The Music Division’s archival collections feature the archives and personal papers of some of the most significant and influential artists and figures in music history, particularly 20th-century composers, conductors, scholars, and publishers. When researchers and performers think of the Music Division’s archival collections, names like Leonard Bernstein, George and Ira Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Serge Koussevitzky, …
Every year at Concerts from the Library of Congress we pay homage to our founding patron, Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. A mover and shaker, Mrs. Coolidge convinced Congress in 1925 to allow her to build a concert hall (the Coolidge Auditorium) within the Library of Congress. She also established the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, administered …
The following is a guest post by musicologist Kendra Preston Leonard of the Journal of Music History Pedagogy. Leonard delivers the Fall 2013 American Musicological Society Lecture at the Library of Congress on September 24, 2013. When American composer Louise Talma died in 1996, the Library of Congress and the executors of her will descended …
Composer Amy Beach (1867-1944) was the first American woman to achieve widespread recognition as a composer of large-scale works with orchestra. Read about correspondence between Oscar Sonneck, first Chief of the Music Division, and Beach regarding her Piano Concerto and the idea of sending manuscripts to the Library of Congress for preservation.
On April 9, 1939, American contralto Marian Anderson (1897-1993) stood as a beacon of hope for a country being torn apart by racial strife. Anderson’s legendary performance at the Lincoln Memorial on that Easter Sunday exists in the annals of American history as a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights movement. After being denied the …
The following is a guest post by Daniel Walshaw, Music Division. Danny Kaye’s contributions to American culture and entertainment are unmatched. He mastered nearly every aspect of show business – stage, film, television, radio, recordings, and even orchestral conducting. Despite his demanding performance schedule, he was also one of the most generous celebrity humanitarians donating …
The following is a guest post co-authored by Music Archivist Chris Hartten and Senior Music Specialist Mark Horowitz. There is a history of women’s singing groups being representative of their eras: the Boswell Sisters in the ‘30s, Dianna Ross and the Supremes in the ‘60s, Destiny’s Child in the ‘90s. But no group seemed to …
