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Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse has regularly featured photographs from the William P. Gottlieb Collection when commemorating the birthdays of jazz greats like Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt, and Ben Webster. But that’s not all that’s in the collection. Today, the observed birthday of William Shakespeare, enjoy this photograph, which originally appeared in Down Beat magazine in 1947 …
Posted in: Birthdays, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona on April 22, 1922. The first instrument he played was the trombone, a sound he always liked – trombonist Jimmy Knepper was one of the defining voices of many a Mingus ensemble. But it was with the bass that Mingus found his voice. Inspired by Ellington bassist Jimmy …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Billie Holiday, one of the great jazz singers, was born April 7, 1915. She recounted her hard life in the autobiography Lady sings the blues, but despite her suffering at the hands of family, a racist society, and her own addictions, despite the smoky, world-weary voice of her later years, the joy her music brought to …
Posted in: African American History, Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
The glorious weather we’re having in Washington gives us much to celebrate in both the secular and spiritual realms. See Easter hymns from the Coptic tradition in Coptic Orthodox Liturgical Chant & Hymnody in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Remember Passover with the Yiddish play, The mother of the world, or, Children come home in The American …
Posted in: Birthdays, Holidays, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Ben Webster, one of the great tenor saxophonists, was born March 27, 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri. Along with bassist Jimmy Blanton, Webster helped form one of the most celebrated incarnations of the Duke Ellington orchestra. From 1940-1942, the Blanton-Webster band recorded such Ellington classics as “Cotton Tail,” “Chelsea Bridge,” and, of course, “Take the ‘A’ …
Posted in: Birthdays, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
His work has been interpreted by everyone from Barbara Streisand to Tim Burton. Lyricist-composer Stephen Sondheim, one of the great voices in American musical theater, was born on March 22, 1930. In 2000, The Library of Congress honored him with a Living Legend award, complete with an all-star 70th birthday concert in the Coolidge Auditorium. …
Posted by: Pat Padua
Baseball season is just around the corner; Johann Sebastian Bach (not to be confused with Canadian heavy-metal singer Sebastian Bach) has just celebrated a birthday; what better time than now to revisit From Bach to Baseball Cards: Preserving the Nation’s Heritage at the Library of Congress. This web presentation looks at some of the problems …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Conservation
Posted by: Pat Padua
Bandleader-accordionist Lawrence Welk was the musical voice of a faraway time in America, before punk rock, hip-hop, and Lady Gaga. The son of German immigrants from the Ukraine, Welk was born in Strasburg, North Dakota on March 11, 1903. The first big break in Welk’s long and storied career came in 1927, when Lawrence Welk …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following post is by James Wintle, Reference Specialist. The Music Division of the Library of Congress, in cooperation with the Samuel Barber estate and G. Schirmer, Inc., have created an online exhibition of original manuscripts, correspondence, and performances to commemorate the birth of one of America’s most beloved composers. The web presentation is available …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Special Collections