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Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer
For National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15-October 15, let’s dig in with Library of Congress Music Division commissions. Part 2 of this two-part series includes commissioned composers from Spain, Central America, and South America.
Posted in: Commissions, Composers, Latin American History
Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer
Now that it's National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15-October 15, let's dig in with Music Division commission firsts by country! Part 1 of this two-part series includes commissioned composers from North America and the Caribbean.
Posted in: Commissions, Composers, Latin American History
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Senior Music Specialist Susan Clermont. When she was 40 years of age, Venetian virtuoso singer and gifted composer Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) published her seventh book of musical compositions titled Diporti di Euterpe (The Pleasures of Euterpe) in 1659. Only two complete copies of this imprint are extant today – …
Posted in: Composers, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
One year ago, I published a blog post declaring my excitement about a one-year countdown to Clara Schumann’s 200th birthday and highlighted Schumann’s manuscript cadenzas from the Library’s Whittall Foundation Collection, material that is digitized and available online. Now, finally, Clara’s big day has arrived! 200 years ago, in Leipzig, Germany, Marianne Tromlitz gave birth …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Concerts and Events, Musicians, Women in Music
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
In 2007, the Library presented back-to-back concerts with two quintessential New Orleans pianists Henry Butler and Allen Toussaint. Mr. Toussaint was in the news recently because his legacy studio recordings, long thought lost in the flood from Hurricane Katrina, turned up at a swap meet in Torrance, California. Toussaint wrote, arranged and produced many hits …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Concerts and Events, Interviews, Jazz, Webcasts
Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer
On Friday, August 23, 2019, the music community lost a giant – Mario Davidovsky. Mario Davidovsky’s relationship with the Library of Congress Music Division began with three commissioned works at very different stylistic points in his career, and culminated in placing his papers on deposit in 2013.
Posted in: Commissions, Composers, In Memoriam, Jewish American History, New Music
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
Discusses the story behind two copyright deposit versions of the theme for Star Trek: The Original Series.
Posted in: Composers, Copyright Deposits, Film Music, Guest bloggers
Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer
Saturday, August 17 is National Honey Bee Day – and the Music Division has all the music you need to celebrate the buzz!
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music, Sound recordings
Posted by: Larry Appelbaum
In June of 1996, the Library of Congress presented a “Big Band Bash” at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington DC. Over the course of a weekend, it offered a rare opportunity to present concerts by three important L.A.-based jazz composers and their orchestras: Buddy Collette, Gerald Wilson and Benny Carter. Each composer was offered a …
Posted in: Commissions, Composers, Jazz