Médiathèque Gustav Mahler

Matt's visit, as I've mentioned before, was all about two things: research and food (in that order). And for someone writing a dissertation on the reception of Gustav Mahler's music in the US, there could be no more obvious place to do research in Paris than the Médiathèque Gustav Mahler (MGM). But it turns out that this "médiathèque" (multimedia library) also has a lot to offer someone working on a non-Mahler topic. So I was only too happy to explore MGM's collections with Matt.

Matt was super excited to arrive and twice as sad to leave. MGM has tons of clippings of reviews of Mahler performances from newspapers all over the world. Luckily we managed to photograph most of them, which means Matt can continue his archival research from the comfort of Cambridge!

MGM's rooms are quite a bit nicer than those of any other library I've been to in Paris. It helps that the place is a former apartment in the ritzy 8th arrondissement, just around the corner from Parc Monceau (which ups the ritzy factor immeasurably). They also have open stacks for all their books (not a humongous collection, but completely respectable) and, as you can see, their vinyl and CDs. Wow.

This is the hallway that connects the two "reading rooms." Notice the lovely tile floor and the bust of Mahler in front of the mirror at the end. It's so pleasant to work at MGM, and they have such useful archives, that since Matt left I've actually taken to spending the majority of my time there. Unlike at the Bibliothèque Nationale, MGM makes it possible to: 1) listen to music while looking at a score (printed or manuscript); 2) read newspaper articles off of something other than microfilm (aka hold newspaper clippings in your hand); 3) stay awake thanks to bright (and mostly natural) lighting; 4) do your own photocopying, and for slightly cheaper. They also have some archival materials that the BN doesn't have, which is the main reason I'm spending time there.

The BN has some advantages over MGM (notably providing archival sources for non-20th-century material) but for ambiance and certain requirements of my own project, MGM is the place to be.