The papers of legendary conductor, arranger and broadcaster André Kostelanetz have been donated to the Library of Congress by his estate. Kostelanetz died in 1980. The gift is a veritable treasure trove for students of 20th century music and broadcasting. The archive of Kostelanetz’ personal property, papers, clippings, letters, sound recordings, posters, and photographs spans some 73 crates. It documents in detail the career of one of America’s most remarkable men of music. The gift from Kostelanetz’ estate will complement the gift of scores and parts for many of his arrangements Kostelanetz made to the Library of Congress. His papers will join those of George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Lorenz Hart, Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner, and Irving Berlin, among others in the Library’s collection of material belonging to eminent American musicians.
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Published by rwatstein September 27th, 2008
in libraries and music.
It’s a forgotten melody, sketched in black ink in a swift but sure hand. The single manuscript page, long hidden in a provincial French library, has been verified as the work of Mozart, the apparent underpinnings for a Mass he never composed.The previously undocumented music fragment gives insight into Mozart’s evolving composition style and provides a clue about the role religion may have played for the composer as his life neared its turbulent end, one prominent Mozart expert says. A library in Nantes, western France, has had the fragment in its collection since the 19th century, but it had never been authenticated until now, partly because it does not bear Mozart’s signature.
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Published by rwatstein September 14th, 2008
in libraries, collections and music.
Is this Beethoven’s last work for piano? Peter McCallum, associate professor in musicology at the University of Sydney, Australia, believes it is. The 32 bars of handwritten musical notation caught his eye when he was studying the composer’s last sketchbook in the Berlin State Library a couple of years ago. McCallum said he believed the piece was written in October 1826, a few months before Beethoven died in March 1827.
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Published by rwatstein September 7th, 2008
in Library of Congress and music.
Stevie Wonder was named on Tuesday as the second recipient of the U.S. Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song after singing for nearly five decades about love, joy and injustices in the world. The Motown icon, who will accept the prize in Washington, DC, on February 23 next year, also agreed to write a piece of music for the Library, joining a group of composers receiving commissions that range from Leonard Bernstein to Paquito D’Rivera.
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Published by rwatstein June 29th, 2008
in digital, software and music.
Andrew H. Bullen writes: “As an (admittedly amateur) local historian, it has been frustrating to be presented with spectacular examples of sheet music that give shape and depth to history yet be totally inept at playing the tunes on a piano or other musical instrument. Happily, as it turns out, through a combination of Optical Music Recognition (OMR) and music composing software, I can scan the music, ‘read’ it to detect the notes, time signature, etc., and tweak its playback to get just the right sound I want.”
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Published by rwatstein June 7th, 2008
in web 2.0 and music.
I so wish you had more music like Rancid.” Rancid? Never heard of them? Not to worry – tuneglue can keep you in the loop, and maybe even one step ahead of the music curve. Introducing tuneglue, a web-based music “relationship explorer.” Enter the name of an artist or band, click on the target and Expand button, and tuneglue supplies suggested “listen-alikes.”
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