the Music Library, a place open to all

Right next to the Studio Cinemas, opposite the conservatory and the discreet faculty of musicology, the Sainte-Marie chapel has housed the collections of the Touraine Musical Library for thirty years. “It looks like a fortified castle,” marvels a kindergarten toddler visiting with his class, seeing the capitals, stained glass windows and frescoes of the neo-Romanesque building, built at the very end of the 19^e century.

A collection that grows every year

Once a gymnasium, the abandoned chapel became the property of the departmental council. Restored, it will be transformed, based on an idea by Jean-Marie Pacqueteau, into a library dedicated to Music, to house collections of books, scores and records from the conservatory, the musicology department and other quite exceptional funds such as those from the legendary Ars Musicae store or that of the late Florilège vocal festival.

Today, more than ever, the library managed by Stéphane Cognon for the Conservatoire, Philippe Canguilhem, director of the musicology department and the librarian Bruno Terrien, brings music to life “in all its universality”.

Impressive figures

Incredible place, where everyone, a music lover, can satisfy their curiosity, their desire for discovery, their thirst for knowledge, their need for a score. “From kindergarteners to musicology students, from amateurs to specialists, everyone is invited to come through” the time of a thesis, a presentation at college or a Wednesday afternoon.

But what treasures does this chapel contain? The figures are impressive: 12,000 works, 47,000 scores, 8,000 CDs. But that’s not all, because the library is alive. It grows every year, at the rate of “planned acquisition projects” by purchasing new scores or theatrical works, in line with the educational needs of the Conservatory, new works to follow current research but also to develop the “youth corner”.

Thousands of documents thus, over time, complete the “monumental collections” great Western composers, but also a remarkable collection of non-European music, jazz, contemporary music… And rub shoulders with some scores from the end of the 18^e century and an edition ofIvanhoe by Rossini with a dedication from the master’s pen. And sometimes, under the vaults, musical and theatrical encounters make music sound, in this place where it is available to all enthusiasts. from “5 to 95 years”.

Touraine Music Library, 2 ter, rue des Ursulines in Tours. Disabled access. Free entry and free loan. Such. 02.47.36.68.80.