- Person
- Leonard Bernstein
- Lived
- 1918–1990
- Field
- Music
- From
- American
The story
The New York Philharmonic had been presenting concerts for children since 1924, when the conductor Ernest Schelling founded its Young People's Concerts. In 1947, when the committee chose a new conductor for the series, the young Leonard Bernstein received only three votes. Eleven years later he returned as the orchestra's music director, and he took the traditional Saturday afternoon concerts to the CBS television network.
The first televised programme, What Does Music Mean?, was broadcast from Carnegie Hall on 18 January 1958. Bernstein wrote every script himself, and he treated children as intelligent listeners. He explained sonata form, harmony and orchestration with humour and enthusiasm, had audiences sing rounds and intervals, and sometimes sang the pop songs of the day, including the Beatles' And I Love Her, to make a point about older music. In 1962 the series became the first to be broadcast live from the new Lincoln Center, and for several seasons it ran in prime time.
The concerts also showcased young performers, several of whom became famous in their own right, including the conductors Claudio Abbado and Seiji Ozawa, the flautist Paula Robison and the pianist André Watts.
Over 53 programmes between 1958 and 1972, ending with a finale devoted to Holst's The Planets, the series reached millions of families. It was syndicated in more than 40 countries, often with Bernstein dubbed into other languages, and won five Emmy Awards between 1962 and 1966. A recording of one programme, Humor in Music, won a Grammy in 1961. Critics came to regard the concerts as the most influential series of music education programmes ever produced for television, and they were later released on home video and DVD.
Their influence is still felt. Musicians often tell Bernstein's children that watching the broadcasts is why they took up music, and the New York Philharmonic continues to present Young People's Concerts every season. Bernstein himself said he was proudest of his achievements as a teacher.
Why it matters
The series introduced a generation of children and families to classical music and remains a model for music education on screen.
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 taught classical music to millions on TVLeonard Bernstein, the first American-born music director of the New York Philharmonic, wrote and hosted 53 televised Young People's Concerts, shown in more than 40 countries.
- 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.
- 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
- Leonard Bernstein: Educator Leonard Bernstein Office
- Young People's Concerts Wikipedia
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