The NCPA Library is a unique resource for Mumbai, as the only Performing Arts library in the city. Membership is open to the general public, giving access to a collection of almost 20,000 books and more than 5,500 recordings which can be heard using our in-house audio equipment.
Books & Periodicals
As well as an extensive collection of books on Music, Dance and Theatre, we cover Film, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography, Television, Fashion and even Magic, dealing with theoretical as well as practical aspects of these subjects.
Our collection include material that sets the arts in their widest context, including sections on Indian history and geography, mythology, folklore and Indian religions, which have all played an important part in the development of India’s rich cultural heritage.
Music & Ethnomusicology
Books on classical music form the core of our collection with a particular focus on Ethnomusicology, which is the library’s special area of research. Allied to this is an important section on Anthropology, featuring books which explore the different tribes of India. Treatises on Indian music published before 1900 are a special feature of our music collections.
Periodicals
We have a strong periodicals section on Indian Arts: we subscribe to 24 publications dealing with subjects across the range of arts. Articles on Dance, Music, Theatre, Film and TV are indexed and form an important part of the NCPA’s research resource.
Listening Room
The library’s Listening Room currently contains 5,622 records, 1,396 cassettes, and 116 CDS covering many styles of music and featuring several collector’s items.
Indian Music Recordings
It features an especially extensive collection of 78 rpm records including the music of master musicians such as Bal Gandharva, Zhohra Bai, Janaki Bai, Malka Jan, Gauhar Jan, Sundara Bai, Lakshmi Bai, Pyara Jan, Rasoolan Bai, Pyara Saheb, Roshanara Begum and Angurbala. Most of these have been transferred to cassettes for the convenience of listeners. We also have a valuable collection of Natya Sangeet, Lavni, Bhav Geets Bhajans, Abhang and comic songs, also available on cassette.
Other Music Recordings
Our non-Indian music recordings range from tribal to avant-garde, including the New World Anthology of American Music; Music Canada; a UNESCO collection of ethnic music; African music; modal music and improvisation and music from the Orient.
Spoken Word
A number of historic speeches by figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Jawaharlal Nehru can also be heard on record.
In addition to the Library’s main catalogue, the NCPA houses the world-famous Stuart-Liff Collection of 6,000 books and 11,000 LPs on Western classical music. This collection was generously donated to the Centre in 2009 by Mr Vivian Liff and is an invaluable source for research by musicologists and students as well as for general music lovers.
The book collection includes the autobiographies or biographies of almost every important Western classical music singer from the 18th century up to the present. Also included are books on composers, opera houses worldwide, recordings and all facets of vocal and instrumental art, covering roughly the same period.
Reference books include the complete 20-volume Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, the 10-volume Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo, the Dictionnaire des Ouvres de l’Art Vocal in 3 volumes, Hugo Riemens Musiklexicon in 2 volumes (plus CD-Rom), and Steiger’s 9 volumes on opera.
There are complete leather bound copies of Musica, La Theatre, L’Art du Theatre and other such periodicals from the early 1900s. English language periodicals include a complete run of the magazine Opera from 1950 to the present, and a set of bound copies of The Musical Times running from the mid-Victorian period to the early years of the 20th century.
A number of musical scores also feature, some of which are signed by their original owners such as Zelie de Lussan and other prima donne of the past.
Stuart-Liff Collection
In addition to the Library’s main catalogue, the NCPA houses the world-famous Stuart-Liff Collection of 6,000 books and 11,000 LPs on Western classical music. This collection was generously donated to the Centre in 2009 by Mr Vivian Liff and is an invaluable source for research by musicologists and students as well as for general music lovers.
The book collection includes the autobiographies or biographies of almost every important Western classical music singer from the 18th century up to the present. Also included are books on composers, opera houses worldwide, recordings and all facets of vocal and instrumental art, covering roughly the same period.
Reference books include the complete 20-volume Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, the 10-volume Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo, the Dictionnaire des Ouvres de l’Art Vocal in 3 volumes, Hugo Riemens Musiklexicon in 2 volumes (plus CD-Rom), and Steiger’s 9 volumes on opera.
There are complete leather bound copies of Musica, La Theatre, L’Art du Theatre and other such periodicals from the early 1900s. English language periodicals include a complete run of the magazine Opera from 1950 to the present, and a set of bound copies of The Musical Times running from the mid-Victorian period to the early years of the 20th century.
A number of musical scores also feature, some of which are signed by their original owners such as Zelie de Lussan and other prima donne of the past.
Theatre Development Centre
The NCPA’s Theatre Development Centre was set up through a series of grants from the Ford Foundation and forms part of the collection of the Library.
The Centre brings together information on almost every aspect of Indian theatre and theatre-related subjects, including 30 issues of the NCPA publication Facts & News.
A Script Bank of unpublished play manuscripts, donated by authors themselves, are a special feature of this collection.
General Information
Information about various aspects of theatre is grouped under four headings: Personalities, Institutions, Productions and Themes.
Publicity materials, audio and video recordings, photographs, designs and plans for sets have been preserved for use by researchers, performers, critics and members of the public who are interested in theatre.
Archival Documentation
The Centre also created its own in-house audio and video recordings to document past and present theatre practices.
A series entitled ‘My life in theatre’ was devoted to documentation of an individual’s total contribution to theatre. It included video recordings of interviews with eminent theatre personalities, such as Durga Khote being interviewed by Vijaya Mehta and P L Deshpande, plus supplementary material gathered from other archival sources.
Another series was devoted to the documentation of theatre practices. For example, soliloquies with or without a song (preceding or following) exemplify a type of practice used particularly in traditional Marathi theatre but which is now going out of vogue. A series of examples on video recorded by well-known artists include Bhalchandra Pendharkar, Sitaram Khaire and Kirti Shiledar.
