Visitor- and box address:
Lade Allé 60, 7041 Trondheim

Phone: 73 87 02 80
Fax: 73 87 02 81
E-mail: firmapost@ringve.no

Today Ringve Museum is Norway's national museum of musical instruments with a collection of around 1800 numbers. About 700 of these are so called classical European instruments besides European- and non-European traditional instruments. In addition to this the collection consists of around 25000 sheet music prints, an extensive collection of photographs, a sound archive with pianola rolls, polyphon records, phonograph rolls,and various phonograms.

The museum also owns single archives of people and institutions related to national and local musical life. Ringve Estate was the childhood home of Peter Wessel Tordenskiold (1690- 1720) and this is reflected in an exhibition about him and his era on the Estate.

The Museum's keyboard instrument collection includes an unsigned Italian virginal from around the 1600, a spinet from ca 1700, a large selection of clavichords from the 1700s, a harpsichord by Jacob Kirkman from 1767, hammer pianos signed J.A. Stein 1783 and Conrad Graf 1826 and a harp piano by Chr. Dietz from around 1870. Important instruments from the collection of classic wind instruments are the alto recorder by J.B. Gahn around 1700, a clarinet quartet by Bilton, London around 1840. Other key instruments are string instruments like the violin by H&A Amati 1612, viola d'amore by Eberle, Prag 1755, viola da gamba from the workshop of Tielke, Hamburg around 1700 and electronic instruments like a Subharchord II synthesizer from 1968 etc.

Traditional Norwegian instruments make of course up a large section of the collection and include for example hardanger fiddles from the 17- and 1800s, Norwegian zithers "langeleik" from various parts of the country and a rich selection of instruments used at the mountain farm, for hunting, important ceremonies etc.

All continents of the world are represented with traditional instruments from for example Africa, Latin-America, Oceania and Asia. Amongst these , important collections come from Tibet, India and different countries of Eastern- Europe.

The exhibition has two parts. The Museum in the Manor House has been kept very much like it was when it opened in 1952 by Victoria Bachke. This part can only be visited with one of the museum guides. The well preserved interiors from the 1880s are the setting for a chronological tour of parts of the European classical music history. The various rooms are named after famous composers, and the guide demonstrate a selection of keyboard instruments with music appropriate for that time.

Due to climatic conditions this building is only available during the summer months.

The Museum in the Barn opened in 1999 and presents some of the many various phenomena of music history such as the development of the public musical life through the musical societies, the private music making in the homes of the middle- and upper classes in the 1800s, the introductionof a new era with the invention of the piano 300 years ago, the growth of jazz in the 1920s and-30s and the first decade of rock- and pop music represented for one by a Rock- Ola jukebox from 1948 and a Gibson Les Paul guitar from 1952. Further, the exhibition demonstrates how sound is made, even up to the electronic instruments of today.