Leonard Bernstein – författare

For fans of Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, an extraordinary selection of revealing letters to and from one of the titans of 20th-century music  “Leonard Bernstein’s letters blow all biographies out of the water. . . . Full of fresh information and the authentic voice of a constant seeker.”—The Economist  “The book . . . is fascinating, enlightening and a veritable page-turner that will keep you up nights, ruin your sleep and wreak all sorts of havoc for 600 pages.”—Steve Suskin, Playbill  Leonard Bernstein was a charismatic and versatile musician—a brilliant conductor who attained international super-star status, and a gifted composer of Broadway musicals (West Side Story), symphonies (Age of Anxiety), choral works (Chichester Psalms), film scores (On the Waterfront), and much more. Bernstein was also an enthusiastic letter writer, and this book is the first to present a wide-ranging selection of his correspondence. The letters have been selected for the insights they offer into the passions of his life—musical and personal—and the extravagant scope of his musical and extra-musical activities.  Bernstein’s letters tell much about this complex man, his collaborators, his mentors, and others close to him. His galaxy of correspondents encompassed, among others, Aaron Copland,Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, Thornton Wilder, Boris Pasternak, Bette Davis, Adolph Green, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and family members, including his wife, Felicia, and his sister Shirley. The letters, many of which have never been published before, demonstrate the breadth of Bernstein’s musical interests, his constant struggle to find the time to compose, his turbulent and complex sexuality, his political activities, and his endless capacity for hard work. Beyond all this, these writings provide a glimpse of the man behind the legends: his humanity, warmth, volatility, intellectual brilliance, wonderful eye for descriptive detail, and humor.

“A summation of his beliefs about music as he looked into the final quarter of the 20th century...Bernstein’s talks still seem surprisingly fresh. But words were nearly as much Bernstein’s métier as music.”—New York Times Six in-depth lessons on the language of music from the legendary, Grammy Award–winning conductor.The varied forms of Leonard Bernstein’s musical creativity have been recognized and enjoyed by millions. These lectures, a special monument in Bernstein's legacy, also make fascinating reading. “Nobody anywhere presents this material so warmly, so sincerely, so skillfully,” says the composer Virgil Thomson. “As musical mind-openers they are first class; as pedagogy they are matchless.”Bernstein considers genres ranging from folk and pop to Hindu ragas, along with symphonic works from Mozart and Ravel to Ives and Copland. Drawing on Noam Chomsky’s linguistic theory, he suggests that each has roots in a “worldwide, inborn musical grammar,” and explores how this grammar generates such a staggeringly diverse array of musical dialects. He also mines his own experience as a master composer and conductor to delve beneath music’s aesthetic surface, discovering the hidden acoustic transformations that create unconscious resonance for listeners. Finally, examining twentieth-century crises in the music of Schoenberg and Stravinsky, Bernstein discovers a new iteration of the deep poetry of musical expression—finding, even in the throes of experimentalism, echoes of all that had come before.Armed with nearly one hundred notated examples and abundant charisma, Bernstein shows here that, in addition to being a consummate musical prodigy, he was also a master teacher. These talks remain among the composer’s greatest achievements.

On January 18, 1958, the Columbia Broadcasting Corporation aired the first of Leonard Bernstein's 53 Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic. So successful were these performance lessons that they ran for over a decade on television. This book brings back into print a classic collection of the best of the best of these Emmy and Peabody Award-winning lectures. A total of 15 lectures are presented here in full. Here is the century's most unique musician and teacher, explaining beautifully and clearly the joy of music in a way that grasps the attention of all. Every aspect of music is so cleverly presented that everyone, regardless of age, culture, or educational background, will enjoy and understand it.

This classic work is perhaps Bernstein's finest collection of conversations on the meaning and wonder of music. This book is a must for all music fans who wish to experience music more fully and deeply through one of the most inspired, and inspiring, music intellects of our time. Employing the creative device of “Imaginary Conversations” in the first section of his book, Bernstein illuminates the importance of the symphony in America, the greatness of Beethoven, and the art of composing. The book also includes a photo section and a third section with the transcripts from his televised Omnibus music series, including “Beethoven's Fifth Symphony ” “The World of Jazz ” “Introduction to Modern Music ” and “What Makes Opera Grand.”