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Posted by: Pat Padua
Iconic tenor Enrico Caruso was born on February 25, 1873 in Naples, Italy. Over a career spanning 25 years, he performed at the world’s great opera houses, including nearly 900 appearances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera alone. In this age of the mp3 we take recorded music for granted, but Caruso was one of …
Posted in: Birthdays, Musicians, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
Known as the Texas Troubador, Ernest Tubb was born on February 9, 1914 in Ellis County, Texas. His best known song is probably “Walking the floor over you,” but owing to my heritage I am partial to “My Filipino baby.” In September 1947, Tubb led the first Grand Ole Opry in New York’s Carnegie Hall, …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Musicians, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Daniel Walshaw, Music Division. The Music Division is home to the Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection. Danny Kaye turned ninety-nine yesterday. While normally that would not warrant more than the usual nod to a performing genius, something about the rhythmical nature of the number “ninety-nine” makes me think of …
Posted in: Birthdays, Guest bloggers, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
Today we remember the birthday of one of bebop’s pioneers, captured in a classic portrait by photographer William P. Gottlieb. Drummer Max Roach was born on January 10, 1924 in North Carolina. He was not only a pioneer of the new form but was active in the Civil Rights movement with his We Insist! Max …
Posted in: Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse has been under the weather lately, and would have otherwise paid timely homage to one of the twentieth century’s greatest entertainers. Francis Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on December 12, 1915. His long and storied career invited imitation …
Posted in: Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week’s featured sheet music honors one of the great voices of American literature. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born on this day in 1835, two weeks after Halley’s Comet made its closest approach to the Sun. Celebrate the author’s birthday with the “Mark Twain mazurka” and the …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post from Senior Reference Specialist Kevin LaVine. Please note that tickets are still available for events in our Franz Liszt Bicentennial Project, with concerts in the Coolidge Auditorium from October 19-November 5. Please visit our Concert page for information on specific events. For some events, tickets may be reserved …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Concerts and Events, Guest bloggers
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post from Music Division Contract Archivist Janet McKinney. Can you imagine us years from today, Sharing a park bench quietly? How terribly strange to be seventy… Old friends Seventy years ago today on October 13, 1941, Paul Simon was born. Three weeks later, Arthur Garfunkel was born on November 5th. …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Pic of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week’s featured sheet music celebrates one of the pioneers of cinema. The aptly named Louis Lumière was born on this day in 1864. In 1895 Louis and his brother Auguste patented the cinématographe, a device that worked as a film camera, developer and projector. This was in contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, first demonstrated in 1891, …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections