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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
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
This final post in a series of three on musical vacations heads to the beach for sun, surf, and shellfish.
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Holidays, Musical Theater, Newly Cataloged, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
Part one of this three part travel series takes - through music - a road trip out west to Death Valley, Lassen Peak, Yellowstone, and Lake Louise.
Posted in: Composers, Copyright Deposits, Holidays, Newly Cataloged, Sheet Music, Sound recordings, Special Collections
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
When searching for someone to compose a pianoforte arrangement of their immensely popular comic opera The Mikado, the theatrical duo plucked a young former shoemaker from Lynn, Massachusetts.
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
The concluding part of this two-part survey of music and disease looks at examples that arose from pandemics in the 19th and 20th centuries, including: works by Stephen Foster and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel written in the wake of a series of cholera outbreaks, and the sometimes curiously lighthearted musical response to the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Posted in: Composers, Copyright Deposits, Guest bloggers, Newly Cataloged, Sacred music, Sheet Music, World War I
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
Shares the history of baseball legend Addie Joss and the song "When the Naps are Playing Baseball."
Posted in: Baseball, Copyright Deposits, Guest bloggers, Sheet Music
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
Takes an inside look at Disney scores in the Music Division of the Library of Congress to share the fascinating story of unused songs from the 1950 animated film Cinderella.
Posted in: Copyright Deposits, Film Music, Guest bloggers, Newly Cataloged, Sheet Music
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
The following is a guest post by Senior Music Specialist (and Red Sox fan) Susan Clermont: If you were asked to name a popular song about baseball, most likely you’d begin singing the chorus to the 1908 hit Take Me Out to the Ball Game, the third most recognized tune in the United States. What …
Posted in: Baseball, Guest bloggers, Newly Cataloged, Sheet Music
Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld
Over the past several months, I’ve been sifting through the thousands of pieces that are part of the silent film music accompaniment anthologies in the Music Division’s collection. These volumes, with titles such as the Capitol Photoplay Series, The Synchronizer Suite, or Sam Fox Photoplay Edition: A Looseleaf Collection of High Class Dramatic and Descriptive …
Posted in: Film Music, Sheet Music