Catalogues and repertories

There are a number of catalogues and repetories which can be accessed in the library and/or which contain references for parts of the collection of the library of the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles.


Online catalogue

The online catalogue consists of over 80,000 records. Within these descriptive notes, new acquisitions are described systematically starting from inventory number 80,000.
It is possible to carry out an "advanced search" using different search criteria : by author, title, instruments, type of document. The search manual contains tips and explains the different abbreviations which can be used to make searches in the library's Koha system.


RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales) 

For documents before 1850you can try the International Inventory of Musical sources (RISM), which is an international repertory containing over 1,000,000 catalogue descriptions, available for free online.

According to the RISM, the library of the Conservatoire is the biggest collection of music in Belgium. The international siglum of the library is B-Bc (Belgium, Brussels, Conservatoire).
The catalogue describes over 21,000 documents from the library. This includes nearly 5,000 old editions and over 16,500 manuscripts dating from between 1600 and 1850.


DIAMM (Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music) 

DIAMM is a repertory of almost 4000 musical documents dating from before 1600, also including 13 from the collection of the library of the Conservatoire, dating from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.


Clori - Archivio della Cantata italiana

International collection of Italian cantatas, Clori contains several hundrend cantats which are in the collection of the library of the Conservatoire, and includes a file desribing each work along with the complete literary text.


RIPM - Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (Répertoire international de la Presse Musicale)

This repertory can be consulted in person in the library, and includes the complete text of articles published in musical periodicals between 1760 and 1966.


Catalogue in 4 volumes (1898-1912) of Alfred Wotquenne

Alfred Wotquenne (1867-1939), librarian of the Conservatoire de Bruxelles between 1894 and 1918, published 4 volumes of the Catalogue of library of the Conservatoire royal de musique de Bruxelles, between 1898 and 1912, including the first 16.000 numbers of the inventory of the collection :

Digital Resources for Musicology

The website Digital Resources for Musicology includes numerous links to different projects which could be interesting for musicians and musicologists.