Tomorrow, August 25, marks American composer, conductor, and educator Leonard Bernstein’s birthday (he would be 94 years old!). Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was without a doubt one of the most significant and influential musical figures in American history. The Music Division is incredibly fortunate to hold the Leonard Bernstein Collection. One of the most heavily used …
The following is a guest post from Music Archivist Chris Hartten. Laurence Picken (featured at right as our Pic of the Week!) first made his mark in academia as a scientist, but here in the Music Division we remember Picken as an eminent musicologist who spent nearly sixty years studying the musical traditions of East …
Aaron Copland was born 111 years ago yesterday “on a street in Brooklyn that can only be described as drab,” as he wrote in the first sentence of his autobiographical sketch, Composer from Brooklyn (published in the Winter, 1968 issue of ASCAP Today – I’m reading a copy directly from the Copland Collection here in …
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s new documentary, “Prohibition,” aired this week on PBS and I’m sure that many of you have seen it already (if you haven’t caught it on TV yet, you can watch it online here!). In the film, Burns and Novick explore the rise and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to …
Check out a new program that investigates the architecture of and treasures inside the Library of Congress that premieres tonight on C-SPAN at 8:00 p.m. ET (it re-broadcasts at 11:00 p.m.). You can even view a clip of the documentary as well as an extra interview with Librarian of Congress Dr. James Billington here! If …
The following is a guest post from Reader Services Technician Melanie Guitreaux. Today would mark the 100th birthday of Ginger Rogers, a performer who emanated energy and romance and, together with her alluring partner Fred Astaire, struck the film world by storm. The world famous dancing duo dazzled audiences with their spectacular performances …