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Archive: 2018 (55 Posts)

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A Musical League of Nations: The 1918 Berkshire Festival of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

Posted by: Cait Miller

The following is a guest post from Robin Rausch, Head of Reader Services in the Music Division. For three days in September, in 1918, the musical elite gathered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, for what was billed as the first chamber music festival ever given in America.  It took place September 16-18, two months before the November …

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On Clara Schumann’s 199th Birthday: The Countdown Begins!

Posted by: Cait Miller

Any other Clara Schumann fanatics out there? I’ve been a personal devotee of Clara the composer ever since I first listened in college to Barbara Bonney and Vladimir Ashkenazy’s recording, Robert & Clara Schumann Lieder. I was a Music major and voice student exploring new repertoire for upcoming recitals; while I already loved Robert Schumann’s …

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Finding Jonathan Larson’s Lost Works In Tapes and Boxes…and Turning Them Into a Show

Posted by: Cait Miller

The following is a guest post from Jennifer Ashley Tepper, Creative & Programming Director at Feinstein’s/54 Below and author of The Untold Stories of Broadway book series. She is the producer of the musical Be More Chill and the creator of The Jonathan Larson Project, which will premiere this fall. She is also the historian …

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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, …