2019 was a busy year for the Rita Benton Music Library at the University of Iowa. Here are a few highlights! January Student from Dr. Suhadolnik’s Fall 2018 American Music seminar mounted the exhibit, “Exploring Our Sounds: Traditions of American Music Making at the University of Iowa.” The exhibit stayed up through August 2019 andContinue reading “2019: Rita Benton Music Library Year in Review”
Author Archives: Katie Buehner
Dimitri Mitropoulos’ Music Library: From New York to Iowa and Back Again
On November 21, the New York Philharmonic Archives opened a new exhibit about Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960) in the Bruno Walter Gallery at Lincoln Center. The exhibit focuses on Mitropoulos’ tenure as music director of the Philharmonic (1949-1958), but also explores major themes of his overall career. Exhibit items include correspondence, photographs, and manyContinue reading “Dimitri Mitropoulos’ Music Library: From New York to Iowa and Back Again”
SOUNDS FROM THE FIELD – Hearing Hollywood in Iowa’s Special Collections: Casting and Composing for the Four Daughters films
by Nathan Platte One of the problems of being a film historian is that you sometimes stumble across movies that require immediate love and attention. Four Daughters is one such film for me. Falling short of “classic” status, this sentimental family drama fared more than well when it was released in 1938. The film’s adamantContinue reading “SOUNDS FROM THE FIELD – Hearing Hollywood in Iowa’s Special Collections: Casting and Composing for the Four Daughters films”
EXHIBIT: 95 [YEARS OF] THESES
In 1923, department chair Philip Greeley Clapp established graduate studies in music at the University of Iowa, and in 1924/25, the first students concluded their course of study with the submission of musical compositions and documents as theses. Over the last 95 years, Iowa graduates have submitted musical works, performing and critical editions, historical andContinue reading “EXHIBIT: 95 [YEARS OF] THESES”
Wulfie Parsons Music Library Guide: 2019 Edition
In the summer of 2018, the Rita Benton Music Library “adopted” Wülfie Parsons, who belonged previously to Dr. Donna Parsons. He’s always on the prowl near the Service Desk, decked out in his Hawkeye black and gold kerchief, keeping the Music Library in tip-top shape. Wülfie’s seen a lot happen at the Music LibraryContinue reading “Wulfie Parsons Music Library Guide: 2019 Edition”
SOUNDS FROM THE FIELD – Anthony Burgess in Iowa City: How Clockwork Orange’s Author Came to Write a Symphony for the University of Iowa
by Nathan Platte The English novelist Anthony Burgess visited Iowa City in 1975 to teach at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. His course received endorsement in the “Letters to the Editor” section of the Daily Iowan. “I would like to thank the Iowa English Department for arranging such a unique class as Problems of the ModernContinue reading “SOUNDS FROM THE FIELD – Anthony Burgess in Iowa City: How Clockwork Orange’s Author Came to Write a Symphony for the University of Iowa”
Students Investigate: A Deeper Dive into H. S. Perkins’s The Nightingale
William Oscar Perkins and Henry Southwick Perkins, The Nightingale: A Choice Collection of Songs, Chants and Hymns, Designed for the Use of Juvenile Classes, Public Schools, and Seminaries; Containing Also a Complete and Concise System of Elementary Instruction (Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1860) by C. A. Norling Advertised in University catalogues as providing “peculiar advantages toContinue reading “Students Investigate: A Deeper Dive into H. S. Perkins’s The Nightingale“
Students Investigate: A Deeper Dive into the SUI concert of Copland compositions, March 5, 1958
State University of Iowa Orchestra concert of Copland compositions, March 5, 1958Represented by original concert program and picture of Himie Voxman and Aaron Copland from the composers 1958 visit to Iowa City by Jenna Sehmann On March 5, 1958, Aaron Copland attended a concert by the State University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra as an honoredContinue reading “Students Investigate: A Deeper Dive into the SUI concert of Copland compositions, March 5, 1958”
Students Investigate: A Deeper Dive into the Music of Maria Schneider
JCL Features the Music of Maria Schneider (2000) by Toni LeFebvre On April 26, 2000, Johnson County Landmark, the premiere big band of the University of Iowa, featured the music of band leader, John Rapson, and award-winning American jazz composer, Maria Schneider. Programmed were three pieces from Schneider’s 1994 debut studio album, “Evanescence” – “Wrigly”,Continue reading “Students Investigate: A Deeper Dive into the Music of Maria Schneider”
STUDENT EXHIBIT: In Our Lives: The Beatles Yesterday and Today
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT IN OUR LIVES was designed in the Fall 2018 offering of Donna’s “World of The Beatles” course. Participating students studied her materials–donated in Donna’s name to the Rita Benton Music Library–and worked together to flesh out the different themes that now define their multimedia, multidirectional account of the enduring legacy of TheContinue reading “STUDENT EXHIBIT: In Our Lives: The Beatles Yesterday and Today”