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Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Head of Acquisitions & Processing Denise Gallo. Don’t get me wrong – I’m definitely a 21st-century woman. That I’m blogging is proof of that. Yet I frequently find myself in the 19th century. As a musicologist, I rub elbows with Rossini, Verdi, Schumann, and Brahms, but I find …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music of the Week, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
When I first heard about the new French film, Mozart’s Sister, I immediately marked November 4th on my calendar, because Rene Feret’s new film opens at DC’s E Street Cinema today! Feret has made clear that the film is largely fiction, with historical roots in the Mozart family dynamics and women’s status in 18th-century Austrian …
Posted in: Composers, Film Music, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Reader Service Technician Melanie Guitreaux. While most people were marching off to the Civil War or finding material ways to support the war effort, one fair, anonymous Union lady wrote a war song, titled “The American Banner March.” The cover of this piece …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Senior Music Cataloger Sharon McKinley. The battle for the right to vote was hard-fought by women in America and elsewhere. The last state to ratify the 19th amendment to the US Constitution was Tennessee, on August 18, 1920. Today it seems unthinkable …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Music Reference Specialist James Wintle. On August 21, 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation welcoming Hawaii as the 50th state of the union. As the only state made up entirely of islands, Hawaii has an unusually rich and diverse cultural heritage. It is home to a number …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
Legendary blues singer Bessie Smith was born on this day in 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Portions of this blog post were taken from the online exhibit, American Treasures of the Library of Congress. Bessie Smith gained immediate success in 1923 with her first recording “Down Hearted Blues”/”Gulf Coast Blues.” Her renditions of Negro life in …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
We are always excited to welcome composers to the Music Division as it not only affords us the opportunity to connect with new faces and perspectives in the music world, but also allows us the opportunity to appreciate how their activities are an extension of the legacies preserved here in the Library’s collections. This Friday, …
Posted in: Composers, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Music Cataloger Laura Yust, who recently researched composer Johanna Beyer in a seminar about American Modernist composers. Laura is pursuing her M.A. in Musicology at The Catholic University of America. Many people know of the composer Henry Cowell and his innovative compositions, but the name Johanna Magdalena Beyer …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
It’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air! As this blog has revealed to us over the last 14 months, the Music Division holds a plethora of materials in its collections including manuscript scores, correspondence, business papers, iconography, and yes – even love letters. There’s not a romance in the history of classical composers …
Posted in: Composers, Holidays, Special Collections, Women in Music