Gethner Performs & Discusses WWI-Era Piano Works

Four-year series memorializes Great War Centennial

September 1, 2017

The OSU Library is entering another year of its four-year series of lectures about World War I its impact. “The Great War and Its Legacy, 1914-1918” will continue on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Peggy V. Helmerich Browsing Room, Edmon Low Library.

The series memorializes the centennial of WWI by highlighting the War’s worldwide impact on life and culture. Specifically, the lectures focus on the lasting impact World War I had on our world and how these impacts are seen in the world today.

Perry Gethner, Regents Professor, Norris Professor of French in the OSU Department of Foreign Languages, will kick-off the year with a piano performance of works from the World War I era. Gethner will also discuss the artistic and cultural significance the pieces had during this era and today.

David Oberhelman, W.P. Wood Professor of Library Services and coordinator of the Great War series, said Gethner is an accomplished pianist, and he will be performing pieces that are not commonly played. These pieces will spotlight the artistic response to WWI in England, France and Germany.

Oberhelman said attendees will not only hear pieces from the WWI era, but should also expect to gain a broader sense of the effects the war conflict had on the arts, life and culture of the time. Gethner will also shed a light on the relationships between culture, politics and art in this era through his performance and the following discussion.

“The Great War and Its Legacy, 1914-1918” series is made possible through funding from the OSU Library and the Wood Professorship for Library Science. Related events are free and open to the public. For more information on the series visit http://info.library.okstate.edu/greatwar.

Story by Teryn Moorman, Communications Intern

Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant university that prepares students for success. OSU has more than 36,000 students across its five-campus system and more than 25,000 on its combined Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, with students from all 50 states and around 120 nations. Established in 1890, Oklahoma State has graduated more than 260,000 students who have been serving Oklahoma and the world for 125 years.

URL: https://library-dep.okstate.edu/news/archived-news/fall-2017/great-war-series-piano-performance

Last Updated: 8 August 2018