The Library of Congress > Blogs > Music > Archive by category 'Musicians'

Opening Night Concert: The Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir

October 5, 2012 by Pat Padua

Courtesy of CAMI Music

Join us Saturday, October 6, 2012 for the Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir.

The choir, based in a 14th century monastery in the heart of Moscow, continues the rich tradition of church chants — the uniquely sonorous singing for which Russia has always been famous. In addition to the daily Divine Services, the choir has taken on the mission of researching, arranging and interpreting early Russian music that was banned under the Soviet regime. Its repertoire also includes songs of the 20th century, most notably from the times of both World Wars, drawing on the full spectrum of Russia’s choral tradition.

Check out the concert program (pdf) for full details.

Please note: The ticket supply for this concert, via Ticketmaster, has been exhausted; however, there are often up to 80 empty seats available for “sold out” concerts at start time. Interested patrons are strongly encouraged to come to the Library by 6:00 p.m. on concert nights to join the standby line for no-show tickets.

See our conncerts page for more information about the exciting 2012-13 season.

The Music Division has your Bacon Number

September 14, 2012 by Pat Padua

Google’s new search tool had would-be researchers wracking their brains yesterday. Based on the “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” game, which In the Muse wrote about in July, if you enter the words “Bacon number” and an actor’s name in the Google search box, you get the number of degrees removed that person is from …

Paul Williams: Copyright and the American Songwriter

September 12, 2012 by Pat Padua

It wasn’t your typical mid-day lecture on Capitol Hill. This week the Copyright Office sponsored a special presentation in the Coolidge Auditorium, “Copyright and the American Songwriter.” Copyright regulations have helped many songwriters make a living by their craft, and one songwriter in particular graced the Coolidge stage to humbly represent his fellow songwriters: ASCAP …

Remembering Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, 1925-2012

May 25, 2012 by Pat Padua

The following is a guest post by Senior Cataloger Sharon McKinley. This is already last week’s news, but we wanted to note the passing of a singer who had a profound and lasting effect on legions of performers and a horde of admirers through a large part of the 20th century and beyond. How does …

Love on the National Recording Registry

May 23, 2012 by Pat Padua

The 2011 National Recording Registry selections were announced this morning, and as always the titles are great fodder for an eclectic, historically important, culturally influential mix-tape. Among the titles is one of my very favorite albums, Love’s Forever Changes, a relic of 1967 whose lush string arrangements, rich melodies, and alternately pastoral and visionary lyrics make …

Pic of the Week: “That’s my Daddy!” Edition

April 13, 2012 by Pat Padua

The following is a guest post by Stephen Winick, American Folklife Center. Staff members from the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center (AFC) have identified a one-minute-long segment of silent color footage as film of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, shot by Alan Lomax for the Music Division in 1942. Although the meeting between Edwards and Lomax …

(Motion) Pic of the Week: Country Music Edition

April 3, 2012 by Pat Padua

People sometimes ask if Library of Congress programs are available to view online. Copyright and other issues prevent us from making everything available online, but highlights from the Music Division’s great concert and lecture season are available on the Library’s webcasts page, including the lecture “Bernstein meets Broadway,” the late Jack Gottlieb’s revealing talk “Working …

Remembering the Great Irish Tenor

March 16, 2012 by Cait Miller

Sometimes it’s hard not to get lost in our collections here at the Library, and when the National Jukebox launched about a year ago, I had a whole new resource full of wonderful early 20th-century recordings to explore. After writing a blog post last month on popular music in World War I-era England, I featured …

Pic of the Week: Contemplative Caruso Edition

February 24, 2012 by Pat Padua

Iconic tenor Enrico Caruso was born on February 25, 1873 in Naples, Italy. Over a career spanning 25 years, he performed at the world’s great opera houses, including nearly 900 appearances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera alone. In this age of the mp3 we take recorded music for granted, but Caruso was one of …

Pic of the Week: Carnegie Hall, Country Style Edition

February 10, 2012 by Pat Padua

Known as the Texas Troubador, Ernest Tubb was born on February 9, 1914 in Ellis County, Texas. His best known song is probably “Walking the floor over you,” but owing to my heritage I am partial to “My Filipino baby.” In September 1947, Tubb led the first Grand Ole Opry in New York’s Carnegie Hall, …