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Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Friday evening at the Library of Congress, our ongoing “Music and the Brain” lecture series will tackle a truly fascinating phenomenon: people whose senses sometimes cross-stimulate, causing them to “hear a color” or “taste a shape.” This phenomenon, known as synesthesia, has been identified in a surprisingly large number of people over the years, including …
Posted by: Matt Raymond
(The following is a guest post by Patricio Padua of the Library’s Collections and Services Division, h/t to Bryan Cornell in the Recorded Sound Reading Room.) Some years ago, a monk decked in an elegant black robe visited the Recorded Sound Reading Room in search of the music of his elders: Coptic Chant, which comes …
Posted in: Collections, LC Web site, Music
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
‘Tis the season to be frightened, and the Performing Arts Encyclopedia is full of ghastly tunes for the musical goblins in your life. We start with Jean Schwartz and William Jerome’s “The Ghost that Never Walked.” The team, best-known for the song “Chinatown my Chinatown,” put this 1904 number into the show “Piff! Paff! Pouf!” to tell the …
Posted in: Collections, Music
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
East may be East, and West may be West – but music is universal, and if the music is jazz, it’s even open all night! On Wednesday, Sept. 30 from noon to 1 p.m., Larry Appelbaum, the Library of Congress’ jazz music specialist, will co-anchor “A Russian-American Jazz Summit – Conversations on the American Influence …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Music, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
What is dance? Is it storytelling, using human forms to advance the storyline? Is it movement with music? Is it movement alone? Merce Cunningham, a giant of modern dance, asked these questions and answered them–affirmatively in each case–over seven decades. He died, at age 90, on Sunday in Manhattan. From his introduction to the avant-garde composer …
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Interactivity with one’s television or computer is normal, today. But there was a time–in a day when talking back to the tube would mark you as a bit odd–when families in the United States gathered to interact with their television receivers in a big way: They sang along with Mitch. Between 1961 and 1965, many …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, Music, Preservation, Video
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
The Library of Congress has released the 25 recordings selected this year to be preserved for all time as part of the National Recording Registry. They range from the old and classical (violinist Jascha Heifetz’ recordings for Victor Records early in the last century) to more recent rock (The Who, singing “My Generation”) and from …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, History, Music, Poetry, Preservation
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Ninety-six years ago today, a riot broke out among audience members witnessing the premiere of a piece that changed classical-music history. The composer, Igor Stravinsky, was horrified; the impresario, Serge Diaghilev, was delighted. Feelings ran high at the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris that night, from the very opening bars of Stravinsky’s ballet “The …
Posted in: Collections, Exhibitions, Music, Today in History
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
It’s not unusual, today, for a song from Broadway or other popular music to be given new lyrics, usually for the purpose of a send-up or satire. So it’s noteworthy that our national anthem — yes, “The Star-Spangled Banner” — actually was an application of more serious lyrics to a tune associated with a drinking …
Posted in: Exhibitions, Music