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February 2021
The golden age of the Hollywood musical coincided with the greatest era of American songwriting. Music-makers like Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, Kern, and Rodgers and Hart wrote brilliant songs and then shuffled them across the continent from theaters in New York to the film studios in California. The Vitaphone crackles of the first musical talkie traveled [...]
Find out moreFilms created during the 1960s belong to the most creative era in cinema history, a time of tremendous social change, the Vietnam War, fashion, fads, rock ‘n’ roll and the acceleration of technological ingenuity. However, movie audiences were rapidly diminishing due to the dominance of the television industry and only 145 musicals were produced in [...]
Find out moreIt was truly a “ragtime to riches” path chosen by the immigrant Russian Jew Israel Baline. A teen aged waif slumming an existence in the Bowery during the earliest years of the twentieth-century, Irving Berlin, as he was later known, began writing songs before he knew how to read music. A self-taught and rather pathetic [...]
Find out moreMarch 2021
Dilettante, hedonist, elitist, snob: Cole Porter was called all of them during his glittering yet troubled life. Whatever detractors may have said about him personally, Porter’s reputation as a musical genius has never been questioned. The lecture surveys Porter’s life on Broadway and in Hollywood, covering 40 years that produced 33 stage works and the [...]
Find out moreJuly 2021
Ira was known as “The Jeweler,” a songsmith whose exquisite craftsmanship allowed him to embed a seamless mosaic of words within the contour of a melodic line. And when his brother George sat at the piano, an endless assortment of tunes came “dripping from his fingers.” From their first hit tune in 1918, “The Real [...]
Find out moreDecember 2021
In this lively and engaging evening, pianist, raconteur, and American music specialist Robert Wyatt celebrates the lives and works of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Through original cast recordings, film clips, interviews, correspondence, and other primary materials furnished by The Library of Congress and The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, learn about the lives of these two icons [...]
Find out moreDuring their years together, the Beatles recorded and released 214 different songs and became the most significant band in history. Their musical style, a combination of pop ballads and traditional 1950s rock and roll, was eventually spiced with classical elements, Indian ragas, and psychedelic hard rock. Their genesis contributed to the evolution of pop music [...]
Find out moreDuring their years together, the Beatles recorded and released 214 different songs and became the most significant band in history. Their musical style, a combination of pop ballads and traditional 1950s rock and roll, was eventually spiced with classical elements, Indian ragas, and psychedelic hard rock. Their genesis contributed to the evolution of pop music [...]
Find out moreJanuary 2022
In this lively and engaging evening, pianist, raconteur, and American music specialist Robert Wyatt celebrates the lives and works of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Through original cast recordings, film clips, interviews, correspondence, and other primary materials furnished by The Library of Congress and The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, learn about the lives of these two icons [...]
Find out moreThe golden age of the Hollywood musical coincided with the greatest era of American songwriting. Music-makers like Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, Kern, and Rodgers and Hart wrote brilliant songs and then shuffled them across the continent from theaters in New York to the film studios in California. The Vitaphone crackles of the first musical talkie traveled [...]
Find out moreMarch 2022
On Sept. 9, 1956, more than 60 million people witnessed a young entertainer with gyrating hips and a honey-coated baritone voice croon his way into national consciousness on The Ed Sullivan Show. His rubbery legs spread wide apart, head thrown carelessly back and mouth twitching, it was apparent that this man was different. With an [...]
Find out moreIn a career that spans five decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage. Mr. Williams has composed the music and served as music director for more than one hundred films. His 40-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many [...]
Find out moreJoin pianist and Gershwin authority Robert Wyatt, co-editor of Oxford University Press’ The George Gershwin Reader, in this lively program exploring George Gershwin’s life and legacy. The evening includes live performances of the solo version of Rhapsody in Blue, early and unpublished music, the piano improvisations and other Gershwin hits. Rare film footage obtained from [...]
Find out moreApril 2022
Bluegrass, sometimes called the “jazz of country music,” evolved from the string band style developed by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys in the late 1930s. The sound is characterized by masterful, often improvisational, instrumental performances combined with distinctive vocals and harmonies. A native of Kentucky, Monroe named his band after the Bluegrass State. [...]
Find out moreIn the 1940s, America was making ready for, fighting in or helping the world heal from the ravages of World War II. Film entertainment was an elixir for the country’s heartaches and the eight major Hollywood studios cranked out over 550 musicals during the decade, films bursting with sumptuous production numbers, naïve plots and phenomenal [...]
Find out moreSpanning forty-five years of achievement with vaudeville, films, TV specials and voluminous concert extravaganzas, Judy Garland thrilled audiences who adored her stunning intellect. Whiz kid Frances Ethel Gump was twelve years old when she changed her name to Judy Garland in 1934. Louis Mayer began her enchantment the next year by signing her at MGM, [...]
