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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
2012-13 Highlights Include the Songs of America project, a John Adams residency, Music in the Civil War mini-series, Woody Guthrie and John Cage centennial celebrations, and lots of new music, public programs, lectures and films! AMERICAN VOICES is the theme for the 2012-2013 concert season (view a detailed pdf here), offering a packed lineup of …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …