Person/Influence

Frieda Karp, First piano teacher

Susan Williams, Second piano teacher, wasnt good
Sid Ramin, became friends at 12, gave him piano lessons, orchestrator WSS
Helen Coates, recommended by Heinrich Gebhard, gave Leo piano lessons
Koussevitsky, Leo modeled himself after the great Russian Conductor
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor, gay, met at Harvard, mentor
Adolph Green/Betty Comden, met at Harvard, lifelong friends, work with Leo on
projects for the rest of their lives
Aaron Copland/long important friendship, central figure in NY circles
Mark Blitzstein/ composoer of cradle, charmed by Berstein
Copland/Blitzstein
Raveurs/ Greens group, performed satirical songs in the village
Fritz Reiner/ Curtis Inst, conductor
Randall Thompson/C.I., orchestration
Miquelle/score reading CI
Boston Pops Orchestra/ Leo debut with pro orch
Ircving Ceaser/ worked with Gershwin saw talent in leo, introcuded him to harms-
witmark owned by WB
Arthur Rodzinski/offered Leo assis con at NY phil
Arthur Judson/ headed Columbia
Bruno Walker/ fell ill, Leo conducted.. was overnight sensation
Jerome Robbins/young choreographer, fancy free, partnership to on the town, wss,
dybbuk\
George Abbot/ on the town new director, made it good
Oliver smith/producer, on the town
Lester Cowan/ The beckoning affair
Schonberh/objected to podium histrionics
Seiji Ozawa/Japanese assistant/protege







Song/About
A Quiet Place/ father and son
Class Song/First completed composition
Pirates/Met green and comden
Music for the dance/ first full length recital
The Birds/ asked to write for greek society, incidental music, fanfares, chamber
orchestra
El Salon Mexico/first published work to bear his name
The Cradle Will Rock/Controvesial, left-wing sympathies, almost closed first night
Jeremiah/ first completed symphony
On the town/e3 sailors
Peter Grimes/ Tanglewood/not the best
Fascimilie/contrast to fancy free/desperate search of young people seeking
meaningful relationships/dropped after five years/great lyricism, strongly
rhythmic, jazz-oriented drive
Fanfare for Bima/ for kous 73, dog
Age of anxiety/ long poem- search for faith in a contemporary world, dedicated to
kous, two years to finish, leos 2
nd
symphony, major contribution
Trouble in Tahiti/ our failure to communicate meaningfully with one other, satirical
Wonderful Town/ best musical since guys and dolls, witty, stylish, sophisticated
On the waterfront/ score was only an accompaniment, didnt win ocsar, never
composed another film score
Serenade/love for human kind
Omnibus/ creation of beet 5
Candide/ volataire novel, rewritten, uneasy reviews, first flop
Kaddish/ jew prayer glorifying god at the end of synnogaue and prayer children
recite at parents graves
Chichester/filled with joy and trust in god/most tonal piece
Mass: most ambitious theater work/theatrical musical expereience
Chapter 2 Notes:
Ma

Autumn 1945 est all new city symphony
Included repertoire copland, britten, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Hindemith,
Milhaud, diamond, chavez, Bartok, blitzstein
Sought the advice of shrinks, troubled over sexual identity
Give up conducting, dedicate himself to composing. Gustav Mahler
Told PM he saw himself as a conductor
Musical riverlay between rodzinski
Even at an early age leo was the subject of strongly opposing points of view
1946 he met Felicia, wife and mother of his 3 children
1946- London Phil, mixed reviews, extravagant conducting
engaged 1946
Boston vs. NY
Leo would have never met appropriate criteria in boston no matter what
Wore a cross from Mitropoulos and cuff from kousevitsky
Conducted Palestine phil in jerusulem
1948 changed publishers, wrote new material
o age of anxiety
went to palestine again, Israel orch also
created one of the largest catalogues
kous died 1951
o leo took over tanglewood
focus on being a composer
loyal democrat
Italy, maria callas
East side story, newspaper, Mexican gang and LA youth
West side story, east side manhattan apart being ripped down
Cover of time



Chapter 3:
Western European music dominated by Herbert von Karajan
Had first behind the scene manipulation in Austria
o Rumors no tickets were available
In warsaw the audience would not let him leave the stage until solo piano
recital
Moscow was climax
Shocked Russia with comments
Compared reaction to stravinksy balet to rebirth of their nation
o Insulting
o Brainwashed in coldwar
o Stra created a revolution five years before russias own
o Clear path for stravinksy to return
Two other non musical events happened during the tour
o Sam returned to Russia
o Meeting with Russian writer boris Pasternak
Forced to decline by Russian authorites
Despite everything Russian tour was success
Press conference Bernstein critisiczed Russian music for lack of experiment
and outmoded systems
o Joint letter published by composers in Russia
Return new season he concentrated on the music of Mahler
o Became deeply assiciatd with
Began Amberson Enterprises to look after financial and legal business
Bersteins first book, the joy of music was published in 1960
o Instant bestseller
Visits to whitehouse, JFK
Gottlieb WSS is european/American not an opera or comedy
Despite critics he did Not change podium ways
o But admitted it hurt him
Went to japan
o Enchanted by oriental chamrs
o Audiences hesitant to accept extrovert music making
o Ozawa
Took Felicia on a cruise, conducated prince rainers orchestra in Monaco
11/22/63 kennedy assassinated
o dedicated kaddish to him
kaddish first performed in tel-aviv`
o first anguish
o lullaby
o jubilant
the need for faith was the idea behind jeremiah, kaddish, and age of anxety
dissonance leading to resolution
a composer at his most serious and finest
reviews were personal
o finest works
o least understoof
o least performed
o ahead of its time
bernsteins works should be judged for themselves and not the creator
higlhly dramatic treatment of deeply religious subject that angered most
critics
second half of 1964 wasted
Dean of Chichester Cathedral commishoned for choral work
o Chichester pslams
o Most popluar and accessible works
1964/5 sabbatical year worked with 12 tone
WSS hinted in nations
High standing with musicians in the orchestra
Berstein composer of target
o Alan roch
o Schonberg
Worked better with deadlines
Six day war in the middle east
o Artistic leadership
o Cultural support
Wasnt productive in Italy
rain of beauty for Mahler cover and mag article
new home was Vienna
acquintated players to the music in Vienna
replaced Karajan emotionally to audiences
o lack of formality
o Schonberg praised Bernstein
1969 sam died
left ny phil2

Chapter 4:
used free time to est stronger conducting with European orchestra
o Vienna phil
Set up amerberson to manage buisenss stuff so he could focus on music etc.
Return conducting in ny received little acclaim
Found himself at the centre of two controversial issues concerning civil
rights and his own attitudes towards blacks
o Ny phil discriminated against blacks when he was director
o Played host to black urban terrorists
Mass
o Not in touch with popular contempoaray music
o No matter where it was performed it never received unanimous
acceptance
o mid-life crisis
Norton Project
o Serve as professor of poetry at Harvard
Lerner
DGG took on recording of Carmen when CBS wouldnt
o Good for Vienna Berlin relationships
o Re-recorded his repertoire in Vienna, isreal and london
CBS losing interest in classical recordings
A plea for peace concert for Vietnam
Dyybuk influenced by Stravinsky
1600 closed after 7 shows
o lerner a musical
o Bernstein an opera