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Archive: August 2018 (10 Posts)

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“A Plan and a Hope:” Woody Guthrie, Sophie Maslow, and the Many Gifts of Modern Dance

Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer

The following is a guest post from Hallie Chametzky, one of the Music Division’s Fellows from this past summer. Dance Archivist Libby Smigel introduces her.   Meet Hallie Chametzky, a senior in dance at Virginia Commonwealth University. Selected this past summer as a Junior Fellow working on the Martha Graham Legacy Project, Hallie chose to …

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Lester Young’s Birthday and News of a Rare Recording

Posted by: Larry Appelbaum

Today marks the 109th birthday of tenor saxophonist Lester Young, the first so-called modernist instrumental stylist in jazz. His playing and hip, creative use of musician’s jargon is admired for breaking from the prevailing saxophone style of Coleman Hawkins. In his classic recordings with Count Basie’s Orchestra, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and others, he demonstrated …

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An Exciting Ride: Gower Champion’s Carnival! Legacy

Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld

The following is a second guest post from Stephanie Ruozzo, a doctoral candidate in musicology at Case Western Reserve University. As a summer CWRU Fellow in the Music Division, Stephanie organized the additions to the papers already held in the Marge Champion Collection. For this post, Stephanie highlights the variety and extent of documentation of …

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Announcing the 2018-2019 Season of Concerts from the Library of Congress

Posted by: David Plylar

Concerts from the Library of Congress is pleased to announce the 2018-2019 season, filled with an astonishing roster of artists and speakers. Building on the world-class chamber music you love to hear in the Coolidge Auditorium—which this year includes the Emerson Quartet with David Finckel, the Brentano Quartet with Hsin-Yun Huang and the Tetzlaff-Tetzlaff-Vogt Trio, …

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Rediscovering the Early Works of Brian De Palma through the John Herbert McDowell Papers

Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld

The following is a guest post from Kelli Minelli, one of the Music Division’s summer Fellows from Case Western Reserve University’s graduate program in musicology. Dance Specialist Libby Smigel introduces her:  I’ve been delighted to have Kelli Minelli assisting the Music Division in identifying the scores and sketches found in the John Herbert McDowell Papers. …

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Happy Birthday Abbey!

Posted by: Larry Appelbaum

Today marks the birthday of singer, songwriter, actress, and political activist Abbey Lincoln (Anna Marie Wooldridge August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010). One of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday, she made her breakthrough in 1956 with her first recording, Abbey Lincoln’s Affair, and her appearance in the film The Girl Can’t Help It. Though she …

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Discovering a “lost” clarinetist in the Stravinsky/Craft Collection

Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld

This is a guest post by Stephanie Akau, who just completed a 2018 Library of Congress Junior Fellowship. She is working towards a Master of Library and Information Science degree at San José State University and will graduate in May 2019. She is currently a library information specialist at the University of New Mexico. She …