Find out moreJune 2022
In a career that spans five decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage. Mr. Williams has composed the music and served as music director for more than one hundred films. His 40-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many [...]
Find out moreEnjoy your fantasies and remembrances as Robert Wyatt takes you through Judy Garland’s extraordinary life. Film clips will be abundant, starting with The Broadway Melody of 1938 and moving through 1944 blockbuster Meet Me in St. Louis, The Harvey Girls, Cole Porter’s gem-ridden The Pirate of 1948 and the sizzling A Star is Born, the [...]
Find out moreAugust 2022
Enjoy your fantasies and remembrances as Robert Wyatt takes you through Judy Garland’s extraordinary life. Film clips will be abundant, starting with The Broadway Melody of 1938 and moving through 1944 blockbuster Meet Me in St. Louis, The Harvey Girls, Cole Porter’s gem-ridden The Pirate of 1948 and the sizzling A Star is Born, the [...]
Find out moreSeptember 2022
Enjoy your fantasies and remembrances as Robert Wyatt takes you through Judy Garland’s extraordinary life. Film clips will be abundant, starting with The Broadway Melody of 1938 and moving through 1944 blockbuster Meet Me in St. Louis, The Harvey Girls, Cole Porter’s gem-ridden The Pirate of 1948 and the sizzling A Star is Born, the [...]
Find out moreAmerican music specialist Robert Wyatt walks you through the lives of the Gershwin brothers, from their simple roots, through their Tin Pan Alley apprenticeship and to the glory years which proved to be so very short. Through original cast recordings, film clips, interviews, intimate home movies, correspondence and other primary materials furnished by The Library [...]
Find out moreOctober 2022
Stravinsky portrayed him as “a six-and-a-half-foot scowl,” a man who remained aloof and pensive while creating music that was anything but introspective. Certainly he was an enigma, both as an individual and as a composer who was equally gifted as a pianist and conductor. Rachmaninoff speculated about “chasing three hares,” wondering whether his inability to [...]
Find out moreIn temperament and background, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe were wildly dissimilar, but the two accommodated their often tempestuous relationship to generate brilliantly crafted musicals such as Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, Gigi, and Camelot. Learn the origins of enduring songs like Almost Like Being in Love, The Night They Invented Champagne, [...]
Find out moreDecember 2022
In temperament and background, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe were wildly dissimilar, but the two accommodated their often tempestuous relationship to generate brilliantly crafted musicals such as Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, Gigi, and Camelot. Learn the origins of enduring songs like Almost Like Being in Love, The Night They Invented Champagne, [...]
Find out moreSinatra’s career took flight from the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliff, NJ, when trumpeter Harry James rescued him from the ranks of singing waiters in 1939. Yet not until Tommy Dorsey coaxed him into his band later that year did Sinatra begin to soar as the idol of the bobby-soxers. Within three years, he led [...]
Find out moreThe golden age of the Hollywood musical reached its zenith in the 1950s, a time when a new younger market, post-war affluence, middle-class values, the Korean War and rock and roll music changed the focus of the film industry. The major studios were blessed by an improved Technicolor process, a widescreen format and production designs [...]
Find out moreJanuary 2023
Light on his feet, Fred Astaire revolutionized the movie musical with his elegant and seemingly effortless dance style. He may have made dancing look easy, but he was a well-known perfectionist, and his work was the product of endless hours of practice. Astaire started performing as a child, partnering up with his older sister Adele. [...]
Find out moreLight on his feet, Fred Astaire revolutionized the movie musical with his elegant and seemingly effortless dance style. He may have made dancing look easy, but he was a well-known perfectionist, and his work was the product of endless hours of practice. Astaire started performing as a child, partnering up with his older sister Adele. [...]
Find out moreFilms created during the 1960s belong to the most creative era in cinema history, a time of tremendous social change, the Vietnam War, fashion, fads, rock ‘n’ roll and the acceleration of technological ingenuity. However, movie audiences were rapidly diminishing due to the dominance of the television industry and only 145 musicals were produced in [...]
Find out moreMarch 2023
Although blues music was sung as an oral tradition by enslaved people on southern plantations, classic female blues emerged early in the 20th century as a mixture of traditional folk blues and urban theater music. Appearing onstage with pianists or small jazz combos, dazzling pioneers like Ma Rainey, Betsy Smith, Memphis Minnie and Mamie Smith [...]
Find out moreRecent Events
Women Sing the Blues
March 5 @ 10:30 am - 12:00 pmThe Hollywood Musical: Part IV – The 1960s
January 10 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pmSteps in Time: Fred Astaire
January 10 @ 1:30 pm - 4:30 pmSteps in Time: Fred Astaire
January 9 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pmThe Hollywood Musicals Part 3: the 1950s
December 6, 2022 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm