Music History Monday: An American in Paris
We mark the London premiere on August 26, 1952 – 72 years ago today – of the film “An American in Paris.” With music by George Gershwin (1898-1937), directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly,...
26 Aug 202420min
Music History Monday: Serge Pavlovich Diaghilev
Serge (or Sergei) Diaghilev (1872-1929) in 1916 We mark the death on August 19, 1929 – 95 years ago today – of the Russian impresario, patron, art critic, and founder of the Ballets Russes Serge (o...
19 Aug 202418min
Music History Monday: Giovanni Gabrieli and the Miracle That is Venice!
Giovanni Gabrieli (circa 1555-1612) We mark the death on August 12, 1612 – 412 years ago today – of the composer Giovanni Gabrieli. Born in Venice circa 1555, he grew up and spent his professional...
12 Aug 202422min
Music History Monday: The First Professional Composer
Easy Times! We’ve been having a good time, an easy time here at Music History Monday these last few weeks. Five of our last six MHM posts have featured fairly recent musical events from the “popula...
5 Aug 202422min
Music History Monday: Cass Elliot and the Making of an Urban Legend
We mark the death of Cass Elliot on July 29, 1974 – 50 years ago today – in an apartment at No. 9 Curzon Street in London’s Mayfair District. Born on September 19, 1941, she was just 32 years old at ...
29 Jul 202418min
Music History Monday: Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Taylor Swift (born 1989) Only July 22, 2023 – one year ago today – Taylor Swift (born 1989; she has, according to Forbes, a present net worth of $1.3 billion) literally “shook up” Seattle: her conc...
22 Jul 202410min
Music History Monday: An Indispensable Person
Indispensability The title of this blog – “An Indispensable Person” – might be considered controversial. That’s because any number of very smart people would argue that there is, in fact, so such t...
15 Jul 202424min
Music History Monday: What’s in a Name?
We mark the birth on July 8, 1935 – 89 years ago today – of the American Grammy and Emmy Award-winning singer, actor, and comedian Steve Lawrence, in Brooklyn, New York. He died just four months ago,...
8 Jul 202417min
