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Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Music Cataloger Laura Yust, who recently researched composer Johanna Beyer in a seminar about American Modernist composers. Laura is pursuing her M.A. in Musicology at The Catholic University of America. Many people know of the composer Henry Cowell and his innovative compositions, but the name Johanna Magdalena Beyer …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
It’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air! As this blog has revealed to us over the last 14 months, the Music Division holds a plethora of materials in its collections including manuscript scores, correspondence, business papers, iconography, and yes – even love letters. There’s not a romance in the history of classical composers …
Posted in: Composers, Holidays, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Senior Music Specialist Ray White. Victor Herbert’s 152nd birthday is this month. If you recognize his name, you might recall that he composed operettas. Perhaps Babes in Toyland comes to mind. Its best-known number, “Toyland, Toyland, little girl and boy land…,” recorded by Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, the …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Guest bloggers, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Music Specialist Steve Soderberg. “As an undergraduate at the University of Iowa in the mid-sixties, I met Milton Babbitt for the first time. I’m using “met” here in a special, private sense, since what literally happened was that I, and at least a hundred others, saw and heard …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Music Reference Specialist Lisa Shiota. “It always makes me smile when the Library of Congress asks me to keep my sketches for their collection. When I get through I don’t have any sketches—they’re all rubbed out. I write an awful lot of notes that don’t stay.” ~Walter Piston, …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Music Division Archivist Chris Hartten. Roy Harris spent a lifetime searching for the American in American music. Born in Chandler, Oklahoma on February 12, 1898, Harris was profoundly influenced by American folksongs and poetry as a young student. He studied with Arthur Farwell and Nadia Boulanger during the …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Special Collections