Printed Music and Recorded Sound. Brief Summary

Collection Holder:

Department of Printed Music and Recorded Sound

Time Span:

from 16th century onwards:
- domestic items - from 1730 to the present;
- foreign items - from 16th century to the present.

Size:

410 thousand items (for 01.01.2019)
Including:
- over 361 thousand pieces of sheet music;
- about 50 thousand sound recordings.

Range:

The National Library of Russia holds one of the richest collections of sheet music in the country. It includes unique foreign early printed items from the sixteenth century and the first Russian music publications dated back the early eighteenth century and many other rare items. The holdings also contain audio, video and gramophone recordings. Auxiliary books collection includes encyclopedias, reference books, monographs, musical-critical literature, publication of letters and memoirs.
Description of the Collection

Reading Rooms:

Printed Music Room, Piano Practice Room, Music Audio & Video Recordings Room (36, the Fontanka Embankment)

Online Catalogues:

Author/Title Catalogue of Printed Music (1518- ),
General Author/ Title Catalogue of Books in Russian (1725-1998).
If you have not found publications, you can get information about the their availability by phone 272-47-40 and by e-mail: oniz@nlr.ru.

Shelf Marks:

15.6.2.1; 122 / 15; К–4 / 1246; М 250–1 / 248; 4Б/12; М 15а55.2.207

Full-text resources (in Russian):

United Preserved Collection of Audio Recordings of Russian Folk Music
Sheet Music and Audio Recordings
Landmark Literary Works from the NLR collections

Other holdings containing publications of the same type:

The holdings of the Rare Books and Foreign Books contains foreign book editions: theoretical treatises, church chants, pieces of secular instrumental and vocal music. The Rare Books and Russian Books collections include Russian synodal music publications. The Russian Books Department also preserve books with music supplements and songbooks. The Russian Periodicals include magazines with music supplements. The collection of Manuscripts contains autographs, works by famous composers.