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Category: World War I

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Music in Time of Pestilence, Part Two

Posted by: Paul Sommerfeld

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.

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Sheet Music Spotlight: Armistice Day, November 11, 1918

Posted by: Pat Padua

The following post is by retired music cataloger Sharon McKinley. I’ve enjoyed perusing the Library’s World War I sheet music over the past few years as we’ve commemorated the centennial of The Great War. We are now coming to the end of the fighting. Although the Treaty of Paris wasn’t signed until June 28,1919, an …

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A Musical League of Nations: The 1918 Berkshire Festival of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

Posted by: Cait Miller

The following is a guest post from Robin Rausch, Head of Reader Services in the Music Division. For three days in September, in 1918, the musical elite gathered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, for what was billed as the first chamber music festival ever given in America.  It took place September 16-18, two months before the November …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Sheet Music Spotlight: Red Cross Women in World War I

Posted by: Pat Padua

The following is a guest post from retired cataloger Sharon McKinley.  May 8 is World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day. Founded in 1881, the American Red Cross organization was still rather small when the United States entered World War I. But services multiplied, millions helped collect supplies and money, and many served overseas, particularly …

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Not at All Quiet on the Western Front: The Great War Initiation of a Hollywood Veteran

Posted by: Cait Miller

Zachary Maiorana interned in the European Division this summer updating lists of e-resources that are especially valuable for European studies.  He alternated with interning at the Smithsonian, as well.  Zach graduated in May from Ohio State University with a B.A. in an Honors program which included English and Linguistics and minors in History and German. …

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New Historic Sheet Music Online: Honoring the First World War Centenary

Posted by: Cait Miller

When the Library of Congress was founded in 1800, the institution could not yet boast an established Music Division; in fact, it would be nearly a century before the Library formally created a Music Division. That decision was not so much a philosophical reflection of music’s importance in our culture but rather a necessary course …