“The Light of Other Days: Parlor Music in the19th-Century:” An illustrated talk by Barrymore Laurence Scherer at Vassar, February 24

An illustrated talk by Barrymore Laurence Scherer, featuring photographs by Michelle Jacobs-Scherer, is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, February 24, in Taylor Hall, room 102, at Vassar College. His talk, sponsored by Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, is free of charge and open to the public.

Scherer writes and lectures extensively on opera, classical music and the fine arts. In addition to regular contributions to The Wall Street Journal, Opera News, and Gramophone, he is a contributing editor of Art & Auction, and his work has also appeared in The New York Times, Art & Antiques, Town & Country, House & Garden, and other publications. As lecturer he has given numerous presentations for the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York Philharmonic, the National Gallery and Kennedy Center in Washington and other venues around the country. On radio, Scherer has been a regular commentator for NPR's "Performance Today," and on the nationally syndicated program, "First Hearing." Scherer is author and illustrator of the critically acclaimed book "Bravo! A Guide to Opera for the Perplexed" (Dutton-Plume). Through recordings and historic images, Scherer's presentation will sample that high-Victorian treasure trove of sentiment, drama and comedy that made everyone a performer in the privacy of one's own parlor.

Jacobs-Scherer's photography has been published in The New York Times, Town & Country, The San Francisco Examiner, England's Gramophone magazine, France's Diapason and in a variety of corporate publications. As a producer of corporate video documentaries, she recently received a Telly Award from the American Center for Creativity. There was a time when the only way to have music at home was to make it yourself. And to meet the demand for household music, composers and publishers produced a flood of melodious ballads, hymns and dances that made untold millions raise their voices in harmony, if not always in tune.

Scherer's lecture compliments "Modeling Femininity: Art and the Moral Education of Nineteenth-Century Women" which is on exhibit in the Prints and Drawings Galleries at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center through March 19, 2000. "Modeling Femininity" investigates the link between women's education and the moral mission of art. The second of three exhibitions funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, "Modeling Femininity" examines women as both producers and consumers of art in the nineteenth century. It draws from different collections housed within the Art Center, most notably from the Martha Reed Sampler Collection and the Magoon Collection.

For additional information, call the Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at (845) 437-5391. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Cathy Jennings at (914) 437-5370, as far in advance as possible to request appropriate and reasonable accommodations.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Thursday, February 24th, 2000.