Articoli

The long musical and theatrical tradition established in Trieste, especially since the eighteenth century, is narrated by the collections of this museum specialising in the performing arts. Founded around the first nucleus of collections donated by Carlo Schmidl, a Trieste publisher and music merchant of Hungarian origin, the museum changed locations several times until its final location in Palazzo Gopcevich. The sumptuous building along the Grand Canal offers ample space for a heterogeneous collection, including a significant section of musical instruments, a faithful reconstruction of the workshop of the Trieste luthier Francesco Zapelli, as well as a rich library and media archive. Carlo Schmidl is known for having published the Universal Musicians Dictionary in 1887, a fundamental resource for knowledge of the state of the art of music in the second half of the nineteenth century.