Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Six Easy Keyboard Sonatas (Wq. 53)
Sonatas Keyboard music Classical era Amateur pieces
This collection of six “easy” pieces, composed between 1762 and 1766, was the last of C.P.E. Bach’s seven Berlin sonata collections, and one of several he assembled to appeal to the amateur musical market. The first Breitkopf publication dedicated solely to Bach’s work, the set was published simultaneously in treble- and soprano-clef editions. Pictured here, from the latter edition, is the third movement (Presto) of the sixth and final sonata, in F major. Peruse the full set of the six sonatas here. Geolocation: The Berliner Schloss in Berlin, where Bach worked at the court of Frederick of Great as member of the royal orchestra.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Sechs leichte Clavier Sonaten von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, 1st ed. (Leipzig: Bey Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf und Sohn., 1766). Merritt Room Mus 627.2.426.6
Bey Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf und Sohn (Leipzig, Germany)
"Keyboard Sonata in F Major, Wq. 53/6, H. 183: III. Presto," performed on clavichord by Miklós Spányi (YouTube)
"C.P.E. Bach at 300" (2014 Houghton Library and Music Library Exhibition)
The Harvard Jazz Band commissioned this piece from saxophonist Benny Carter in honor of Myra Mayman, director of Harvard’s Office for the Arts from 1973-2001. Carter faxed his handwritten lead sheets to the band before its first performance, to be supplemented by a lead sheet arranged by Allen Feinstein, piano arrangement by Gene Di Novi, and 6-part vocal arrangement by Rob Opdycke. This performance by Sarah Lazarus and the Harvard Jazz Band was included in the concert "Mood Crimson: 30 Years of Jazz at Harvard," which took place on April 6, 2002 in Sanders Theatre and continued a long-running concert series pairing major professional figures in jazz with Harvard undergraduates. This rendition includes solos by Lazarus and tenor saxophonists Don Braden and Anton Schwartz, culminating in a special "Happy Birthday" coda. Geolocation: Sanders Theatre at Harvard University.
Benny Carter. “Myra,” revised lead sheet and vocal score (2001). The Tom Everett Collection of Jazz Scores, 1971-2011. Ms. Coll. 135, Box 1 "Mood Crimson: 30 Years of Jazz at Harvard" (Cambridge, Mass.: Office of the Arts, Harvard University, 2002). Lamont Library Media CD CDISC LFP 2002cd D
Bee Cee Music Co. (score) Office of the Arts at Harvard University (CD)
Handwritten leadsheet; published piano arrangement; digitized CD recording
Broadway Melody of 1940, draft screenplay and dialogue cutting continuity
Film musicals Dance Comedy Screenwriting Hollywood Musical theatre and jazz
Shown here are documents from the beginning and end of production of the MGM musical Broadway Melody of 1940: a draft screenplay with revisions throughout, dated May 18, 1939, and film editor Blanche Sewell’s copy of the dialogue cutting continuity script dated February 3, 1940, only a week before the film’s February 9 release. Geolocation: The former MGM studios in Culver City, California where Broadway Melody of 1940 was filmed.
Broadway melody of 1940: draft screenplay by Leon Gordon & George Oppenheimer, from the original story by Jack McGowan & Dore Schary (Culver City: Loew's Inc., 1939). Merritt Room PN1997.B752 1939 Broadway melody of 1940: Dialogue cutting continuity (Culver City: Loew's Inc., 1940). Merritt Room PN1997.B752 1940
Film released in 1940; acquired in 2005 (continuity) and 2009 (screenplay)
Jack McGowan and Dore Schary (original story)
"Clip HD | Broadway Melody of 1940 | Warner Archive," a scene from Broadway Melody of 1940 (YouTube)
Draft screenplay and dialogue cutting continuity
Copy of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro
Opera Manuscript versions Classical Era Comedy
An early manuscript copy in several hands of Mozart's 1786 opera Le Nozze di Figaro (the unusual misspelling “nozzi” on the cover is repeated on the title page). This copy, with text in both Italian and German, probably pre-dates Simrock’s 1819 first edition of the German-language full score. Shown here is the climactic moment of the opera's finale, when the Countess forgives the Count for failing her test of his faithfulness. This manuscript omits the recitatives and Susanna and Cherubino’s breathlessly frenetic Act II duettino, “Aprite presto aprite,” but includes Marcellina and Basilio’s original Act IV arias and the 43-measure fandango near the end of Act III (performed in both the Vienna premiere and the 1787 Prague revival, but absent from many early Viennese copyists’ manuscripts). Further comparison with other early exemplars is necessary to trace this manuscript's provenance and possible performance history. See the full score here. Geolocation: The Burgtheater in Vienna, where The Marriage of Figaro was premiered in 1786.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. La nozzi di Figaro: opera in due atti del Sigr. W.A. Mozart. Copyist's manuscript, (late 18th or early 19th century). Merritt Room Mus 745.1.639.14
Copied in late 18th or early 19th c.; composed in 1786; acquired in 2008
"Le Nozze di Figaro - Harvard College Opera (Sunday, Feb. 6)," 2022 production (YouTube)
Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht, "In Praise of Learning"
Leftist politics Labor songs Musical theatre collaborators
"In Praise of Learning" is one of three rare 78s of leftist songs recorded around the time of Hanns Eisler’s first visit to the United States in early 1935. With texts by Bertolt Brecht, the record featured the New Singers conducted by Lan Adomian, baritones Mordecai Bauman and Felix Groveman, and alternately Marc Blitzstein and Eisler himself at the piano. The full set includes the songs “United Front,” “The Soup Song,” “The Internationale,” “We’ve Not Forgotten,” “In Praise of Learning,” and “Rise Up.” Geolocation: The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., where Eisler was interrogated by the House Un-American Activies Committee on the basis of songs like "In Praise of Learning."
