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Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) is one of the most significant art-music composers of the twentieth century. He was a "composer, conductor, educator, pianist, and television personality" (The Enjoyment of Music, p. 588). He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and his parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Bernstein's intelligence and musical potential was clear at a very early age: he played the piano and was apart of a jazz band when he was thirteen. "He took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A. Tillman Merritt, among others" (Biography: Leonard Bernstein). At the age of twenty two, Bernstein studied at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer institute, Tanglewood. The orchestra's conductor was Serge Koussevitzky, and Bernstein later became his conducting assistant. This laid the foundation for a very promising future for Bernstein, as he was the youngest American-born composer to become director of the New York Philharmonic at the age of forty. Bernstein is one of the greatest composers of the 20th century for two major reasons. First, he was multi-talented in various aspects of music. He was a composer of a large body of work ranging from symphonies, to opera, to most significantly, musical theater. Some of Bernstein's major symphonic compositions are "'Prelude, Fugue and Riffs' for solo clarinet and jazz ensemble (1949); 'Serenade' for violin, strings and percussion, (1954); 'Symphonic Dances from West Side Story,' (1960); 'Chichester Psalms' for chorus, boy soprano and orchestra (1965) and 'Mass: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers,' commissioned for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC" (Biography: Leonard Bernstein). Bernstein was also a conductor, noted for his recordings and performances of Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, and Mahler. "Particularly notable were his performances of the Mahler symphonies with the New York Philharmonic in the 1960s, sparking a renewed interest in the works of Mahler" (Biography: Leonard Bernstein). Bernstein was also inspired by his close friend Aaron Copland. He was a strong promoter of Copland's work and he devoted many televised "Young People's Concerts" to him. Bernstein considered Copland's "Piano Variations" to be his signature trademark because Bernstein performed it so much as a young composer. Secondly, Bernstein is one of the most significant composers of the 20th century because he raised the genre of musical theater to a new level: melodically, artistically, and culturally. Since Bernstein had such an extensive background in classical music and composition, he was able to explore the worlds of "serious and popular music" and "bring the Broadway musical a compositional technique and knowledge of music that few of its earlier practitioners had possessed" (The Enjoyment of Music, p. 588). In West Side Story, Bernstein united jazz with musical theater. The musical score is brilliant, filled with jazzy tunes such as "Cool," as well as capturing the music of Latin America, in "Mambo." "A mambo is an Afro-Cuban dance with a fast and highly syncopated beat; in Bernstein's dance, the bongos and cowbells keep the frenetic pulse under the shouts of gang members and the jazzy riffs of woodwinds and brass" (The Enjoyment of Music, p. 591). Theater is a tremendous part of American cultural life as it is a form of art, music, and entertainment. It is also a medium to make cultural and political statements. Bernstein innovated the way in which audiences perceive musical theater and he accomplished this largely with his electrifying musical West Side Story. It is based on Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet which echoes the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, and the innocent yet tragic love of Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story was eventually adapted to a film that won ten Oscars and starred Natalie Wood as Maria. "The ground-breaking, dynamic film of 1961 was based on the successful Broadway hit - a staged musical play (opening in 1957) by writer Arthur Laurents and directed/choreographed by Jerome Robbins" (The Greatest Film Archive). West Side Story presents the Jets, an American gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang, who rival over who will rule the streets of the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the late 1950s. The main characters, Tony, an American and ex-Jet, and Maria, the sister of Bernardo (leader of the Sharks) fall in love at a dance. They secretly meet afterward and profess their pure and innocent love for one another. It is heart-breaking to watch Tony and Maria, because viewers can sense that due to their very different cultural backgrounds and traditions, their union will never be accepted by society. In addition, the Sharks and Jets are scheduled to rumble. Tony and Maria, who want peace, can do nothing about this. Tragically Maria loses her brother when Tony accidentally kills him in an attempt to stop the rumble at Maria's request. Maria also loses Tony when Bernardo's avenger Chino kills him. In the end, Maria declares to the Jets and the Sharks that they both killed Tony. She brings to everyone's attention the deadly consequences of killing for the sake of greed and prejudice. Leonard Bernstein's music grips listeners to the core of their souls and expresses, through art, the reality of violence and killing out of ignorance and racism in our world. West Side Story forces people to look at the reality of prejudice, crime, hopelessness, and ignorance in society. It reflects issues that society faced in the 20th century and which society continues to face. We are the only ones who can take responsibility for violence and stop it. This is what music and art has the ability to do: to inspire and educate so that we can communicate with other human beings with love in our hearts and hopefully make positive changes in our lives. Leonard Bernstein is truly one of the most significant composers of the 20th century because listening to his music results in a very unique, deeply moving and memborable experience.  |
