Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. His career spanned for over half a century, and he is known for his roles as a composer, conductor, author, pianist, and lecturer. His name is synonymous with the music industry of New York City, primarily because of his role as the music director of the New York Philharmonic. Bernstein’s genius is prevalent in musicals such as Peter Pan, Candide, Wonderful Town, On the Town, On the Waterfront, and most famously, West Side Story.

Leonard Bernstein’s original name was Louis Bernstein, and he was born to Jennie and Samuel Joseph Bernstein. His father was a hairdressing supplies wholesaler in Ukraine. Leonard showed a propensity for music in his early childhood, however, Sam Bernstein opposed this interest. But even then, he took him to orchestras and supported his interest later on.

Bernstein studied at the Garrison Grammar School and Boston Latin School. He then attended Harvard University, where he studied music. At Harvard, the most influential professor Bernstein had was David Prall, who taught a multidisciplinary look at on the arts, which inspired the way Bernstein thought. After graduating from Harvard in 1939 cum laude, he enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He learned conducting under Fritz Reiner, orchestration under Randall Thompson, and piano with Isabelle Vengerova. Interestingly, he disliked the structure of Curtis, but later appreciated the mentors it introduced him to.

Upon leaving Curtis, Bernstein moved to New York, and he accompanied his roommate and friend Adolph Green and others in a comedy group called The Revuers who performed in Greenwich Village.

In 1943 he was appointed as assistant conductor to Artur Rodzinski of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He first took the role as the main conductor when the guest conductor, Bruno Walter, caught a flu. This concert at Carnegie Hall made him famous because it was nationally broadcasted on CBS Radio. This hit off his appearance as a guest conductor with many orchestras from around the country. During this time when he conducting career took off, he also began composing music.

After World War II, Bernstein began performing with orchestras around the world, his first being the Czech Philharmonic in Prague. He later became associated with the Israel Philharmonic, and performed concerts in Tel Aviv and in the middle of the desert for troops at Beersheba. In 1951, Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premier of the Symphony No. 2 by Charles Ives. From that year to 1956, he was a visiting professor at Brandeis University, where he founded the Creative Arts Festival in 1952. At the festival, his opera Trouble in Tahiti premiered. Because during this time in the 50s, Bernstein was named the music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1957. He succeeded Dimitri Mitropoulos.

08 Jul 1970, Lenox, Massachusetts, USA — Conductor Leonard Bernstein at the climax of Mahler’s symphony performed by the Boston Symphony in Lenox, Massachusetts. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

His fame rose in the United States because of televised Young people’s Concerts for CBS. His work in education as a music lecturer also made him an influential figure in the United States. One of his music lectures had a recording of music titled Humor in Music, which was awarded a Grammy award for Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording in 1961. During this era he also composed music for the operetta Candide and West Side Story.

In 1978, the Israel Philharmonic sponsored a festival in memory of his musical service to Israel. In 1985, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded Bernstein with the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. In his career, he won 11 Emmy Awards. In 1982, he founded the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute in 1982. He helped create a training orchestra at the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival. He founded the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.

In 1990, he was given the Praemium Imperiale, an international prize in 1988 by the Japan Arts Association. He used the one hundred thousand dollars he received from the prize to create The Bernstein Education Through the Arts Fund before his death on October 14, 1990.

Leonard Bernstein relates to various themes that pertain to our course. Firstly, he relates to the theme “What is art and what is its purpose?” Bernstein’s life revolved around his work in the arts, with his career spanning over fifty. Secondly, Bernstein reflects the theme of Immigration because his parents were immigrants from Ukraine. Thirdly, Bernstein reflects Morals and Norms because of philanthropic work and social activism. He was a very open proponent of social change between the working and upper class.

Leonard Bernstein on the future of music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raSGRE7jrpA

Leonard Bernstein conducting West Side Story: