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Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post from Senior Cataloging Specialist Sharon McKinley. Ah, Bastille Day! It’s a holiday that has such a nice, dramatic ring to it. It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. And for some reason, über-French though it may …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Holidays, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Last night I watched the host of Animal Planet’s River Monsters spend three hours trying to land a giant freshwater stingray. And I wondered, what might we have in the Music Divisions coffers that conveys such adventure and derring-do? I had to look no further than the Federal Theater Project collection, subject of the exhibit …
Posted in: Holidays, Pic of the Week, Special Collections, Theater
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Music Division Contract Archivist Janet McKinney. As millions of Americans get ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and commence the wearing of the green (because “everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day”), it is easy to forget there was once a time in this country when no Irish …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Holidays, Sheet Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
In recognition of President’s Day, I thought I would join NPR’s classical music blog, Deceptive Cadence, in highlighting the newly recorded choral cycle, Mr. President, commissioned in 2004 by Judith Clurman (renowned choral conductor and NPR’s Artist in Residence for the month of February). The cycle consists of 13 choral settings of quotations from various …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
It’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air! As this blog has revealed to us over the last 14 months, the Music Division holds a plethora of materials in its collections including manuscript scores, correspondence, business papers, iconography, and yes – even love letters. There’s not a romance in the history of classical composers …
Posted in: Composers, Holidays, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
The Music Division wishes you a happy New Year’s Eve. If you find your midnight kiss watched over by the winking satellite pictured in “Under the Midnight Moon,” from the Historic Sheet Music Collection, 1800-1922 in the Performing Arts Encylcopedia – please, call a cab. Celebrate New Year’s Day with the Bernsteins with this holiday greeting …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The first time I read Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 poem “The Bells,” I thought it was unusually upbeat for a work by the master of the macabre. But upon further reading, those clamorous consonants, that constant clanging, the “time, time, time,” and “tinkle, tinkle, tinkle” are entirely in line with the likes of “The Telltale …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Contract Archivist Janet McKinney. At a time of year when the airwaves are saturated with holiday music, I continually hear the strains of one man’s iconic songs stand out from the rest – those of Irving Berlin (1888-1989). It occurred to me that many may not associate these …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Holidays, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse wishes you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving. Between mashed potatoes and halftime, the musically inclined among our readership may wish to celebrate the day in song with Geo. W. Morgan’s’ “National Thanksgiving Hymn,” dedicated to then President Rutherford B. Hayes. After dinner, take an invigorating constitutional to work off that second …
Posted in: Holidays, Sheet Music, Special Collections