Compose a Museum

 In her travels, Tomoko has visited several museums: Tokyo museums, the Palais Museum in Paris, a Medici house museum in Florence, and Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg, to name a few. She has even performed in museums such as the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Of special note for her are museums about composers. In fact, when she travels she takes opportunities to play on historic pianos for herself, such as performing Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude on his piano within the Chopin Museum in Majorca, Spain. 

Here are some fascinating museums of piano composers whom Tomoko likes.

The Composers Quarter in Hamburg consists of six museums, each of which features one or more classical composers who lived in the areas. Each museum is housed in a restored historical building, and each museum contains a multimedia collection of the composer's works and life. See the list and details of each museum at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composers_Quarter_Hamburg

The Museum of the Johann Strauss Dynasty in Vienna has collected artifacts of Strauss gnerations, from the “Biedermeier” era to the 1880s. The museum includes fourteen themed areas, which are accompanied by related audio music. See more at http://www.strauss-museum.at

Speaking of musical families, the Bach Museum in Leipzig honors this family of musicians. Bach's organ and a violin from his orchestra are seen here – as well as many other family artifacts. The museum is interactive and offers summer concerts. See details at https://www.bachmuseumleipzig.de/en/bach-museum

Also located ins Leipzig is Schumann-Haus: the restored home of Clara and Robert in their first years of marriage. Visitors can experience how the couple lived and entertained, and the museum's sound garden provides interactive fun. See more at https://schumannhaus.rahn.network/en/museum/

A third composer's museum in Leipzig is Felix Mendelssohn's home. Visitors can see illustrated letters and music sheets as well as Mendelssohn's own watercolor efforts. The museum also includes a salon where morning concerts are held. See details at https://www.mendelssohn-stiftung.de/de/

The Beethoven House in Bonn features his life and work, and is located in Beethoven's birthplace. It includes a research center and a chamber music hall, and its garden showcases several busts of Beethoven. The museum was opened for the first time in 1893 during the second chamber music festival in the area. Now it includes digital collections for visitors to examine. See details at https://www.beethoven.de/

Handel's childhood home in London now holds exhibits about him. It even contains a miniature baroque theater stage that shows a virtual Handel performing “live.” See information about the museum, which also houses Hendrix, at https://handelhendrix.org/

Preserving the works and artifacts of classical piano composers keeps them alive and enables generations to experience them almost first hand. 

Tomoko's Musical World of Vienna

Tomoko has traveled several times to Europe, and one of her special cities is Vienna. No wonder – with its musical history. For instance, Tomoko visited Beethoven’s house in Vienna, which was made into a museum. 

Vienna is sometimes called the capital of classical music, largely because it was the hub of 19^th century musical composition and performance. Music was a booming industry then, attracting such luminaries as Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Strauss, and Berg. 

Several of Tomoko's favorite composers, teachers and performers were connected with Vienna.

Mozart spent much of his life in Vienna, starting with an invitation for him to play a concert at the Habsburg family Schonbrunn Palace.

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. He lived several years in Vienna, and was largely influenced by the Viennese classical tradition of Mozart and Haydn. 

Finnish composer Jean Sibelius fantasized studying in Vienna under Brahms or Bruckner. Both of them rejected Sibelius, but he was able to study informally in Vienna and networked with musicians in the city. Sibelius wrote to his family: “Vienna is all laughter and waltzes.”

Tomoko studied under Adolph Baller, and she earned money as a page-turner for him when she was a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Baller was sent at age eight to Vienna to study the piano; he debuted with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at age thirteen.

One of Tomoko’s earliest musical inspirations was pianist Lili Kraus. Tomoko collected her LPs as a youngster, and crossed paths with Lili several times. In her early career, Lili was a professional performer and professor at the Vienna Academy. She also met and married Austrian philosopher Otto Mandl in Vienna.

Vienna continues to hum with music, offering a wide range of music: from classical to progressive jazz and rock concerts. Although Tomoko doesn’t travel abroad much now, her mental memories of Vienna still roam in her mind.