Fish Tunes and Tales
Posted by: Morgen Stevens-Garmon
Music Division Archivist Anita M. Weber highlights the summer pastime of fishin' (and singin' about fishin').
Posted in: Composers, Musicians, Sheet Music
Category: Sheet Music
Early Hip-Hop at the Library of Congress
Posted by: Heather Darnell
August 2023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Hip-Hop, said to have begun in 1973 at a little South-Bronx party hosted by DJ Kool Herc. But years before Herc introduced New York to the breakbeat, African-American music and spoken-word traditions had been brewing in the great social unrest of the 60s and 70s to create a …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Copyright Deposits, Musicians, Sheet Music
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
Posted by: Cait Miller
While Walter Kent and Kim Gannon are the only names credited on the original copyright deposit for the Christmas classic, "I'll be home for Christmas," the label on Crosby's recording credits the song to three names: Kent, Gannon, and Buck Ram. Read about the history of the song and its copyright backstory, illustrated in records from the US Copyright Office. Download the original printed sheet music, registered as an unpublished copyright deposit on September 28, 1943.
Posted in: Copyright Deposits, Holidays, Sheet Music
Tasty Summer Treats from the Stacks
Posted by: Morgen Stevens-Garmon
A bite of songs about summertime food from Music Division Archivist Anita M. Weber.
Posted in: Sheet Music
Ethel Smyth and “The March of the Women”
Posted by: Cait Miller
British composer Ethel Smyth's 1911 song "The March of the Women," dedicated to Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women's Social and Political Union, became a suffrage anthem in the United Kingdom and abroad. Learn more about Smyth's involvement with the WSPU and access sheet music from the Library of Congress digital collection "Women's Suffrage in Sheet Music."
Posted in: Sheet Music, Women in Music
By the People: Women’s Suffrage in Sheet Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
The Library of Congress By the People project launched its first campaign to feature sheet music in February 2022. "Women's Suffrage in Sheet Music" features approximately 200 titles created before 1923 either for, about, or against the suffrage movement. Once the campaign is transcribed and approved, researchers will be able to keyword search across all text included in the sheet music, including lyrics.
Posted in: Sheet Music, Women in Music
“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Posted by: Cait Miller
James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is one of the most significant hymns in American history. Read more about the genesis of the song and download sheet music published in 1900 and 1921.
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Sheet Music
New Digital Collections from the Music Division
Posted by: Cait Miller
The Music Division has published three new digital collections, including the Martorell Collection, music manuscripts from the A.P. Schmidt Collection, and Sheet Music of the Musical Theater.
Posted in: Musical Theater, Sheet Music, Special Collections, Women in Music
“A Grand Series of Musical Compositions”: The Curious Case of Nicola Sampieri
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
An obscure composer from the late 18th and early 19th century, Nicola Sampieri self-published most of his music with programmatic titles, intricate engravings, and specific instructions for performance that included both sound effects and visual displays.
Posted in: Composers, Film Music, Sheet Music