Experiencing Leonard Bernstein

Author : Kenneth LaFave
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2023-06-14
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781442235441

Get Book

Experiencing Leonard Bernstein by Kenneth LaFave Pdf

Leonard Bernstein is a household name. Most know him for his classic musical reworking of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as Broadway’s West Side Story. But Bernstein accomplished so much more as a composer, and his body of work is both broad and varied. He composed ballets (Fancy Free, Facsimile, Dybbuk), operas (Trouble in Tahiti, Candide, A Quiet Place), musicals (On the Town, Wonderful Town), film scores (On the Waterfront), symphonies, choral works, chamber music pieces, art songs, and piano works. In Experiencing Leonard Bernstein: A Listener’s Companion, Kenneth LaFave guides readers past Bernstein’s famously tortured personal problems and into the clarity and balance of his Serenade after Plato’s Symposium for Violin and Orchestra, the intense drama of his music for On the Waterfront, the existential cosmography of his three symphonies, and his vibrant works for the musical stage. Perhaps the most famous American classical musician born in the twentieth century, Bernstein divided his time between c

Author : Meryle Secrest
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 500 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 067973757X

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein by Meryle Secrest Pdf

The most insightful and engrossing work we have had from the widely admired biographer of Frank Lloyd Wright ("Captivating ... The reader comes away with an understanding of Wright as a man as well as an architect" -- Washington Post Book World ... "Spellbinding" -- Boston Globe), of Bernard Berenson ("Authoritative and fascinating" -- Philip Toynbee, The Observer ... "A memorable opus" -- Sir Harold Acton), and of Kenneth Clark ("Splendid, enthralling" -- Wall Street Journal). Here is Leonard Bernstein, full scale and fully alive -- the child prodigy, the man, the composer, the teacher, the hugely charismatic personality, the lover, the American folk hero. Everything is here: the child growing up in a Hasidic family in Massachusetts, his father a rabbi's son; his first piano at age nine ("I remember touching it ... It was my contact with life, with God"); his reluctant, brilliant, argumentative years at Harvard; the rocky but exhilarating start of his career (scant jobs, no money, but friendships with Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Judy Holliday, Comden and Green, et al.); his spectacular debut (understudy into a star!) as substitute conductor at the New York Philharmonic; the great career over the years as a composer in classical music (the Kaddish Symphony, Chichester Psalms, Songfest), and in musical theater (On the Town, Wonderful Town, Candide, West Side Story, Mass, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). We see Bernstein: the good father to his three children, the man who adored his wife, Felicia Montealegre, the man who adored men, the brilliant and generous mentor, the temperamental artist, the hypochondriac, the politician, the businessman, the Pied Piper ... His life, hismusic, the great international cultural world in which he traveled, are richly and vividly portrayed in this magnificent biography, alive with music -- and with life. "From the Hardcover edition.

Author : Kenneth LaFave
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 215 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2017-04-01
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781442258426

Get Book

Experiencing Film Music by Kenneth LaFave Pdf

Of all the elements that combine to make movies, music sometimes seems the forgotten stepchild. Yet it is an integral part of the cinematic experience. Minimized as mere “background music,” film scores enrich visuals with emotional mood and intensity, underscoring directors’ intentions, enhancing audiences’ reactions, driving the narrative forward, and sometimes even subverting all three. Trying to imagine The Godfather or Lawrence of Arabia with a different score is as difficult as imagining them featuring a different cast. In Experiencing Film Music: A Listener’s Companion, Kenneth LaFave guides the reader through the history, ideas, personalities, and visions that have shaped the music we hear on the big screen. Looking back to the music improvised for early silent movies, LaFave traces the development of the film score from such early epic masterpieces as Max Steiner’s work for Gone With the Wind, Bernard Herrmann’s musical creations for Alfred Hitchcock’s thrillers, Jerry Goldsmith’s sonic presentation of Chinatown, and Ennio Morricone’s distinctive rewrite of the Western genre, to John Williams’ epoch-making Jaws and Star Wars. LaFave also brings readers into the present with looks at the work over the last decade and a half of Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestre, Carter Brey, and Danny Elfman. Experiencing Film Music: A Listener’s Companion opens the ears of film-goers to the nuance behind movie music, laying out in simple, non-technical language how composers and directors map what we hear to what we see—and, not uncommonly, back again.

