Conférence de Louis Petitjean - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne

In the second half of the 19th century, musical instrument museums flourished in Europe, in close time intervals: 1864 in Paris, 1877 in Brussels, 1875 in Florence, 1888 in Berlin, 1898 in Copenhagen… At this time and increasingly until the end of the century, with a peak during the decades 1880-1890, the instruments of the “primitive”, “curious” or “exotic” entered the collections, which came from donations from collectors or often from explicit requests for collections addressed to colonial ministries. These museums were privileged places for a first apprehension of musical cultures far from Europe, at a time when Edison’s phonograph – although patented in 1877 – was not yet considered a true musical medium. The curators who sit there orchestrate a veritable ordering of the sound world, in particular by drawing up a universal classification of musical instruments in their museums. With access to distant instruments, they organize concerts there, lend each other objects, sketches, etc. This presentation will attempt to outline the different modes of listening of European imperialism, from colonial contempt to exoticization, which took place in these now little-known museums.