Youth and Music Exhibit

From November through the end of December 2011, the Music Library is featuring special collections items in an exhibit titled "Youth and Music." Throughout the history of classical music, composers have written works to be performed by children, for young audiences' enjoyment, or inspired by memories of youth. Furthermore, much of music history has been distilled for young audiences into educational books about famous composers' lives.

"Youth and Music" features composers Debussy, Bartók, and Handel, child prodigy violinist Camilla Urso, and instructional books about music history and performing in church choirs. The exhibit is located in the upstairs exhibit case in the Music Library, which is located on the second and third floors of the University of South Carolina School of Music.

[Photographs by Kathy Dowell]

Franz Liszt Bicentennial

October 22, 2011 will be the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hungarian pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor Franz Liszt (1811-1886). To celebrate his birthday, the Music Library has mounted an exhibit featuring materials from our special collections. On the second floor of the Music Library, you can see early editions of Liszt's compositions and arrangements, as well as a 19th-Century biography and an "artistic portrait" that imagines his daily life.

Additionally, there is a mini-exhibit of a recently-published graphic novel, Late Romantics, that features Lizst in historical fiction, along with vignettes about Saint-Saëns, Wagner, Berlioz, and Mussorgsky. Late Romantics was written and illustrated by Jack Phinney, Latham Luepke, and Ryan Duderstadt, who comprise Bearskunk Productions in Minneapolis. You can read the whole graphic novel here: http://bearskunk.com/comics/late-romantics/cover/.

Finally, the Library of Congress is celebrating Liszt's 200th birthday in a big way. Check out their Liszt site to look at some of his music manuscripts and listen to performances of his works in the National Jukebox: http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200187413/default.html.

Today in Music History

Did you know that on today's date in 1967, the cover image for "St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was photographed?