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Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Sharon McKinley, Senior Music Cataloger. The blossoms themselves have been gone for weeks already; it was one of the earliest seasons ever. But the Centennial of the National Cherry Blossom Festival is still going strong, all the way through April 27, and we thought we’d help keep the …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse presumes that the stereotyped Germans pictured in this illustration to Paul Rubens’ composition, “The German cake walk” are simply performing the titular dance. But the action in this scene is potentially ambiguous. Is the mustachioed man running away from an amorous Fraulein, or simply leading her in an impromptu march? Why does …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the days before Skype and IMs, human communication over great distances was transmitted in a charmingly antiquated manner. In this week’s featured Sheet Music, the singer reassures his far away beloved that “I think I’ve found a way/We can spoon each day.” “Shut your eyes and make believe” was transmitted from the pens of …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Next Tuesday the annual DC Elephant Walk comes back to Capitol Hill, and with it comes the circus! Last year In the Muse rose to the occasion with “The Baby Elephant March.” This week we bring you Albert Gumble and Jack Yellen’s “Circus Day in Dixie,” a song once performed by vaudeville star Blossom Seely. …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In Washington, meteorological spring came in like a lamb. In the Muse would like to take this fair-weather opportunity to revisit last week’s bicycle theme with M. Florence’s “Bloomer March,” which if the illustration is to be believed, conveys the fin de siècle pleasures of riding a bicycle while dressed in bloomers. Florence dedicates the …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
The annual World Beard and Mustache Championship is several months away. In the Muse, while personally lacking in competition-level hirsuteness, could not wait that long to share this specimen with its readership. The Music Division’s Civil War Sheet Music Collection contains a number of pieces composed or arranged by C. L. Peticolas, including the “Appomatox …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
We live in an era of internet memes that instantly respond to current events. The music world has had its share of them, and MTV recently published a list of 2011’s Five Best Music Memes. The music video pioneers join the legions who have dismissed one of the year’s most infamous musical newsmakers, Rebecca Black, but …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week the Library of Congress welcomes another endeavor into the blogosphere as our colleagues in the Poetry and Literature Center launch their blog, From the Catbird Seat. We hope to collaborate with them on future posts, but in the meantime, In the Muse would like to direct our readers to some of what we’ve written …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week’s featured sheet music honors one of the great voices of American literature. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born on this day in 1835, two weeks after Halley’s Comet made its closest approach to the Sun. Celebrate the author’s birthday with the “Mark Twain mazurka” and the …
Posted in: Birthdays, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections