Budapest Library Music Displays

This lovely sheet music display is from the National Library. While the sheet music is visually attractive, this display is also informational, with a paragraph about the Hungarian operetta composer, Franz Lehar. Sheet music is of interest to collectors because of the cover art, to cultural historians as artifacts of a period, and to musicians for the musical content.


The Central Library of the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library is the main library of Budapest's public library system. Located within the historic Wenckheim Palace (and additions), the public library has beautiful spaces for its various reading rooms and function rooms. And the display spaces are beautiful, too.









The Arts Reading Room of the Central Library is located in the former formal dining room, and by the former large ballroom, currently used as a function room. In this case, the sideboards house the reference collection for this reading room. The ballet and other dance reference books are in the case in the picture. Note the piano. The music library department of the main library is located in another palace across the street.


At the Polley Music Library, we display our materials, too, but not in such beautiful surroundings. As we create our March displays, we'll be taking inspiration from these beautiful displays from libraries in Budapest.

The Influence of African American Music

February is African American History Month, and Lincoln City Libraries celebrates it with an African American read-in, as well as displays throughout the library system. In the Polley Music Library, we have had a display of books on the history of African American music. Just thumbing through those books provides a wealth of information about the influence of the musical activities of Black Americans on music.

In the area of popular 20th century music, African Americans transformed it. Ragtime, jazz, the blues, soul, R&B, boogie-woogie, Funk, doo wop, rap and hip-hop are all essentially African American music forms that have gone on to world-wide popularity. Rock music, too, is considered to have "black" roots.

Historically, the "Ethiopian" minstrelsy influenced vaudeville, which in turn influenced the musical stage.

As for religious music, spirituals to gospel music, the African American influence is evident.

And African American performers have participated in all types of music -- singers Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson, composer William Grant Still, and country musician Charley Pride immediately come to mind.

African American music is American music.

You can find information about all of this...and much more in the Polley Music Library. And try listening to the recordings available in the African American Song database from the Polley webpage. (You'll need your library card number to log in).

Felix Mendelssohn at 200

Today, February 3rd is the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn's birth. Mendelssohn had a short life, only living to the age of 38. However, he was a prolific composer and is well-respected to this day.

Mendelssohn was somewhat of a musical prodigy as a pianist and composer. His adolescent works had an unusual maturity, including the overture to Midsummer Night's Dream (composed at age 17) which showed an equal mastery as the remaining pieces of the incidental music composed 15 years later. About half of his chamber music output was composed before the age of 20, as were about half of his solo piano works.

At the age of 20, Mendelssohn conducted the performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in Berlin that started a Bach revival. He beame conductor of Leipzig's famous Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1835 -- at the age of 26 -- and influenced German musical culture greatly through the musicians he engaged and the repertoire he conducted. In 1842, he organized the Leipzig Conservatory, with a star-studded faculty, including himself, Schumann, Hauptmann (music theory), David (violin), Becker (organ), Plaidy and Wenzel (piano). He toured throughout his musical career, allowing people all over Europe to become familiar with his works, his conducting, and his playing. This German was particularly favored in England.

Felix Mendelssohn died in 1847, not long after the death of his favorite sister, Fanny (also a composer, but some of whose works were originally published under the name of Felix).

In the 20th century, Nazi Germany censored the works of Felix Mendelssohn, as being of Jewish, even though the family had converted to Protestantism. It is now believed that this censorship created a greater appreciation for the work of Felix Mendelssohn afterwards.

My favorites from the works of Mendelssohn just happen to be some his most popular pieces: the oratorio Elijah, the violin concerto, Songs without Words for piano, Fingal's Cave (Hebrides) overture, and the Italian symphony (Symphony no. 4).

The library has lots of Mendelssohn in our collection -- scores and CDs. Or, you can find plenty of Mendelssohn on the Classical Music Library database from the website. We also have several biographies if you would like to learn more about Felix Mendelssohn's life.

