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Published: Tuesday, 03 December 2024 at 14:40 PM
Why did the FBI keep a file on him? And more fascinating facts from Leonard Bernstein’s eventful life
There’s so much to say about Leonard Bernstein, surely one of the 20th century’s most inspiring figures in the field of music: a passionate and articulate communicator and educator, Bernstein inspired a love of music in generations of American children, while also finding time to set down some of the most exciting performances of classical masterpieces.
In particular, he’s remembered as a visionary conductor of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. You should also hear, though, his versions of the symphonies of Sibelius, Nielsen, Schumann, and Mozart. Then there are his own creations, the masterful and emotive West Side Story not least among them.
So much to tell, in short. Here are the headlines from an incredible life.
Leonard Bernstein facts: a timeline of a remarkable life
1918: Leonard Bernstein is born
The eldest of three, Leonard Bernstein is born on 25 August in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Jewish parents, both immigrants from Russia. He starts piano lessons at ten against the wishes of his father, a supplier of hair and beauty products.
Bernstein’s parents had no musical background and were, initially, somewhat sceptical of his career choice. His father famously observed, ‘How do you make a living from music?’
1932: initiation into music
At age 13, a lifelong obsession with music is sparked when a relative gifts the Bernstein family an upright piano. Soon after, young Leonard begins piano lessons, showing remarkable talent.
1935-39: Harvard
At Harvard he studies with the American composer Walter Piston and forms friendships with Dimitri Mitropoulos and Aaron Copland. Continuing his conducting at the prestigious Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, he appears at Tanglewood Summer School.
1940: a crucial meeting
Bernstein studies conducting at the Tanglewood Music Center under Serge Koussevitzky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (one of America’s Big Five orchestras). Koussevitzky will become a mentor, profoundly influencing Bernstein’s career.
1943: Bernstein’s big break
He shoots to fame replacing an ill Bruno Walter as conductor of the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall. Within months the orchestra are playing his First Symphony (‘Jeremiah’).
Leonard Bernstein facts, continued: the busy 1950s and 1960s
1951: Bernstein marries
He marries Chilean actress Felicia Montealegre, with whom he subsequently has three children. Bernstein is one of the first prominent cultural figures to be openly bisexual, maintaining relationships with men throughout his marriage.
Having completed a second symphony (‘The Age of Anxiety’, 1949) he returns to more popular territory with Trouble in Tahiti (1952), Wonderful Town (1953) and music for the film On the Waterfront (1954).
1957: West Side Story
Hot on the heels of his 1956 operetta Candide comes Leonard Bernstein’s masterpiece, the box-office hit West Side Story. A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the musical fuses classical, jazz, and Latin influences – and soon comes to redefine American musical theatre.
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1958: the top job in New York
Bernstein becomes the first American-born Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, serving until 1969. During his tenure, he brings classical music to a broader audience through television programs like his hugely influential and still fondly remembered Young People’s Concerts.
1960s: politics and activism
During the politically charged 1960s, Bernstein becomes a vocal advocate for civil rights and social justice, supporting causes like the Civil Rights Movement and protesting the Vietnam War. His activism sometimes draws controversy – but reflects his ongoing commitment to using his platform for change.
Leonard Bernstein facts, continued: the 1970s and 1980s
1971: a blasphemous Mass
Religious themes dominate his later works, such as the Third Symphony (‘Kaddish’, 1963), Chichester Psalms (1965) and ballet Dybbuk (1974), though his music-theatre romp Mass: a Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers (1971) is too blasphemous for some.
Fascinatingly, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintained a file on Leonard Bernstein around this time, because of his left-leaning views. Specifically, during summer 1971, the FBI warned US President Richard Nixon and his aides that the Mass’s Latin text could possibly contain anti-war messages. These, it argued, could cause embarrass the President Nixon should he attend the work’s premiere.
Elsewhere, Bernstein’s pupils during the 1970s include the conductor Yakov Kreizberg.
1983: A Quiet Place
Houston Grand Opera stages his semi-autobiographical opera A Quiet Place, a work that incorporates the whole of his 1952 Trouble in Tahiti into a contemporary tale of love and alienation.
1989: the Berlin Wall concert
Six weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, on Christmas Day 1989, Leonard Bernstein triumphantly and emotionally conducts Beethoven‘s exultant Ninth Symphony in East Berlin. The orchestra and choir for the legendary Berlin Wall concert are drawn from both the former East and West Germany, plus France, the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom (the four nations that had shared Berlin for the previous 44 years). The word ‘Freude’ (‘Joy’) that gives the symphony its nickname ‘Ode to Joy’ is poignantly changed, for this performance, to ‘Freiheit’ (‘Freedom’).
1990: Leonard Bernstein dies
Two years after completing Arias and Barcarolles, Leonard Bernstein is diagnosed with lung cancer: his health quickly deteriorates. Smoking to the end, he dies of a heart attack on 14 October in New York. His body is buried in Brooklyn’s Green Wood Cemetery.
Why not try our Best of Bernstein playlist on Apple Music?
This article first appeared in the June 2005 issue of BBC Music Magazine, when Bernstein was the Composer of the Month.