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 …
The annual World Beard and Mustache Championship is several months away. In the Muse, while personally lacking in competition-level hirsuteness, could not wait that long to share this specimen with its readership. The Music Division’s Civil War Sheet Music Collection contains a number of pieces composed or arranged by C. L. Peticolas, including the “Appomatox …
We live in an era of internet memes that instantly respond to current events. The music world has had its share of them, and MTV recently published a list of 2011′s Five Best Music Memes. The music video pioneers join the legions who have dismissed one of the year’s most infamous musical newsmakers, Rebecca Black, but …
This week the Library of Congress welcomes another endeavor into the blogosphere as our colleagues in the Poetry and Literature Center launch their blog, From the Catbird Seat. We hope to collaborate with them on future posts, but in the meantime, In the Muse would like to direct our readers to some of what we’ve written …
This week’s featured sheet music honors one of the great voices of American literature. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born on this day in 1835, two weeks after Halley’s Comet made its closest approach to the Sun. Celebrate the author’s birthday with the “Mark Twain mazurka” and the …
Last year In the Muse celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with Geo. W. Morgan’s “National Thanksgiving hymn“, from the Historic Sheet Music, 1800-1922 collection in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. This year the same collection gives us our featured holiday sheet music. As I noted last year, “The turkey gobbler’s ball” is not actually about Thanksgiving but is …
Some of our readership may be looking forward to a certain movie opening up in American theaters this weekend. In the Muse can not officially endorse the series (and in fact has not seen any of the movies or read any of the books), but hopes that interested readers will not be disappointed in the …
2:00 AM is prime time in popular music lyrics, the excitement of staying out late or the anxiety of insomnia prominently figuring in the songcraft of diverse artists from New Kids on the Block to Iron Maiden to Taylor Swift. The hour also plays a part in our seasonal time-shift. In the Muse gently reminds North …
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 illustrates a nicely dressed woman …
This week’s featured sheet music celebrates one of the pioneers of cinema. The aptly named Louis Lumière was born on this day in 1864. In 1895 Louis and his brother Auguste patented the cinématographe, a device that worked as a film camera, developer and projector. This was in contrast to Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, first demonstrated in 1891, …