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By: Pat Padua
The following post is by James Wintle, Reference Specialist. The Music Division of the Library of Congress, in cooperation with the Samuel Barber estate and G. Schirmer, Inc., have created an online exhibition of original manuscripts, correspondence, and performances to commemorate the birth of one of America’s most beloved composers. The web presentation is available …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
Katherine Dunham was an American dancer-choreographer who was best known for incorporating African American, Caribbean, African, and South American movement styles and themes into her ballets. The Katherine Dunham Collection at the Library of Congress consists of moving image materials that document the extraordinary journey of a woman who changed the face of American modern …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
On this date in 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed the Act establishing “The Star Spangled Banner” as the National Anthem of the United States of America. The Library of Congress has in its collections a treasure trove of sheet music (including a Spanish-language edition), song sheets (including two in German), and recordings of “The Star …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
Today, March 3rd, at 2:00 pm in the Whittall Pavillion, adjacent to the Coolidge Auditorium in the Jefferson Building, the Music Division plays host to a forum on Artists and Technology. A presentation by composers Steve Antosca and Roger Reynolds will be moderated by Professor Thomas DeLio from the University of Maryland, College Park. This …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Jennifer Gavin
A bunch of ninth-grade girls got in touch with their favorite radio station, making a song request for a tune by one of their favorite artists. But they couldn’t resist the chance to raise that universal complaint: “Why, why, why, why do you always repeat the same songs?” It could have been from the suburbs …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Pat Padua
“He was our benefactor and inspiration. Even more, he was the Martin Luther King of Music.” Pianist Eubie Blake said this of composer/bandleader James Reese Europe, who was born in Mobile, Alabama on February 22, 1881. Europe’s accomplishments run from the grand “Concert of Negro Music” that he conducted for a 125-man orchestra at Carnegie Hall in …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Jennifer Gavin
Art and science, and sometimes art and politics, mirror each other in times of rapid change. Robert Hughes made that case in his history of modern art – noting it moved from straight representation to pointillism, cubism, and abstraction as science checked off its discoveries of the 20th Century, such as X-rays and the structure …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Pat Padua
If music be the food of love, then the Music Division has enough in the refrigerator to play on for a lifetime and then some. Among the more romantic pieces in the collection is a self-published work by Dayton C. Miller, whose collection of flutes and other instruments is one of the treasures of the Library. …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
We all can’t be Marilyn Monroe cooing a personal birthday greeting to the Commander-in-Chief. But this President’s Day weekend gives all Americans a chance to remember our iconic leaders and take advantage of holiday sales — and gives the Mid-Atlantic States more time to dig out from the record-breaking snowfall that brought the region to …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Pat Padua
This week the Boy Scouts of America turn one hundred years young – and they still look like kids! Earn your merit badge in Music with this piece from The March King: John Philip Sousa on the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. More scout-related material can be found in An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides …
Posted in: In The Muse