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.
An undeniable musical trend during social distancing right now is the wealth of online music making. In the spirit of music keeping us together while we’re apart, I propose a Spring-Themed Online Music Challenge! Use the sheet music I recommend in this blog post about spring and flowers from the Music Division’s digital collections, make videos, and tag us on social media.
The following is a guest post from Ben West, writer, director, producer, performer, and musical theatre historian. He is currently a curator for the forthcoming Museum of Broadway in Times Square, New York City. He is also currently writing and developing several stage projects including The Show Time! Trilogy, three new documentary musicals about the evolution …
Oh give me the snow, the white wing’d snow That falls from the wint’ry sky That robes the earth in a vest of white, And sparkles and shines as the sun’s rich light, Like a starry arch on high. I love the snow! I love the snow! I love the snow! - John Brown, “I Love …
The following is a guest post from Retired Music Cataloger Sharon McKinley. My fascination with the Library of Congress collections is unbounded. I’m always running across interesting items, seemingly at random. My latest sheet music find: Zouaves. In a search for something else entirely, I found the “Zouave mazourka.” On the cover was a handsome …
With my own wedding approaching later this month, I join the ranks of summer brides with visions of flower arrangements dancing in my head. If there’s one aspect of the occasion that I took most seriously when I began planning the ceremony, it was definitely the music (naturally!). There are the traditional selections, of course: …
