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Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres
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 …
Posted in: Concerts and Events, Women in Music
Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres
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 …
Posted in: Composers, Concerts and Events, Guest bloggers, Musicians, Sheet Music, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
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.
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres
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 …
Posted in: Interviews, Musicians, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
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 …
Posted in: Exhibitions, Film Music, Guest bloggers, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
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 …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, In Memoriam, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
Yesterday came the announcement we all look forward to in the Music Division: the naming of the next Gershwin Prize recipient! Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced singer-songwriter Carole King as the next recipient of the distinguished Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The Gershwin Prize “celebrates the work of an artist whose career reflects …
Posted in: Composers, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Music Cataloger Laura Yust. Scottish composer Thea Musgrave was born in Barnton, Midlothian, near Edinburgh, Scotland on 27 May 1928. Still a busy composer as she celebrates her 84th birthday, Musgrave has written operas, concertos, chamber music, solo vocal and choral music, solo instrumental music, and electro-acoustic music. …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Guest bloggers, Women in Music
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