Audio Library

Audio Library services:

Listening to recordings in the Audio Library’s study room 

Researchers can listen to digitised recordings in standard (mp3) format on their PC. Recordings are to be used for study purposes only and cannot be copied or borrowed for use outside the library. We recommend making a reservation in advance, without which it is impossible to guarantee available space in the library.

Audio Library loans 

A selected part of the collection (CD recordings only) can be borrowed and removed for use off the premises of the Theatre Institute. CDs and LPs can be borrowed during the opening hours of the Theatre Institute’s Library and loans are subject to the same Library Rules as other borrowed materials.

The Audio Library Collection 

The collection contains recordings that were part of the Theatre Institute’s original music collection, along with new acquisitions and gifts that have since been added.

The original collection comprises phonographic records with recordings of the spoken word, melodramas, operas, operettas, and ballets in various rpi formats – 78, 33, 45, and 16. All newer recordings are in CD and MC format. Most of the recordings have a Czech connection – i.e. they are by Czech artists or involve Czech work or artists. The collection includes recordings of operas, operettas, musicals, music for stage and radio productions, profiles of actors, and commemorative programmes. The collection also includes recordings of operas by the National Theatre in Prague (Národní divadlo) and the State Opera in Prague.