Research Guides: Leonard Bernstein: Biography

Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 - October 14, 1990)

Bernstein created a large and varied output despite the much-publicized dramas about his inconstant attention to composing. He became famous for his score (and some lyrics) for the musical West Side Story, a collaboration with other Jewish gay artists (Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbins). He produced compelling, popular scores for ballet (Fancy Free, 1944), an earlier musical (On the Town, 1944), and Hollywood film (On the Waterfront, 1954). Candide slowly gained acceptance; its overture became a ubiquitous performance and recording piece. He produced a virtual violin concerto (Serenade, 1954), symphonies (including The Age of Anxiety,1949), the choral piece Chichester Psalms (1965), the controversial Mass (1971), the disastrous bicentennial musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976), and other works. Continue . . .

Source: Sherry, Michael. "Bernstein, Leonard." Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History in America, edited by Marc Stein, vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004, pp. 136-137. From Gale Virtual Reference database.

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Leonard Bernstein: the Political Life of an American Musician

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Leonard Bernstein Official Website Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A. Tillman Merritt, among others. Before graduating in 1939, he made an unofficial conducting debut with his own incidental music to "The Birds," and directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock." Then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and orchestration with Randall Thompson..
Leonard Bernstein's educational legacy Focuses on the impact of the death of 72-year-old Leonard Bernstein on October 14, 1990 on the music world in the United States. Detailed information on Bernstein's career in music; Bernstein's contribution to the music world in the United States; Background information on Bernstein.
Leonard Bernstein at 100 Leonard Bernstein at 100 and a Father's Educational Legacy The article presents an interview with Alexander Bernstein son of music composer Leonard Bernstein. Topics discussed include Leonard's educational legacy and the Bernstein Education Through the Arts Fund; the views of Leonard's daughter Jamie Bernstein, on her fathers' passion for education; and the passion that he had for music. Also mentioned is the integration of arts education into general disciplines.
The Complex Life Of Leonard Bernstein, A Once-In-A-Century Talent Aug. 25, 2018 marks the centennial of Leonard Bernstein's birth. He was a singular American talent and one of the great orchestra conductors of his generation. He was also a composer of symphonies, ballets and hit musicals, a teacher, a television personality and a complicated man with a complicated personal life.
Banishing Bernstein This essay profiles U.S. conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. Educational background at Harvard University; Career highlights; Overview of his relationship with friends.
Leonard Bernstein at 100: Exhibition at The Kennedy Center This exhibition at the Kennedy Center has now closed. For more information about the exhibition tour, please visit - http://leonardbernstein.com/at100 As part of the worldwide celebration of the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein—one of America’s greatest composers and conductors—the GRAMMY Museum® brings a free special traveling exhibition to the Kennedy Center that displays more than 150 artifacts—including photographs, personal items, papers, scores, correspondence, costumes, furniture, and films. As the official exhibition of the centennial, Leonard Bernstein at 100 is the most comprehensive retrospective of Bernstein’s life and career ever staged in an exhibition setting.

From Films On Demand Database:

Leonard Bernstein Karsh photographs the composer in his studio
Conductor Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein rehearses the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (1967). What is necessary in a conductor is to have a "giant personality and the ability to be an extraordinary psychologist." He conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Mahler's Symphony No. 4 (1972).
Orchestra Rehearsal: Leonard Bernstein Violinist Isaac Stern comments on the art of conducting. Leonard Bernstein rehearses the London Symphony Orchestra in 1967. Good conductors become legends in their own lifetimes.
Isaac Stern on Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein rehearses the London Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 (1967). Isaac Stern shares his reasons for his admiration of Bernstein. Clips of Bernstein show how energetically he conducts.

Leonard Bernstein: Biography

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Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz

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