It’s Showtime! Sheet Music from Stage and Screen
8 februari 2011
The Music Division of the Library of Congress announces the launch of a new web presentation entitled It’s Showtime! Sheet Music from Stage and Screen
The site contains a database of sheet music for over 18,000 shows and productions dating from the 1690s to the present, listing more than 67,000 songs. The entries are drawn from the Library’s vast holdings of sheet music for dramatic music of all kinds, including operas, musicals and musical revues, and film music. Most of the sheet music contained here is for voice and piano; a significant minority is instrumental. These pieces come from all over the world and cover every conceivable topic, portraying the culture and history of their time and place in unique and valuable ways.
Included in this database are hits and flops by famous Tin Pan Alley songwriters, as well as manuscript and published materials from amateur composers. Rare and special items include early operas; music published in newspapers; lead sheets and other unpublished formats of stage and film music; college and civic productions; and shows produced in Europe between the two World Wars. This dynamic form is still popular in the 21st century, and additions will be made to the web site as relevant sheet music is acquired by the Library.
The Performing Arts Encyclopedia (PAE) is a guide to performing arts resources at the Library of Congress, providing information about the Library's unsurpassed collections of scores, sheet music, audio recordings, films, photographs, and other materials. Users can find digitized items from the collections; special Web presentations on topics and collections; articles and biographical essays; finding aids to collections; databases for performing arts resources; information on concerts at the Library; and a special Performing Arts Resource Guide which contains entries for hundreds of Library collections, Web sites, databases and exhibits.
Karen C. Lund
Digital Project Coordinator
Library of Congress