Sheet music

Sheet music for the full range of musical genres, from classical, jazz, rock, and soul, to variety, traditional French chanson, and film and world music, is available to the public in a number of forms:

– learners’ manuals for music
– scores for instruments or voice
– chamber music, piano-vocal scores, miniature and study scores
– arrangements, tablatures, standards
– performance materials (scores) for orchestras and choirs

The collection is intended for a broad public of musicians and music lovers, and can be borrowed for home use. The collection is being enriched constantly through new acquisitions. A large part of the items are open access  and can be had directly from the shelf.

Multimedia and musical documentation

Some of our scores come with a CD, CD-Rom or DVD. They include theoretical and pedagogical works, scores that allow you to play along with the audio accompaniment, and a few music software and music-publishing programs. Music publications, encyclopedias, dictionaries and electronic resources are also available in the reading room.

Heritage collections

The historical core making up the heritage collections of La Musicale comes from the collections of the former Théâtre de la Ville, which became Geneva’s Grand Théâtre in 1879. Amassed in stages throughout the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, these collections feature a diverse range of items:

– orchestral parts for lyrical works
– librettos for opera and dramatic works
– archives involving the workings of the theater
– handwritten scores of vaudeville songs and shows
– scores published in the 18th and 19th centuries
– programs and posters.

More recently, the collection that revolves around the activities of Radio-Genève also evokes the memory of Geneva in the 20th century. It includes the manuscripts of music written by Genevan musicians. These documents are truly unique.

A colorful counterpart to the posters of the Grand Théâtre, which date from long ago, the collection of music posters has continued to grow regularly since 1960, adding to the Swiss poster collection. Besides a range of documents connected with Geneva’s musical life, the show and concert programs boast two comprehensive collections, from Victoria Hall, going back to 1894, and the Grand Théâtre, going back to 1879.

The Manual of Swiss historic book collections describes documents published before 1900 that are conserved in La Musicale.

Some documents have been digitized and are accessible online in the Rero Doc digital library.
These documents may also be consulted by request in the reading room.