Abstract

John Adams (1947-) is an American composer, conductor, and writer. He is the winner of five Grammy Awards and recipient of the 2003 Pultizer Prize for his work On the Transmigration of Souls in tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The collection includes music scores by Adams and others, correspondence, business and financial papers, biographical materials, programs and promotional materials, and clippings.

Abstract

Milton Ager (1893-1979) was an American arranger and composer of popular songs, primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. His notable compositions include the songs, "Everything Is Peaches Down in Georgia," "Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah)," and "Happy Days Are Here Again." The collection chiefly contains scores of Ager's compositions, sketches, and lyrics, as well as a small amount of correspondence.

Abstract The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) was founded by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey (1931-1989). Ailey used Lester Horton and Martha Graham technique and added movement expressive of African American culture and social dance to elevate African American experiences through his work. AAADT became one of the most prolific and celebrated American dance companies. The collection contains documentation of the creation and performance of dances for the AAADT, correspondence and...

Abstract Laurindo Almeida was a Brazilian-American guitarist and composer. Often credited for contributions to the development of jazz samba, Almeida was a prolific composer and arranger of music for both classical Spanish guitar and popular guitar. He was an acclaimed recording artist and became the first person to win Grammy Awards for both classical and jazz performances. The collection contains manuscript and printed music, correspondence, publicity materials, photographs, and other items related...

Abstract The Original Amateur Hour was a popular radio talent show hosted by Edward Bowes (stagename, Major Bowes) from 1935-1952. The collection primarily consists of more than 7,000 applications from contestants who appeared on the program between 1934 and 1948. A small amount of administrative papers dating from the late 1940s and 1950s, as well as materials relating to the Mexican version of the program, La hora internacional del...

Abstract American Ballet Theatre (ABT), established in 1940 as Ballet Theatre, is recognized as one of the world's largest and most distinguished dance companies. By act of Congress on April 27, 2006, ABT became America's National Ballet Company. The archive includes music scores, choreographic notes and Benesh dance notation scores, correspondence, business papers, scrapbooks, programs, clippings, photographs, posters, video recordings and films, and prints and drawings, including set and costume...

Abstract The collection of American Ballet Caravan Music Scores consists of full scores, parts, piano rehearsal and vocal scores for six ballets, at least two of them unrealized, for Lincoln Kirstein's dance company, which he founded in 1936. Three of the six ballets were commissioned by Kirstein during the Caravan's tour to Latin America in 1941. The works are Pastorela (Paul Bowles); Soirées musicale (Benjamin Britten, arranged for two pianos by Brian Easdale); Estancia (Alberto E. Ginastera);...

Abstract The American Play Company / Century Play Company was a conglomerate publishing house that represented many of the most prominent American playwrights and dramatists of the 20th century. The scripts and business papers in the collection document numerous aspects of American theater production history, including author representation, show production, publishing, and licensing for television, film, radio, and stock productions. The script library notably includes five working copies of ...

Abstract The American Conservatory at Fontainebleau was originally established in 1919 to improve the quality of United States military bands mobilized in France at the end of World War I. In 1921, the school opened to American civilians, welcoming music students for summer classes in the Louis XV wing of the Château de Fontainebleau. The School of Fine Arts was established in 1923, and architecture has become the focus of its instruction. Still active today, the Conservatory's faculty has featured...

Abstract The American Music Loan Libraries Project, originally established as the Music Distribution Project, was one of many initiatives conceived by the United States Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to promote inter-American cooperation and boost the United States image in the Americas beginning in the 1940s. The reports, correspondence, repertoire lists, and other files help document the project's work to supply depositories with music, recordings, and books on music from the...

Abstract George Antheil was a composer, pianist, author and inventor. The collection consists of materials related to the professional and personal activities of George Antheil and his wife, Elizabeth (Böske) Antheil. It contains holograph music manuscripts, printed scores, published and unpublished writings, business and personal correspondence, subject files, photographs, programs and promotional materials, scrapbooks, artwork, biographical materials, and memorabilia which document the life of this...

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Lucille "Sweets" Preston (1921-2020), a dancer at the Cotton Club and member of the vaudeville comedic duo Slim & Sweets, was an intimate partner of jazz legend Louis Armstrong beginning in the early 1950s. This collection consists of correspondence, photographs, and other materials formerly owned by their daughter Sharon Preston-Folta. The items document both the relationsip between "Satchmo" and Lucille Preston as well as Preston's colleagues in the entertainment industry.

