Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician

by Allen Shawn

Overview

For fans of Bradley Cooper’s film Maestro, an appreciation that gives Bernstein his due as composer as well as conductor
 
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 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300219852
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	03/22/2016
Series:	Jewish Lives
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Allen Shawn is a composer, pianist, educator, and author who lives in Vermont and teaches composition and music history at Bennington College. His previous books include Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey and Twin: A Memoir.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1

1 Dust 15

2 A Piano 21

3 Harvard 31

4 Curtis, Tanglewood, Boston, and New York 47

Part 2

5 Wonderful Times 63

6 Age of Anxiety 90

7 Serenade 102

8 Broadway and Carnegie Hall 128

9 What Does Music Mean? 156

10 At the Center 171

11 Chichester, Vienna, Mount Scopus 196

Part 3

12 Questions and Declarations 215

13 Dybbuk 230

14 In the Garden 242

15 Regrets, Celebrations, and Goodbyes 260

Notes 281

A Note on Sources 320

Bibliography 324

Acknowledgments 331

Index 335

Editorial Reviews

Excellent.”—David Denby, New Yorker

“An engrossing portrait of a gifted—and conflicted—man.”—Jerusalem Post

“A few luscious slices from the massive cake that was the life of the great pianist, composer, conductor and public personality. . . . A nearly impossible task, recording this lush life, but Shawn helps us comprehend the magic.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A composer and pianist himself, [Shawn] shares Bernstein’s contempt for the high-/low-culture debate. Admire Bernstein’s symphonies and choral works though he does, he knows that most of Bernstein’s best work was written for Broadway—and that the best of Broadway is up there with Britten and Brahms. . . . Shawn’s analysis should convince even the stuffiest aesthete that [West Side Story’s] mash-up of classical melodies with jazz rhythms and Schoenbergian dissonance wasn’t just new—it will be new forever.”—Spectator

“Shawn draws all these aspects of Bernstein into a full-scale and attractive human portrait, and an equally full-scale portrait of Bernstein’s music. With his knowledgeable analysis of Bernstein’s vast output, Shawn sends readers rushing back to listen, whether to West Side Story, Kaddish, Candide, or any number of other works. Well-paced and highly readable, Leonard Bernstein brings alive both the man and his music.”—Maron L. Waxman, Jewish Book Council

“Allen Shawn’s moving, discerning book examines what made ‘Lenny’ the envy of both classical and Broadway composers. Craving attention both on the podium and off, ‘he may have been an inveterate show-off at a party, but on paper he was precise and serious.’ Shawn’s musical analyses vie with his chronicling of Bernstein’s eclecticism: his progressive politics, teaching ability, sexual conflicts, insecurities and remarkable circle of friends.”—Norwalk Hour

“I can’t imagine a better biography of Leonard Bernstein. His intensity, complexity, and personal charm come across fully; so do his manifest importance to twentieth-century American culture and his intimate relation to the music he produced. Bravo!”—Wendy Lesser

From the Publisher

"Shawn draws all these aspects of Bernstein into a full-scale and attractive human portrait, and an equally full-scale portrait of Bernstein’s music. With his knowledgeable analysis of Bernstein’s vast output, Shawn sends readers rushing back to listen, whether to West Side Story, Kaddish, Candide, or any number of other works. Well-paced and highly readable, Leonard Bernstein brings alive both the man and his music."—Maron L. Waxman, Jewish Book Council

Jewish Book Council - Maron L. Waxman

“A composer and pianist himself, [Shawn] shares Bernstein’s contempt for the high-/low-culture debate. Admire Bernstein’s symphonies and choral works though he does, he knows that most of Bernstein’s best work was written for Broadway — and that the best of Broadway is up there with Britten and Brahms . . . Shawn’s analysis should convince even the stuffiest aesthete that [West Side Story’s] mash-up of classical melodies with jazz rhythms and Schoenbergian dissonance wasn’t just new — it will be new forever.”—Spectator

Spectator

"Allen Shawn’s moving, discerning book examines what made 'Lenny' the envy of both classical and Broadway composers. Craving attention both on the podium and off, 'he may have been an inveterate show-off at a party, but on paper he was precise and serious.' Shawn’s musical analyses vie with his chronicling of Bernstein’s eclecticism: his progressive politics, teaching ability, sexual conflicts, insecurities and remarkable circle of friends."—Norwalk Hour

Norwalk Hour

'There were, and are, critics who believe that Bernstein’s facility and fecundity was merely dilettantism. Allen Shawn’s suave new biography hopes to give them pause.'—Christopher Bray, The Spectator

The Spectator - Christopher Bray

"I can't imagine a better biography of Leonard Bernstein. His intensity, complexity, and personal charm come across fully; so do his manifest importance to twentieth-century American culture and his intimate relation to the music he produced. Bravo!"—Wendy Lesser

Wendy Lesser

"An engrossing portrait of a gifted—and conflicted—man."—Jerusalem Post

Jerusalem Post

2014-07-29
A few luscious slices from the massive cake that was the life of the great pianist, composer, conductor and public personality (1918-1990). In this latest entry in the publisher's Jewish Lives series, Shawn (Composition and Music History/Bennington Coll.; Wish I Could Be There: Notes From a Phobic Life, 2007, etc.) begins with some vignettes and then embraces chronology, confessing the impossibility of confining such a life as Bernstein's between the covers of a book. We learn about his parents, his schooling (Boston Latin and Harvard, where he emerged as a star) and his early realization that he "was physically attracted to both sexes." Although Shawn does not focus intently on Bernstein's sex life (there are more urgent items on his agenda), he does remind us throughout that Bernstein had a variety of lovers, as well as a long, sometimes-troubled marriage and three children. The author describes Bernstein's gift as a pianist and his segue into conducting; his big break came in 1943, when he stepped in to conduct the New York Philharmonic, a life-changing success. Since he has few pages and a lot to discuss, Shawn can pause only occasionally to discuss a Bernstein composition in detail (he does so with The Age of Anxiety and Candide, among others). But the author reminds us of Bernstein's long-lost music for Peter Pan and writes with near reverence about his 53 Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic. Shawn also discusses West Side Story (and the genesis of Bernstein's friendship with young lyricist Stephen Sondheim), his passion for Mahler, his championing of American classical music, the Norton Lectures at Harvard, and his liberal social and political stances. (He once attended a Jimi Hendrix concert.) Shawn gives some space to Bernstein's critics, as well, and he does not neglect the composer's final sad slide. A nearly impossible task, recording this lush life, but Shawn helps us comprehend the magic.

Kirkus Reviews