1 - Lange Nacht der Museen

VIVA lA musIcA
For a long time it was customary when speaking of
music to mean almost exclusively European classical
music - Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, perhaps also
Palestrina. Even at the beginning of the 20th century
– with the dawning of the modern age – music
from other cultures only entered the picture in the
context of the highly popular »Völkerschauen« (Ethnic
Shows). In 1927 came the well-respected exhibition
»Musik im Leben der Völker« (Music in the Lives of
Other Peoples), in which Far Eastern, Indian and Persian-Arabic
musical traditions were introduced for the
first time – a good place to start...
This Long Night music – both European and non-
European – has arrived in the museums. In the collections
musical instruments, sculptures and pictures
give a lively impression of the musical life of different
epochs and cultures; furthermore a multitude
of musicians are helping to turn the Long Night into
a unique and vast travelling concert. Over 35 choirs
are performing through the night (thanks to the Chorverbund
Berlin for their wonderful cooperation!) and
many instrumental ensembles, as well as tours and
readings on diverse musical themes. A certain high
point will be the midnight sing-along at the the Kulturforum,
when the Berlin conductor Kerstin Behnke
will bring thousands of Long Night visitors together
to create a powerful choir. Yet even with so much
music it remains the Long Night of the Museums. It
has the Kulturforum as its event centre this summer,
where the evening begins with a strike on the beautiful
Gamelan gong, featured on out poster image,
and even on its 29th appearance it still has new participating
venues, the Museum Berggruen and the
Loxx am Alex. The Deutsche Technikmuseum will
be participating again after a relatively long break
and the Humboldt-Box at the Lustgarten enables a
look into the not-so-distant future of the new rebuilt
Stadtschloss (City Palace). With so tradition and so
much to see you’ll be ready to raise your voice as
the evening comes to a close...
Wolf Kühnelt
1