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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 [...]

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 [...]

American 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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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, [...]

Sinatra’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 [...]

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 [...]

During a 43-year Hollywood career, Walter Elias Disney established himself and his products as an authentic part of Americana. Beginning his career as an advertising cartoonist in Kansas City, he relocated in Hollywood in 1923 where he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons. Mickey Mouse entered popular culture in 1928, followed by a [...]

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 [...]

In this lively and engaging afternoon, 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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

During a 43-year Hollywood career, Walter Elias Disney established himself and his products as an authentic part of Americana. Beginning his career as an advertising cartoonist in Kansas City, he relocated in Hollywood in 1923 where he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons. Mickey Mouse entered popular culture in 1928, followed by a [...]

In this lively and engaging afternoon, 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 [...]