General collection of the Library

Collection

Postal address:: Rue de la Régence 30 / Regentschapsstraat 30, 1000 Bruxelles

Creator/accumulator:: Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles; Koninklijk Muziekconservatorium te Brussel

Scope and content:: This enormous collection mainly contains hand written and printed sheet music, often containing notes. We also find course notes, printed material, literature on composers and authors (including a number of Jewish artists), issues of periodicals (musical and other press), as well as iconographic documents.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) is, with that of Liège, one of the oldest state conservatories in Belgium. The conservatories of Ghent, Antwerp and Mons were created respectively in 1871, 1898 and 1948. In the 1930s the Conservatory of Brussels had nearly 600 students. In 1876 it relocated to the rue de la Régence. In 1966 the Conservatory was divided into two parts, one French-speaking, the other Dutch-speaking, each with its own director, secretariat and administration. (E. Vandewoude, Inventaris van het archief van het Koninklijk Muziekconservatorium te Brussel (1832-1834, 1876-1931), T 297, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 1995.)

Subject terms:: Libraries; Literature; Literature--Writers, poets, and playwrights; Music; Music--Composers; Music--Musicians; Sheet music

Finding aids:: There is a card index; searches can be done by name of the author or composer, or occasionally by subject. There is also an incomplete computer database.