Author : Leonard Bernstein
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 444 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 1976
Category : Music
ISBN : 0674920015

Get Book

The Unanswered Question by Leonard Bernstein Pdf

Leonard Bernstein's Norton Lectures on the future course of music drew cheers from his Harvard audiences and television viewers. In the re-creation of his talks, the author considers music ranging from Hindu ragas through Mozart and Ravel to Copland, Shoenberg, and Stravinsky.

Author : Paul Laird
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 317 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2013-10-11
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781135696788

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein by Paul Laird Pdf

Beginning with an introductory essay on his achievements, it continues with annotations on Bernstein's voluminous writings, performances, educational work, and major secondary sources.

Author : Burton Bernstein,Barbara Haws
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 245 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2010-11-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780062043146

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein by Burton Bernstein,Barbara Haws Pdf

One of the most gifted, celebrated, scrutinized, and criticized musicians in the second half of the twentieth century, Leonard Bernstein made his legendary conducting debut at the New York Philharmonic in 1943, at age 25. A year later, he became a sensation on Broadway with the premiere of On the Town. Throughout the 1950s, his Broadway fame only grew with Wonderful Town, Candide, and West Side Story. And in 1958, the Philharmonic appointed him the first American Music Director of a major symphony orchestra—a signal historical event. He was adored as a quintessential celebrity but one who could do it all—embracing both popular and classical music, a natural with the new medium of television, a born teacher, writer, and speaker, as well as a political and social activist. In 1976, having conducted the Philharmonic for more than one thousand concerts, he took his orchestra on tour to Europe for the last time. All of this played out against the backdrop of post-Second World War New York City as it rose to become the cultural capital of the world—the center of wealth, entertainment, communications, and art—and continued through the chaotic and galvanizing movements of the 1960s that led to its precipitous decline by the mid 1970s. The essays within this book do not simply retell the Bernstein story; instead, Leonard Bernstein's brother, Burton Bernstein, and current New York Philharmonic archivist and historian, Barbara B. Haws, have brought together a distinguished group of contributors to examine Leonard Bernstein's historic relationship with New York City and its celebrated orchestra. Composer John Adams, American historians Paul Boyer and Jonathan Rosenberg, music historians James Keller and Joseph Horowitz, conductor and radio commentator Bill McGlaughlin, musicologist Carol Oja, and music critics Tim Page and Alan Rich have written incisive essays, which are enhanced by personal reminiscences from Burton Bernstein. The result is a telling portrait of Leonard Bernstein, the musician and the man.

Author : Charlie Harmon
Publisher : Charlesbridge Publishing
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2019-06-18
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781632892379

Get Book

On the Road and Off the Record with Leonard Bernstein by Charlie Harmon Pdf

Celebrating Leonard Bernstein's centenary with an intimate and detailed look at the public and private life of the Maestro written by his former assistant. Foreword by Broadway legend Harold Prince. "An affectionate portrait of an eminent musician who was driven by demons." —Kirkus Reviews "Harmon’s personable and warm account of what it was like to work for one of the twentieth century’s musical giants casts new light on Bernstein and his world." —Booklist "This multifaceted perspective gives readers plenty of salacious gossip paired with insight into Leonard Bernstein’s remarkable artistic achievements later in life." —Library Journal On the Road is a colorfully written, unforgettably entertaining and unputdownable book, and is available just in time for LB’s 100th birthday. Unreservedly recommended. —Fanfare Magazine Leonard Bernstein reeked of cheap cologne and obviously hadn't showered, shaved, or slept in a while. Was he drunk to boot? He greeted his new assistant with "What are you drinking?" Yes, he was drunk. Charlie Harmon was hired to manage the day-to-day parts of Bernstein's life. There was one additional responsibility: make sure Bernstein met the deadline for an opera commission. But things kept getting in the way: the centenary of Igor Stravinsky, intestinal parasites picked up in Mexico, teaching all summer in Los Angeles, a baker's dozen of young men, plus depression, exhaustion, insomnia, and cut-throat games of anagrams. Did the opera get written? For four years, Charlie saw Bernstein every day, as his social director, gatekeeper, valet, music copyist, and itinerant orchestra librarian. He packed (and unpacked) Bernstein's umpteen pieces of luggage, got the Maestro to his concerts, kept him occupied changing planes in Zurich, Anchorage, Tokyo, or Madrid, and learned how to make small talk with mayors, ambassadors, a chancellor, a queen, and a Hollywood legend or two. How could anyone absorb all those people and places? Because there was music: late-night piano duets, or the Maestro's command to accompany an audition, or, by the way, the greatest orchestras in the world. Charlie did it, and this is what it was like, told for the first time.

