The following post is by Robin Rausch, Senior Music Specialist. If you have ever been a serious student of the piano, you have likely had the pleasure of playing Frédéric Chopin’s music. He wrote almost exclusively for the instrument; his ballades, etudes, mazurkas, nocturnes, polonaises, preludes, scherzos, and waltzes count among the staples of the pianist’s …
“He was our benefactor and inspiration. Even more, he was the Martin Luther King of Music.” Pianist Eubie Blake said this of composer/bandleader James Reese Europe, who was born in Mobile, Alabama on February 22, 1881. Europe’s accomplishments run from the grand “Concert of Negro Music” that he conducted for a 125-man orchestra at Carnegie Hall in …
The holiday weekend may have been last week, but George Washington’s actual birthday is celebrated on February 22 [1]. The Music Division has in its storied coffers a number of ways to celebrate this historic date in song. You may know that George M. Cohan composed Over There and countless other melodies for the Broadway …
We all can’t be Marilyn Monroe cooing a personal birthday greeting to the Commander-in-Chief. But this President’s Day weekend gives all Americans a chance to remember our iconic leaders and take advantage of holiday sales — and gives the Mid-Atlantic States more time to dig out from the record-breaking snowfall that brought the region to …
From Dolly Parton to Django Reinhardt to Robert Burns, the strange bedfellows whose birthdays we have celebrated this past week demonstrate the breadth of the Music Division’s collections. Today’s guest of honor is none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born on this day in 1756. The Performing Arts Encyclopedia features a number of the maestro’s …
There are but a handful of musicians whose innovations changed the way their instrument is played. Among these is guitarist Django Reinhardt, born January 23rd, 1910. Let us remember his centenary with this photo by William P. Gottlieb (whose birthday is January 28th). Listen to Gottlieb talk about Django and this photo session here.
January 19th was the birthday of country music legend Dolly Parton. The Library awarded Parton Living Legend status in 2004. As a longtime fan, I was privileged to be able to attend the Living Legend concert, and furthered my studies in Dollymania a few years later with a a New Year’s Eve pilgrimage to her …
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. Let us celebrate the man, his dream, and our reality. From the Music Division, sing along to “We shall overcome.” On American Memory, read about The Civil Rights Era. Read more about Dr. King on Today in History.
The photographs of William P. Gottlieb (1917-2006 ) are a priceless document of the jazz era in the ’30’s and ’40’s. In the Muse will occasionally highlight selections from this collection. Today we celebrate the birthdays of two legendary jazz drummers. When the Music Division prepared the Gottlieb collection for digitization in the ’90’s, Gottlieb worked …