The following is a guest post from Music Reference Specialist James Wintle. There is many an old familiar song running through the collective memory of the Western world that will occasionally cause one to sit back with a puzzled look and wonder: “Do I actually understand what I’m saying right now?” Foremost among these is …
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 …
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 …
The following is a guest post from Music Reference Specialist Paul Allen Sommerfeld. The contents of Paganini’s famed ravioli recipe are well known, but few people seem to attempt making it. So to get a sense of what Paganini might have himself eaten after a long day of performing—perhaps providing a sense of home while …
The following is a guest post from Dr. Daniel Callahan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Music at Boston College, who will be presenting the Spring 2018 American Musicological Society/Library of Congress lecture on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 (tomorrow). The event is free and open to the public. Dear Bradley Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal, …
The following is a guest post from retired Music Cataloger Sharon McKinley. The Library of Congress recently made the James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Papers available online. It’s a fascinating treasure-trove of documents, including a wonderful series of letters between Buchanan and his niece and ward Harriet Lane (later Johnston), who served as the …
The Music Division of the Library of Congress is home to over 500 named special collections – that is, the personal papers of significant figures and companies ranging from composers, to musicians, to costume designers, to choreographers, to publishers and beyond. You can see an alphabetical listing of our special collections online that includes links …