Editing Victoria and Albert Museum (section)

===Musical instruments===
Musical instruments are classified as furniture by the museum,<ref name=ismene>{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Ismene |title=The V&A is Wrong Far from closing, the musical gallery should be a palace of sensory pleasures |url=http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/va-wrong |publisher=The Arts Desk.com |access-date=14 December 2012 |date=8 February 2010}}</ref> although Asian instruments are held by their relevant departments.<ref>{{cite web |title=Musical instruments in the South and South East Asian collection |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?category[0]=65&collection[0]=11&narrow=1&offset=0&limit=45 |publisher=V&A |access-date=14 December 2012}}</ref>

Among the more important instruments owned by the museum are a violin by [[Antonio Stradivari]] dated 1699, an [[oboe]] that belonged to [[Gioachino Rossini]], and a jewelled [[spinet]] dated 1571 made by Annibale Rossi.<ref>{{cite news |title=Editorial: In praise of&nbsp;... the V&A's instrument collection |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/04/victoria-albert-music-instrument-museum |access-date=14 December 2012 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=4 February 2010}}</ref> The collection also includes a {{circa}} 1570 [[virginal]] said to have belonged to [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Kottick |first=Edward L. |title=A history of the harpsichord |year=2003 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |location=Bloomington, IN |isbn=0-253-34166-3 |page=94}}</ref> and late 19th-century pianos designed by Edward Burne-Jones,<ref>{{cite web |title=Grand piano designed by Edward Burne-Jones |date=3 December 1883 |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O86392/grand-piano-burne-jones-edward/ |publisher=V&A |access-date=14 December 2012}}</ref> and Baillie Scott.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kopf |first=Silas |title=A marquetry odyssey: historical objects and personal work |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ6NOM12sygC&pg=PA163 |publisher=Hudson Hills Press |location=Manchester, VT |year=2008 |edition=1st |page=163 |isbn=978-1-55595-287-7}}</ref>

The Musical Instruments gallery closed on 25 February 2010,<ref name=lords>{{cite web |title=Victoria and Albert Museum: House of Lords |url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-02-25a.316.0 |date=25 February 2010|access-date=14 December 2012}}</ref> a decision that was highly controversial.<ref name=ismene/> An [[online petition]] of over 5,100 names on the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliamentary]] website led to [[Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury|Chris Smith]] asking in Parliament about the future of the collection.<ref name=mps>{{cite web |title=To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received or made in relation to the future of the musical instrument collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. [HL2199] |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldhansrd/text/100316w0006.htm |publisher=www.parliament.uk |access-date=14 December 2012}}</ref> The answer, from [[Bryan Davies, Baron Davies of Oldham|Bryan Davies]], was that the museum intended to preserve and care for the collection and keep it available to the public, with objects being redistributed to the British Galleries, the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries, and the planned new galleries for Furniture and Europe 1600–1800, and that the [[Horniman Museum]] and other institutions were possible candidates for loans of material to ensure that the instruments remained publicly viewable.<ref name=mps/> The Horniman went on to host a joint exhibition with the V&A of musical instruments,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Art of Harmony: The V&A and Horniman Music Collections |url=http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2011/03/18/the-art-of-harmony-the-va-and-horniman-music-collections/ |publisher=Dulwich OnView |access-date=14 December 2012 |first=Bradley|last= Strauchen |author2=Mimi Waitzman |date=18 March 2011}}</ref> and has the loan of 35 instruments from the museum.<ref name=duchen>{{cite web |last=Duchen |first=Jessica |author-link=Jessica Duchen |title=Should Strads be played? |date=27 May 2011 |url=http://jessicamusic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/should-strads-be-played.html |website=jessicamusic.blogspot|access-date=14 December 2012}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:Natural Horn (instrument).JPG|A [[natural horn]]
File:Serpent (musical instrument).JPG|A [[serpent (instrument)|serpent]], an ancestor of the [[tuba]]
</gallery>