Hanns Eisler. In Praise of Learning; Rise Up. Text by Berthold Brecht (N.Y.C.: Timely Recording Co., [1936?]). Record Collection 78-36634
Full track of "In Praise of Learning" (archive.org)
Lithograph portrait of Maria Malibran and Laure Cinti-Damoreau; Maria Malibran, "Au bord de la mer"
Opera Sopranos Salon music Romanticism
French soprano Laure Cinti-Damoreau (1801-1863) and Spanish mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran (1808-1836), two of opera’s most admired bel canto singers of their day, appear here in a lithograph reproducing portraits by Friedrich Elias. Malibran wrote over 40 pieces of salon music, many published in multiple editions during her lifetime; this song, “Au bord de la mer,” sets a text by French Romantic poet Émile Deschamps, who later wrote the libretto for Hector Berlioz's opera Romeo and Juliette. Dedicated to Baron Paul Pérignon, the song was first published in the 1820s, then reprinted as part of the posthumous series Dernières pensées, album lyrique faisant suite aux Matinées musicales. Geolocation: The King's Theatre in London, where Malibran made her operatic debut in Rossini's The Barber of Seville in 1825.
Me. Malibran Garcia. Mme. Damoreau Cinti. Lithograph by Wenzel Pobuda and J. Ress after drawings by Friedrich Elias (Munich, Germany : Pobuda, Rees et Cie, [ca. 1835]). Maria Malibran. “Au bord de la mer: romances nouvelles paroles d'Emile Deschamps; musique de Ma. Garcia de Beriot” (Paris: E. Troupenas & Cie., Rue Neuve Vivienne, 40, [1835?]). Merritt Room Mus 742.36.713
Paris: E. Troupenas & Cie., Rue Neuve Vivienne, 40 Munich, Germany : Pobuda, Rees et Cie
Score published c. 1835; lithograph created in 1835; acquired in 2007 (score) and 2012 (lithograph)
Malibran's "Rataplan," sung by Cecilia Bartoli on her album "Maria' (YouTube)
Stephen Blum, recordings from Iranian Khorāsān
Folk music Urban music Sung poetry Ethnomusicology Musical and linguistic exchange
Pictured are labels for a cassette featuring recordings of four men performing songs and improvised poetry, made at Stephen Blum’s house in Mashhad, Iran (in the northern province of Khorāsān) in January of 1969. This song, young tailor Mahmud Gaffāriān's "Vakilābād," shares its name with a major prison in Mashhad (a theme also found in another song from his session, "Shabi be gusheh-e zendān"): Hear the recordings of Ebrāhim Eqtesādi, Mohsen Hasanzāde, and Hossein Nazari here. Hear more recordings of Mahmud Gaffāriān here. (Click on a link under "contents" until reaching the page for a particular recording, then click on the link under "digital content" to access the audio file.) Geolocation: Mashhad, Iran.
The Stephen Blum Collection of Music from Iranian Khorāsān at Harvard University: original ethnographic sound recordings, 1968-2006. AWM RL 16201-16202
Cassette label and digitized sound recording
Rubén Blades, Antecedente and the 1989 Grammy Awards
Salsa Dance music National heritage Awards
While the original version of this exhibition exclusively featured memorabilia from Rubén Blades's appearance at the 1989 Grammy Awards, such as the backstage pass included here, the online version also incorporates materials related to the album (Antecedente) for which Blades won a Grammy that year, like the poster for the record. Also shown here are a lightly annotated copy of the official lyrics for the track "Nacer de tí" ("Born from you"), addressed to Panama itself, and a handwritten list of possible lyrics to draw from for the traditionally improvised soneos in the song's chorus sections. Variants of these soneos made their way into the final album, first sung by Blades at 1:23 on the studio recording. The third, unused couplet reads: "I am the embrace that waits for those who long to return, I am the hand greeting he who just arrived." Geolocation: Plaza Herrera in the San Felipe neighborhood of Panama City, where Blades grew up.
The Rubén Blades Archives at Harvard University AWM SC Spec Coll 100
Antecedente released 1988; Grammy Awards in 1989; acquired in 2008
"Nacer De Tí", from Blades's 1988 album Antecedente (YouTube)
MaestraVida.com, a website dedicated to Blades' life and work created by Alison Weinstock
Memorabilia (backstage pass); promotional poster; printed lyrics; and manuscript lyrics
Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Rap, Hip-hop, R&B, Soul, Reggae Sampling Love, spirituality, honesty, Black womanhood Concept album
This vinyl record of Lauryn Hill's legendary 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is part of Classic Crates, a collaboration between the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute (HARI) and the Loeb Music Library assembling 200 albums based on their importance to the hip-hop community (alongside the original records used in their samples). Geolocation: Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, where Hill recorded most of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill after beginning production in and around New York.
Lauryn Hill. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (New York: Ruff House/Columbia, 1998) (Originally part of Harvard's Classic Crates Collection)
Music video for "Everything is Everything," from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (YouTube)
Dionne Bennett's essay on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, originally written for Classic Crates.
Here you can find all the images used throughout the online exhibit to supplement the featured items. These images do not come from scans of the archival materials themselves, but from a variety of other online sources.