No other musical genre permeates society quite as deeply as brass band music. Tyrol has more brass bands than it does municipalities; they are the cornerstones of the social fabric, foster a sense of identity and help shape the region’s public image. For many people in the region, playing in these ensembles is their first and most formative encounter with music.
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Ways to play
What brass band music can be- 26.9.2025 - 6.7.2026
© Maria Kirchner
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to image ‘Ways of Playing’_Visitors©MariaKirchner Link to image Link
to image ‘Längenfeld Brass Band’_1929 Link to image Link
to image ‘Spielweisen’_display cases © Maria Kirchner Link to image Link
to image Portrait_Johann Gaensbacher Link to image Link
to image Tyrolean State Shooting Competition_1944 Link to image Link
to image Spielweisen_Photo Station©MariaKirchner Link to image
To mark the centenary of the ‘Tyrolean Brass Band Association’, the exhibition ‘Spielweisen’ explores when and why brass band music came to hold such a prominent place. This in-depth look at its history is fascinating: its beginnings were modest, and what is now regarded as a defining feature of Tyrolean identity and ‘typically Tyrolean’ has roots that extend, amongst other places, to the Ottoman Empire and Bohemia. The Ferdinandeum’s music collection contains a wealth of fascinating, largely unpublished sources on the early history and development of brass band music, as well as a large number of instruments.
The exhibition also takes a critical look at and questions the military roots of brass band music, which remain fundamental to the day, as well as its close relationship with politics and its co-optation by totalitarian systems.
Naturally, the exhibition also explores the origins of the brass band association – the idea of bringing bands together into associations originated in Tyrol, and the ‘Unterinntaler Musikbund’, founded in 1903, is, in a sense, the forerunner of all such associations. A look at the present and future of the phenomenon known as ‘Tyrolean brass band music’ rounds off the exhibition.