The historical resources of the Rennes Conservatoire

The Documentation Centre of the Rennes Conservatoire holds several thousand old scores. The earliest of them, dating back to the late 18th - early 19th century, were listed in 1999 in the Catalogue des fonds musicaux anciens conservés en Bretagne (Catalogue of the old music collections preserved in Brittany). All of these resources are recorded in the catalogue of the libraries of the City of Rennes (see the catalogue).

The section devoted to the 19th and early 20th century includes rare and sometimes unpublished manuscripts by Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray, Marcel, André and Franz Tournier, and others. The Yvonne Dubel collection (Yvonne Dubel was a former student of the Conservatoire), the bulk of which came from a bequest in the late 1950s, includes amongst other items scores annotated in her hand, unpublished manuscripts, some correspondence, and a portrait. In 2023 work on the collections of several local wind and brass bands also revealed previously unknown manuscripts. 

Items from these collections are currently being showcased, notably through work carried out by students and through concert-talks.

Contact : crr-biblio@ville-rennes.fr