Exhibition curated by Barbara Lambert.
Rare books on the history, design, and use of musical instruments collected by Frederick R. (Eric) Selch (1930-2000) will be on view in this traveling loan exhibition. In addition to collecting musical instruments, art, and books, Eric Selch was a musician and scholar of American music. Taking Sebastianus Virdung's Musica getustscht, published in 1511, as the foundation work of organology, the study of musical instruments, the exhibition includes handbooks, treatises, dictionaries, histories, and instruction manuals for making and playing instruments. Often profusely illustrated, these works are magnificent sources for studying the technological, social, and cultural contexts in which music is composed and performed.