Author : Leonard Bernstein
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 903 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2013-10-29
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780300186543

Get Book

The Leonard Bernstein Letters by Leonard Bernstein Pdf

“With their intellectual brilliance, humor and wonderful eye for detail, Leonard Bernstein’s letters blow all biographies out of the water.”—The Economist (2013 Book of the Year) Leonard Bernstein was a charismatic and versatile musician—a brilliant conductor who attained international superstar 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 majority of these letters have never been published before. They have been carefully chosen to 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. “The correspondence from and to the remarkable conductor is full of pleasure and insights.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) “Exhaustive, thrilling [and] indispensable.”—USA Today (starred review)

Author : Jean F. Blashfield
Publisher : Infobase Publishing
Page : 129 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Biography
ISBN : 9781438111995

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein by Jean F. Blashfield Pdf

Presents the life and career of influential conductor Leonard Bernstein.

Author : Leonard Bernstein
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 19??
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:1052998260

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein conducts music of our time by Leonard Bernstein Pdf

Author : Allen Shawn
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 359 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2014-09-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780300210170

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein by Allen Shawn Pdf

Leonard Bernstein stood at the epicenter of twentieth-century American musical life. His creative gifts knew no boundaries as he moved easily from the podium, to the piano, to television with his nationally celebrated Young People’s Concerts, which introduced an entire generation to the joy of classical music. In this fascinating new biography, the breadth of Bernstein’s musical composition is explored, through the spectacular range of music he composed—from West Side Story to Kaddish to A Quiet Place and beyond—and through his intensely public role as an internationally celebrated conductor. For the first time, the composer’s life and work receive a fully integrated analysis, offering a comprehensive appreciation of a multi-faceted musician who continued to grow as an artist well into his final days.

Author : Paul R. Laird,Hsun Lin
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 364 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2019-07-31
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781538113455

Get Book

Historical Dictionary of Leonard Bernstein by Paul R. Laird,Hsun Lin Pdf

Historical Dictionary of Leonard Bernstein contains a chronology, an introduction, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries encompassing people whom he befriended or worked with, institutions, orchestras, performance venues, cities, compositional methods, and compositions.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Hal Leonard Corporation
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Music
ISBN : 1574671049

Get Book

The Joy of Music by Anonim Pdf

(Amadeus). 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."

Author : Nigel Simeone
Publisher : Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Music
ISBN : 0754664848

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story by Nigel Simeone Pdf

West Side Story is one of the few Broadway musicals that can make a genuine claim to transforming the genre. Nigel Simeone begins by exploring the long process of creating West Side Story, including a discussion of Bernstein's sketches, early drafts of the score and script, as well as cut songs. The core of the book is the commentary on the music itself. West Side Story is one of the very few Broadway musicals for which there is a complete published orchestral score, as well as two different editions of the piano-vocal score. The survival of the original copied orchestral score, and the reminiscences of Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, reveal details of the orchestration process, and the extent to which Bernstein was involved in this. Simeone concludes by placing West Side Story in the context of Bernstein's oeuvre as well as considering the lasting impact and reputation of the show.

Author : Claudia Swan
Publisher : EOS Music
Page : 112 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : STANFORD:36105022963198

Get Book

Leonard Bernstein by Claudia Swan Pdf

This volume of essays and images explores Leonard Bernstein's Harvard period, and his achievements as scholar, teacher, composer. The book illuminates Bernstein's grappling with American music, and searching for one that synthesized the diverse influences he had heard (Jewish music, Stravinsky, American pop). Bernstein's composing career, like Gershwin's, gives the complexity of American music a sound, and as Gershwin went from Tin Pan Alley to the opera house, Bernstein experienced many different types of music before finding his voice among them.