Comprehensive and fully illustrated, this catalogue from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston includes technical, musicological and historical essays on all 53 of the museum's keyboard instrument collection. The extensive illustrations include color portraits of the instruments and technical drawings. Also included are a complete bibliography, glossary and a set of indexes, making this book an indispensable research tool for the musical scholar.

This insightful appreciation of musical instruments features more than one hundred extraordinary pieces from the Metropolitan Museum’s collection. Whether created to entertain a royal court, provide personal solace, or aid in rites and rituals, these instruments fully demonstrate music’s universal resonance and the ingenuity various cultures have deployed for musical expression. The results are astoundingly diverse: from Bronze Age cymbals and sistra to violins made by Stradivari, monumental slit drums from Oceania, and iconic twentieth-century American guitars. Stunning new photographs and a lively text reveal these objects to be works of both musical and visual art, as well as marvels of technology and masterpieces of design. Depictions of instruments and music making—paintings, statues, and pottery—further illuminate the narrative, providing a vivid counterpoint to these remarkable objects.