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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 …
Posted in: Composers, Concerts and Events, Musical Instruments, Musicians
Posted by: David Plylar
Patrons of Concerts from the Library of Congress are in for a special treat on Saturday, March 2 at 2:00 p.m. in the Coolidge Auditorium. British pianist Paul Lewis will be performing two of Schubert’s last piano sonatas, composed in the months before his untimely death. Lewis, who has spent the greater portion of the …
Posted in: Composers, Concerts and Events, Musical Instruments, Musicians, Special Collections
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 …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Musical Instruments, Musicians, Special Collections, Webcasts
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 …
Posted in: Composers, Concerts and Events, Musical Instruments
Posted by: Pat Padua
The third annual Washington Tweed Ride (the autumnal iteration of the Seersucker Social, which we mentioned in the late spring) is upon us again, in which local hipsterati don their finest and pedal vintage bicycles around our increasingly bike-friendly town. In honor of the dapper velocipedists primed to pedal among the hills of our great …
Posted in: Musical Instruments, Pic of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Thanks to Sharon McKinley, Senior Cataloging Specialist, for conducting these interviews with Carolyn Turner and Rachel Weiss, two of this summer’s crop of interns. What made you want to do a volunteer internship at the Library of Congress? Carolyn: My older sister Jessica was a Junior Fellow when I was twelve years old and she …
Posted in: Interviews, Musical Instruments, Special Collections, Staff Interviews
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 …
Posted in: Jazz, Musical Instruments, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Today the blogosphere celebrates National Puppy Day. In the Muse throws their august paw into the ring with this unusual whistle made by an unknown crafstman. According to the item’s description, “the dog’s neck contains a threaded hole indicating this was a handle for something, possibly a small walking cane.” We do not know if …
Posted in: Musical Instruments, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
The Strads. They make string players salivate, and everyone knows the name to be synonymous with excellence. But how much do you really know about these pristine creatures of sound? Let’s start with the name – “Stradivarius”. Many are at least familiar with the fact that these string instruments were created by the famous violin …
Posted in: Concerts and Events, Musical Instruments