surface of what was presented; unfortunately the labeling, in Italian, wasn't very complete or understandable for this non-Italian speaker.