Bernstein, Leonard
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:
Slonimsky, Nicolas, Music Since 1900, Schirmer Books, July 1994, ISBN: 0028724186
Salzman, Eric, Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction, Pearson, October 2001, ISBN: 0130959413
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group, December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc., January 2004, ISBN: 0195170679
Rutherford-Johnson, Tim, Kennedy, Michael, and Kennedy, Joyce The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 6th Edition, 2012, ISBN: 0199578109
Links to essays at other sites:
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Biographical essay from Wikipedia
Biography at the Sony Classical site.
Biography at the BMG Classics site.