Abstract The Joint Army and Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation, Sub-Committee on Music was established in 1942 to attend to the morale of military personnel through the provision of music materials and the support of bands at various levels – camp, fort, field unit, and individual performer. Library of Congress Music Division chief Harold Spivacke served as the Sub-Committee chairman. These files document his role and that of his staff in this war effort through correspondence, photographs,...

Abstract

Arsis Press was a music publishing company in Washington, D.C., founded by composer Clara Lyle Boone in 1974 to publish music by women composers. The Arsis Press Records include printed music by nearly forty composers, financial records, business papers, and correspondence.

Abstract Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo (1905-1992) was a Brazilian musicologist, folklorist, educator, and music critic. His papers document his life and career through correspondence, writings, teaching materials, notebooks, research and subject files, photographs, and awards. Correspondence, as well as holograph, facsimile, and inscribed scores, illustrate Azevedo's relationships with twentieth-century composers from South America, North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. His own...

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Ernst Bacon was an American composer, pianist, and conductor. Largely a self-taught composer, Bacon also became an esteemed administrator and educator, serving as director of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Music Project in 1935 and later as composer-in-residence at Syracuse University from 1947-1963. The collection contains music, writings, correspondence, iconography, programs, clippings, publicity materials, and other miscellaneous items.

Abstract Pearl Bailey was an American singer and actress who established herself as a prominent nightclub entertainer on the East Coast during the mid-twentieth century. She also appeared in several Broadway productions, including House of Flowers and Hello, Dolly! Bailey also starred as Maria in the 1959 filmed production of Porgy and Bess. She later hosted her own televised variety series, the ...

Abstract Samuel Barber remains one of America’s eminent composers, best known for the "Adagio" from his String Quartet, op. 11 in B minor. He composed large and small-scale works for piano, voice and piano, chorus, and orchestra, as well as three operas. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Barber's compositional style remained decidedly tonal. The collection is comprised of correspondence, music from Barber's personal library, printed music, writings,...

Abstract Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson comprised the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson, who were active in the first half of the twentieth century. They met as students at the Royal Academy of Music and married in 1921, forming their piano duo shortly thereafter. The collection includes primarily manuscript music, both newly composed works for piano duet and two-piano transcriptions and arrangements, as well as compositions written by Bartlett and Robertson. Of note are holograph scores of...

Abstract Harold Bauer was an English violinist and pianist, teacher, and music editor who corresponded with many musical luminaries of his day, including Ernest Bloch, Nadia Boulanger, Pablo Casals, Gabriel Fauré, Percy Grainger, Jascha Heifetz, Josef Hofmann, Gustav Holst, Vincent d'Indy, Fritz Kreisler, Charles Martin Loeffler, Pierre Monteux, Moritz Moszkowski, Vladimir de Pachmann, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Isidore Philipp, Henry Prunières, Carl Ruggles, Carlos Salzedo, Gustave Schirmer, Leopold...

Abstract Irwin "Bud" Bazelon (1922-1995) was an American composer of both concert and film music, as well as a conductor and author. His compositional output includes symphonies, chamber music, music for documentaries and television commercials, and other works. His Knowing the Score: Notes on Film Music, first published in 1975, was one of the early scholarly texts on film music. The collection consists of Bazelon's music, writings (especially pertaining to...

Abstract

Milton Berle (1908-2002) was an American vaudevillian, comic, actor, lyricist, producer, and author. Nicknamed "Mr. Television," Berle transitioned from a successful career in radio to become host of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre. The collection contains comedic writings, scripts, correspondence, business papers, photographs, music, and other materials that document his life and career in entertainment.

Abstract Irving Berlin was an American lyricist and composer of over 1,200 songs. He was also a music publisher, theater owner, and a founding member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). The collection, which documents all aspects of his life and career, contains music scores, Berlin's handwritten and typewritten lyric sheets, publicity and promotional materials, personal and professional correspondence, photographs, business papers, legal and financial records,...

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Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born composer, violinist, conductor, and photographer. The collection, which documents his life and work, includes manuscripts (music and lecture material), correspondence, business and financial papers, photographs, programs, promotional material, clippings, writings about Ernest Bloch, personal papers, and printed matter.

Abstract

Correspondence, labanotation scores and other choreographic notes, business records, playbills, production material, writings by Franz Boas, artwork, and other papers chiefly documenting the life and career of pioneering dancer and teacher Franziska Boas.