Happy birthday, Felix!

A Birthday of Note for Flute Players

Happy 250th birthday, Francois Devinne!

Devienne was born on January 31, 1759 (Joinville, Haute-Marne, France). The French flute style traces its origins to Devienne, a professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1795 and author of Methode de Flute, first published in Paris that same year. Devienne was a flutist and bassoonist, and a prolific composer of music for wind instruments. Unfortunately, Devienne died in 1803 in the insane asylum at Charenton.

For you flutists, the Polley Music Library has parts for some flute sonatas, duets and trios. Check them out.

Air and Simple Gifts

Nearly a week has gone by since the inauguration of President Obama and the flaps about the inaugural music. It's time for a short recap.

The centerpiece of the inaugural music was Air and Simple Gifts, composed and arranged by John Williams for a quartet of violin, cello, clarinet and piano. That unusual instrumentation just happens to be the same as was used by Messiaen in his Quartet for the End of Time. The performers were Itzhak Perlman (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano), and Anthony McGill (clarinet) -- a group of fabulous musicians. The music heard over the loudspeakers and broadcast was actually from a recording made by the quartet two days earlier. The musicians were wearing earpieces to be able to coordinate with the recording in the frigid cold. They also had their music in front of them, although the cameras did not generally catch that. For the record, the chief librarian of the US Marine Band had the pleasure (and responsibility) of affixing their music so it would not blow away. Did they actually play? Reports vary, with some who were there being sure that they did, and some that they only mimed. Reception of the piece by critics was also varied. Simple Gifts is a Shaker tune that was featured prominently by Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring, as well as being set by Copland as one of his Old American Songs. Williams' Air and Simple Gifts is surely Americana, fit for the inauguration.

Aretha Franklin, afterwards, was very unhappy with how she sang in the cold. Her piece was America (My Country 'tis of Thee).

The US Marine Band did play live, complete with frozen tuba valves that the musicians worked diligently to get unfrozen in time to play their parts. Barack Obama's arrival was heralded with Hail, America! (written by George Drumm, and arranged by Thomas Clark). Hail to the Chief was performed immediately after President Obama's oath. The US Marine Band has posted a list of what it played.

Hail to the New Chief

In a few hours, Barack Obama will take the oath of office and become the 44th president of the United States of America. On a musical note, the inaugural ceremonies feature plenty of music, including selections from the US Marine Band, the San Francisco Boys Chorus and San Francisco Girls Chorus, Aretha Franklin, the national anthem performed by the US Navy Band Sea Chanters, and a new work by John Williams performed by Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill. Then there will be the parade, with lots of marching bands.

Later in the day, President Obama may first hear Hail to the Chief, the piece of music most closely tied to the office of President. It's been around a long time and has an interesting history. The original text is from Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake just like Schubert's Ave Maria (though with a Goethe translation). These days Hail to the Chief is usually played by a military band without any singers.

The Public Music Library in Budapest

Budapest's public library, the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library, has a very large music collection located in the Palffy Palace across the street from the main library. A lovely fenced garden with a statue of Bartok enhances the facility. The building is beautiful, but the music library faces the challenges of providing modern music library service in the historic structure.

The music collection focuses on classical music, jazz and folk music. Popular music, especially on compact disc, is located in the popular materials collections of the public library. The music collection contains a huge number of scores, as well as periodicals, music books, and audio and video recordings.

As with most libraries, the librarians are working hard to increase patronage. To this end, they offer concerts -- many in the music library itself, with a few in the main library. To make space for the performers and concertgoers, the librarians move book shelves and tables, and voila, a concert space is created. My first thought on seeing the garden was what a perfect place it would be for a guitarist to perform on a summer evening.

I had a wonderful visit at the music library and with the music librarians. In Budapest and in Lincoln we share many of the same library issues; we're all working hard to turn challenges into opportunities and to ensure that our music users will have access to the collections and information they and you need.