Posts by Bob Kosovsky

Work was an African American composer and arranger working independently and for CBS Radio in New York City. Many of his arrangements are held in the CBS Collection of the Library of Performing Art's Music Division.

Guízar was one of the first to bring Mexican music to New York and later paved the way for Mexican performers in Hollywood.

An opportunity to closely examine the artistry, creativity, and craftsmanship of designing and constructing sets and costumes

Over seven hours of listening awaits you.

What we know today as country music is an amalgam of several kinds of music, ranging from the music of working-class Americans in the Appalachian region to Celtic folk songs and fiddle tunes. Collections within the Library's Music & Recorded Sound Division reveal just how it all came together, and the enormous impact of broadcast and recorded media.

Recently, students from the graduate music program at Brooklyn College/City University of New York visited NYPL for a special, hands-on class on how to research and work with archival collections. They were amazed at what they found.

Blanche Merrill was the writer and creator of humorous songs for Fanny Brice and other vaudeville-era stars. But the archives reveal a powerful, somber work from this lyricist.

I recently unearthed a musical work that has been lost for eighty years: Roy Harris’s Time Suite.

With the release of the latest film starring Meryl Streep, many people are discovering Florence Foster Jenkins. Long known to many of those involved with music, Jenkins is generally viewed as a society lady who was unable to realize the defective quality of her attempts at singing. Although her biography as outlined in the film is generally correct, I feel there is more to see in this woman than just a deluded society lady.

Part three of three, delving into the performers and performances you can find out of the millions of articles in our clipping files.

Part two of three, delving into examples of what you can find out of the millions of articles in our clipping files.

Part one of three, delving into examples of what you can find out of the millions of articles in our clipping files.

I'm happy to present examples of how the Music Division contributed to knowledge this year. If you've benefited creatively from the resources of the Music Division, please let us know.

A class from Mannes examines music manuscriptsIt can be a special experience when students make contact with primary resources. I have written previously about a class visit to examine documents from the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. A few weeks ago I had the great opportunity to introduce students to a fundamental primary resource: music manuscripts. My colleague Fred Fehleisen (of Mannes College the New School for Music) brought his class to the

Consider this a late contribution to this year's Womens' History Month.

When most people think of the involvement of women in music they probably think of performers or composers. To be sure, women performers have been at the forefront of music for centuries, and in recent years awareness of women composers has grown enormously, particularly with those from the twentieth century. But there is at least one other music-related field in which women have made a significant mark: publishing.

Between the seventeen-century to the middle of the nineteenth-century, 

Piano pedagogue Rosina Lhevinne with her student, Van CliburnMany of us were saddened to hear of the passing of Van Cliburn on Wednesday, February 27. A pianist who excelled in music of the romantic repertoire, Cliburn rocketed to fame when he won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, held in Moscow in 1958 at the height of the cold war. Upon his return, he was not just a musical figure but one who took on 

Felix Mendelssohn's signature from Drexel 4903It is still possible to discover amazing things in the New York Public Library in 2013, its 108th year of existence. What's even more amazing about this story is that the discovered items have been with the Library since its founding and have gone unnoticed until now. I am happy to write this story in anticipation of February 3, 2013, the 203rd birthday of composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Part of my work in the Music Division involves cataloging scores — not newly published materials, but a portion of the over 

No copyright!

Our markets, our democracy, our science, our traditions of free speech, and our art all depend more heavily on a Public Domain of freely available material than they do on the informational material that is covered by property rights. The Public Domain is not some gummy residue left behind when all the good stuff has been covered by property law. The Public Domain is the place we quarry the building blocks of our culture. It is, in fact, the majority of our culture. —James Boyle, The Public Domain, p.40f, 2008, quoted on the

I'm happy to present a review of how the Music Division contributed to knowledge for 2011-2012. Although my information is based on the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, December seems like an appropriate time to post this information.

Today the pervasiveness of the Internet leads some to question the usefulness of libraries. Many try to determine a library's effectiveness by attendance: Surely 50 users in one day is better than 5? (I recall an article from library school that questioned whether it is worth collecting a book if it is consulted only once in 50