Top of page

Category: Special Collections

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

And One for Mahler

Posted by: Cait Miller

It’s July 7 – Gustav Mahler’s 151st birthday! Instead of highlighting manuscripts or correspondence by Mahler, I’d like instead to point out another composer/conductor’s commentary on Mahler, as provided in one of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concert scripts, Who is Gustav Mahler? The script, along with all other scripts for the Young People’s Concert broadcasts, …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Pic of the Week: Birth of the Sax Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

On this date in 1846, Belgian-born Antoine-Joseph “Adolphe”  Sax patented the family of instruments that bear his name.  The saxophone was originally developed in two categories,  an orchestral group and a band or military group, of seven instruments each.  Only a handful of these varieties are in common use today, although composer/musician Anthony Braxton, who …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Pic of the Week: Les Paul Studio Electric 2011 Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the birthday of guitar legend Les Paul with an interactive logo whose strings you can play with your cursor. U. S. doodlers can even record and share their performance.  Les Paul would have been 96 today. Remember his technical innovation and electric musicianship with photos from the William P. Gottlieb Collection in …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Sheet Music of the Week: Cataloger’s Corner Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

The following is a guest post by Senior Cataloging Specialist Sharon McKinley. The average person might think that cataloging is a dull job, but it most certainly isn’t here in the Music Division! Okay, so the umpteenth biography of Justin Bieber may get a bit old, but one of our primary jobs is making the …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Pic of the Week: Riding in Style Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

This weekend Washington hosts the 2011 Seersucker Social, an event where the city’s hipsterati don vintage threads and leisurely tour the town upon vintage bicycles. So if you’re in the Nation’s Capital tomorrow you may happen upon scenes that recall this week’s featured picture, a candid snapshot of composer Aaron Copland with harpist Djina Ostrowska. Visit …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Sheet Music of the Week: American Indian Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

On this day in 1924, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States. In the Muse remembers this day with American Indian Melodies, one of the first publications  by the Wa-Wan Press. Arthur Farwell, who harmonized the traditional melodies,  founded the imprint in 1901 as …