The greatness of art is most clearly revealed in music.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe

The International Music Day, a worldwide celebration of music art, as well as a holiday for all musicians, musicologists, concert hall staff and teachers is marked in the very beginning of October. Although music has accompanied people's lives for centuries, the holiday in its honour was established relatively recently – in 1973, at the 15^th General Assembly in Lausanne on the initiative of the International Music Council under UNESCO. However, it was not until two years later that the world celebrated Music Day for the first time – shortly after the Council President Yehudi Menuhin and his deputy, Boris Jarustovskij, presented specific proposals to the Assembly on November 30, 1974, concerning the activities to commemorate the holiday and formulated its main objectives.

Another initiator of the establishing the Day of Music was composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who in 1973, addressed a letter to the United Nations with the proposal to establish this holiday. Shostakovich believed that music would help different peoples find mutual understanding and unite nations, which is in line with the ideas of Menuhin and Jarustovskij.

Since 1975, International Music Day has become an official holiday, and over time it has developed its own traditions. Thus, in the beginning of October, concerts, festivals, creative events, exhibitions and meetings with people directly related to the holiday – composers, singers and musicians, are held all over the world. The festive events feature works that have become the heritage of world music culture. Numerous competitions for young performers and composers are dedicated to Music Day.

This year Russia marks the 50th anniversary of the Music Day celebration.

The museum comprehensive collection of mechanical musical instruments and objects, including organs and barrel organs, harmoniums and roller organs, amusing automata and player pianos, recording and playback devices, musical boxes and musical houseware offers you immersion into the world of music and rare sound. The museum website features virtually all types of audio media from the past, including paper music rolls and folded cardboard book-music, pinned wooden barrels and pinned metal cylinders, cardboard discs, the early 20^th century shellac gramophone records and vinyl records. All the diversity of the musical palette can be found in the museum Sound Library.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we rarely think about the things we take for granted. The International Music Day is a wonderful reason to celebrate the event and immerse in the wonderful world of music – beautiful, deep and exciting!

On the cover: Reproducing grand piano “Steinway Welte-Mignon”. Steinway & Sons, M. Welte & Söhne G.m.b.H. Germany, Freiburg. 1922