- Person
- Leonard Bernstein
- Lived
- 1918–1990
- Field
- Music
- From
- American
The story
Leonard Bernstein was born in 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Jewish immigrants from what is now Ukraine. On 14 November 1943, newly appointed assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, he stepped in at short notice and without rehearsal to conduct a nationally broadcast concert, launching his career overnight. In 1957 he was named the orchestra's music director, sharing the post at first with Dimitri Mitropoulos, and from 1958 to 1969 he led it alone. He was the first American-born conductor to lead a major American symphony orchestra.
Bernstein believed great music belonged to everyone, and television gave him the means to prove it. He had already explained Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on the CBS arts programme Omnibus in 1954. As music director he put the orchestra's Saturday afternoon Young People's Concerts on CBS, and from 1958 to 1972 he wrote, conducted and narrated 53 programmes, syndicated in more than 40 countries, often with his voice dubbed into other languages. In plain, lively language he explained melody, orchestration and form to children and adults alike, and the series won five Emmy Awards between 1962 and 1966.
His years at the Philharmonic were full of firsts. He introduced audiences to composers then rarely played, including Mahler, Nielsen, Sibelius and Charles Ives, conducted more than 40 world premieres and led the orchestra on tours that eventually reached 144 cities in 38 countries. In 1959 a State Department tour took the orchestra to Europe and the Soviet Union, where Shostakovich came on stage to congratulate the musicians after his Fifth Symphony. In 1962 Bernstein conducted the gala opening of Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center, and from 1965 he often led the free Concerts in the Parks.
He also composed West Side Story, symphonies and sacred works, and in December 1989 he conducted Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall.
When he stepped down in 1969 the orchestra named him Laureate Conductor, and he continued to conduct and record with it for the rest of his life. His television concerts are credited with inspiring entire generations of musicians and music lovers, many of whom first discovered classical music by watching him.
Why it matters
Through television, Bernstein opened classical music to millions of people who might never have entered a concert hall, and inspired generations of musicians and music teachers.
About Leonard Bernstein
Conductor & composer; "West Side Story," New York Philharmonic, music educator to a generation through the Young People's Concerts.
More about Leonard Bernstein
- Leonard Bernstein turned a prize into a school programmeWhen Leonard Bernstein won Japan's Praemium Imperiale in 1990, he used the 100,000 dollar prize to start an arts-in-education project that became the Artful Learning programme.
- Leonard Bernstein brought Mahler's symphonies back to lifeLeonard Bernstein was a critical figure in the modern revival of Gustav Mahler, recording his symphonies and helping make them central to the orchestral repertoire.
- Bernstein's Harvard lectures linked music and languageIn 1973 Leonard Bernstein gave six Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard, The Unanswered Question, applying ideas from linguistics to explain how music communicates.
- Bernstein's Ode to Freedom marked the Berlin Wall's fallOn Christmas Day 1989 Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven's Ninth in East Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Wall, changing the word joy to freedom for an audience of about 100 million.
- Leonard Bernstein founded the Pacific Music Festival in 1990In his final summer, 1990, Leonard Bernstein founded the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, which has since trained more than 3,200 young musicians.
- Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story reinvented the musicalLeonard Bernstein's score for West Side Story, which opened on Broadway in 1957, fused jazz, Latin rhythms and symphonic technique and is still performed around the world.
- Bernstein's Young People's Concerts taught millions musicFrom 1958 to 1972 Leonard Bernstein presented 53 televised Young People's Concerts, often called the most influential music education series ever produced for television.
- Leonard Bernstein conducted to support Amnesty InternationalLeonard Bernstein gave benefit concerts for Amnesty International in Munich in 1976 and Berlin in 1979, and set up a fund in his wife's name to aid human rights activists.
- Leonard Bernstein was an early champion of AIDS researchLeonard Bernstein took part in one of the earliest AIDS fundraisers in 1983 and later helped raise the first million dollars for amfAR's community-based clinical trials.
- Leonard Bernstein led a Journey for Peace to HiroshimaIn 1985 Leonard Bernstein took the European Community Youth Orchestra on a Journey for Peace tour, performing at the Hiroshima Peace Ceremony on the 40th anniversary of the bombing.
Sources
- Leonard Bernstein Wikipedia
- Young People's Concerts Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.