Music Library News
October 1, 2009Music Library Closed Friday, Oct. 9
The building will be open again on Saturday, Oct. 10, with our usual hours:
September 21, 2009Fall HoursThe Fall Quarter hours for the Music Library and Listening Center/Lab (LC) are:
Please note these exceptions:
As always, access to rare materials, manuscripts, and archives requires an appointment. For further information, see the Music Library website. Still have questions? Contact us! New This Year: CDs Circulate
July 30, 2009Hours During IntersessionThe Music Library's hours for Aug. 1 through Sept. 21 will be:
Please note these exceptions: The Listening Center and Computer Lab will be entirely closed from Aug. 1 through Sept. 21, and the Music Library will be closed on Mon., Sept. 9, in observance of Labor Day. July 10, 2009New Exhibit Features Album Artwork
Located on the first level of the Main Library, the exhibit will be in place until September 10. January 13, 2009IPA Source Provides Phonetic Guide to Arias and SongsVoice students and faculty will be pleased to see the Music Library now provides access to IPA Source. This database contains International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts. Over 4,000 individual musical works are included. Access to IPA Source is available on or off campus, from the Music Library homepage or the ER directory. January 2, 2009Ligeti Piano Concerto Returns to NUWith the recent acquisition of the manuscript for György Ligeti's Piano Concerto, the Music Library has added to its collection an item significant not only to the history of music but also to the history of Northwestern.
The following November, Mario di Bonaventura conducted another historic performance of the concerto, this time with Volker Banfield at the keyboard, in the work’s American premiere at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Though at the time he was a faculty member at Dartmouth College, di Bonaventura had connections to Northwestern through his wife, Dorothy, an alumna of the School of Music, and his close friend George Howerton, Dean of the School of Music from 1951 to 1971. Describing the American premiere of the concerto as “a big, dramatic, compelling kaleidoscope of sounds” with “grotesque splashes of instrumental color, eruptive cluster chords, [and] passages that sound like controlled aleatory,” the Chicago Tribune praised the performance, in which “the orchestra played as if possessed” and di Bonaventura proved to be “a model collaborator.” As a token of this collaboration and their friendship, Ligeti gave di Bonaventura the manuscript for the Piano Concerto, which became one of the conductor’s most prized possessions. In 2006, the Music Library began conversations with Mr. di Bonaventura about this manuscript. Learning of the Music Library’s extensive holdings of original materials by prominent twentieth-century composers like Cage, Lutosławski, and Boulez, and also knowing well Northwestern's historical association with the concerto, Maestro di Bonaventura decided the Music Library would be the ideal permanent home for the manuscript. As Ligeti's final, carefully notated draft of the work, the manuscript serves as a valuable resource for studying the dense harmonies, close counterpoint, and complex rhythms that characterize the concerto. The acquisition of such a manuscript would be notable under any circumstance, but given the work’s ties to Northwestern, this is an especially important addition to our library. |
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Music Library Closed Friday, Oct. 9 New Exhibit Features Album Artwork IPA Source Provides Phonetic Guide to Arias and Songs Ligeti Piano Concerto Returns to NU Stephanie Hewson is New Listening Center Assistant
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On Friday, October 9, the Music Library, Listening Center, and all of Deering Library will be closed to the public so the building can be used for events related to the 
Beginning September 22, members of the Northwestern community are invited to check out items from the Music Library's extensive holdings of nearly 30,000 CDs. The collection is especially strong in classical recordings but also includes jazz, world music, musical theatre, and some popu;ar music. Previously available for use only in the Listening Center, these CDs can now be borrowed for up to two weeks. Students, faculty, and staff can borrow up to five CDs at a time. (Faculty can request delivery directly to their offices.) See the Music Library's website for 
A new exhibit -- Sound Design: The Rise and Demise of Album Art -- celebrates cover art on LP record albums, demonstrating how this art form developed and is being lost today with the emergence of downloaded music. Over 60 notable examples of album artwork are included. As a collaborative project of the Music Library and the Art Collection, the exhibit is curated by Stephanie Hewson, Lindsay King, Morris Levy, and Greg MacAyeal.
Ligeti, a leading figure of the post-World War II avant garde, was asked in the early 1970s by conductor Mario di Bonaventura to compose a piano concerto. Following years of delay, the first version of the concerto was premiered in October 1986 in Graz, Austria, under the baton of Maestro di Bonaventura with his brother, Anthony di Bonaventura, as soloist. Subsequent revision of the concerto led Ligeti to compose two additional movements, and the premiere of the complete five-movement work was given in Vienna in February 1988, again with the brothers di Bonaventura performing.
