Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction
by Eric Salzman
Period: Early 20th
Century
Born: Sunday, August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts
(USA)
Died: Sunday, October 14, 1990 in New York, New York
(USA)
Nation of Origin: United States
Major Works:
Orchestral:
Jeremiah (1944)
The Age of Anxiety (1949)
Serenade for Violin and Orchestra,
Ballet:
Fancy Free
Musical Theater / Opera:
West Side Story
Candide
Wonderful Town
Other Information:
Bernstein, from a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, was given
the name Louis by his parents. Later, to avoid confusion with
another Louis Bernstien, he changed his name to Leonard. He studied
music at Harvard and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. At
Tanglewood he studied with Serge Koussevitzky, the noted bassist
and conductor. In 1958 he became Music Director of the New York
Philharmonic where he created a famous series of television
broadcasts for children, The Young Persons Guide to the
Orchestra. Bernstein was a pianist, composer, and music
educator of high standing in 20th century music. He died of heart
failure in October of 1990.
General Bibliography:
Kennedy, Michael, The Oxford Dictionary of
Music, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 1997, ISBN:
0198691629
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc.,
January 2001, ISBN: 1561592390
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors,
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group,
December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
Slonimsky, Nicolas, Music Since 1900,
Schirmer Books, July 1994, ISBN: 0028724186
Links to essays at other sites:
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Biographical essay at the Karadar site
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Biographical essay at the Naxos site
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Biography at the Sony Classical site.
Biography at the BMG Classics site.
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