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Category: Musical Instruments

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Concerts from the Library of Congress Announces Fall 2022 Concert Series

Posted by: David Plylar

It feels great to be able to announce the full return of Concerts from the Library of Congress to the Coolidge Auditorium! We have a wonderful series planned for you this year, to be revealed in two parts. You can read the press release for the fall segment here. While we will continue to have …

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A Record-setting Display of Antonio Stradivari Instruments at the Library

Posted by: David Plylar

The following is a guest post by Anne McLean of the Music Division. Library of Congress photographer Shawn Miller captured this stunning shot of ten Stradivari instruments—and the Quartetto di Cremona— during a special “Strad Shoot” in the glorious Great Hall of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building. The occasion was an exciting prelude …

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A Rameaukin of Rameau’s kin

Posted by: David Plylar

On Saturday afternoon the Coolidge Collective (my new name for our dedicated audience) will descend on the Library for a fête du clavecin, served by the great harpsichordist and founder/director of Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset. The program will include a delectable assortment of harpsichord works both familiar and less so, featuring music by François …

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PagaNewni: Composers Rise to the Paganini Challenge–A Paganini Project Update

Posted by: David Plylar

Friday, February 1, 2013. The following is a guest post provided by Peter Sheppard Skærved, who recently appeared at the Library in events dedicated to its Paganini holdings and collection of Cremonese instruments. I am powerfully aware of the constant dialogue between past and present. Working as a violinist equally involved with the discovery of …

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A Miró On Which To Dwell

Posted by: David Plylar

Perhaps the greatest problem with musical warhorses is that in winning the battle for performance time they have triumphed over other works that could have been heard “in-steed.” There are certain works, however, that I do not begrudge their trot to the top; among these is Schubert’s String Quartet in G major, D. 887, the …