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Archive: 2012 (92 Posts)

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Pic(s) of the Week: Bernstein Birthday Edition

Posted by: Cait Miller

Tomorrow, August 25, marks American composer, conductor, and educator Leonard Bernstein’s birthday (he would be 94 years old!). Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was without a doubt one of the most significant and influential musical figures in American history. The Music Division is incredibly fortunate to hold the Leonard Bernstein Collection. One of the most heavily used …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

The Musical Worlds of Victor Herbert

Posted by: Cait Miller

Today we’re excited about the opening of a new exhibit in the Performing Arts Reading Room’s foyer, this one dedicated to the music and legacy of composer Victor Herbert (1859-1924). Herbert was born in Ireland but developed his reputation as a world-class cellist in Germany and later immigrated to the United States in 1886 with …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Remembering Marvin Hamlisch in Our Collections

Posted by: Cait Miller

On Monday we lost a remarkable composer, conductor and entertainer with the passing of Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012). Hamlisch’s legacy is documented in various aspects of the Library’s collections, from sound recordings, to movie footage, to printed music. We hold, among many other items, the published score to his Academy Award-winning film score for The Sting …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Sheet Music of the Week: Curiosity 1901 Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

The intelligent universe has been fascinated with the images coming from Tuesday’s landing of Curiosity, the new Mars rover.  Man’s fascination with celestial objects is as old as civilization itself, and 20th century musical ruminations on the planets range from Holst’s 1916 orchestral suite The Planets to jazz iconoclast Sun Ra’s “Interplanetary Music” on the …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Sheet Music of the Week: Lollapalooza Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “lallapaloosa” as “something outstandingly good of its kind.” The term has its origins in American slang from the turn of the 20th century, but its most popular spelling variation is associated with a music festival of more recent vintage. Music fans converge on Chicago this weekend for the 2012 Lollapalooza. …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Music to Win Gold Medals By

Posted by: Pat Padua

The image of a gentleman with a powdered wig is a far cry from that of today’s young Olympians destined for cereal boxes and  lucrative endorsement contracts. But Italian poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) penned the libretto for a frequently adapted but little remembered opera set in the ancient Olympic games. L’Olimpiade, with a …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Clark Lights Up the Library

Posted by: Pat Padua

The following is a guest post from Music Archivist Chris Hartten. Peggy Clark (1915-1996) lit up the Broadway stage in ways very different from most stars of 20th-century America. Following her 1938 Broadway debut as a costume designer for The Girl from Wyoming, Clark soon established herself as a pioneer of stage lighting and one …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Pics of the Week: Behind the Mask Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

Caped crusaders are not the only ones who don masks as a career choice. A recent show and tell in the Music Division curated by the Music Division’s Elizabeth Aldrich, with Dance Heritage Fellows Nicole Topich and Kirsten Wilkinson, showcased items from special collections in dance.  This mask was used by Armgard von Bardeleben (1940-2012) in …