History Music / LeonardBernstein

Bernstein composed works in a variety of genres, including symphonies, suites, pieces for choir and solo voice, and chamber music. His works for the stage include the ballets ''Fancy Free'' and ''Facsimile'', the comic operetta ''Literature/{{Candide}}'' (adapted from the novella by Creator/{{Voltaire}}), the one-act opera ''Trouble in Tahiti'' (later expanded upon by the sequel ''A Quiet Place''), incidental songs for a semi-musical production of ''[[Theatre/PeterPan1904 Peter Pan]]'', and the musicals ''Film/OnTheTown'', ''Theatre/Wonderful Town'', and ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' (and the latter's [[Film/WestSideStory1961 film adaptation]]), the work for which he is most well known. Bernstein also composed the score for ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'', and his music has appeared in other films ranging from ''Film/RearWindow'' to ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' and in television productions from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' to ''Series/UglyBetty'' and ''Series/{{Glee}}''.

Bernstein composed works in a variety of genres, including symphonies, suites, pieces for choir and solo voice, and chamber music. His works for the stage include the ballets ''Fancy Free'' and ''Facsimile'', the comic operetta ''Literature/{{Candide}}'' (adapted from the novella by Creator/{{Voltaire}}), the one-act opera ''Trouble in Tahiti'' (later expanded upon by the sequel ''A Quiet Place''), incidental songs for a semi-musical production of ''[[Theatre/PeterPan1904 Peter Pan]]'', and the musicals ''Film/OnTheTown'', ''Wonderful Town'', and ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' (and the latter's [[Film/WestSideStory1961 film adaptation]]), the work for which he is most well known. Bernstein also composed the score for ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'', and his music has appeared in other films ranging from ''Film/RearWindow'' to ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' and in television productions from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' to ''Series/UglyBetty'' and ''Series/{{Glee}}''.

Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 -- October 14, 1990), composer, lecturer, and conductor, was one of the most famous and successful American musicians of the 20th century.

Bernstein composed works in a variety of genres, including symphonies, suites, pieces for choir and solo voice, and chamber music. His works for the stage include the ballets ''Fancy Free'' and ''Facsimile'', the comic operetta ''Literature/{{Candide}}'' (based on the novella by Creator/{{Voltaire}}), the one-act opera ''Trouble in Tahiti'' (later expanded upon by the sequel ''A Quiet Place''), incidental songs for a semi-musical production of ''[[Theatre/PeterPan1904 Peter Pan]]'', and the musicals ''Film/OnTheTown'', ''Wonderful Town'', and ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' (and the latter's [[Film/WestSideStory1961 film adaptation]]), the work for which he is most well known. Bernstein also composed the score for the film ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'', and his music has appeared in other movies ranging from ''Film/RearWindow'' to ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' and in television productions from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' to ''Series/UglyBetty'' and ''Series/{{Glee}}''.

He died of pneumonia in 1990, not long after conducting a performance of works by Benjamin Britten and [[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]] at the Tanglewood music festival. As his funeral procession made its way through Manhattan, construction workers were said to have waved their hats in the air and shouted: "Goodbye, Lenny!" He was buried with a conductor's score of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 placed on his chest.

A movie about his life: ''{{Film/Maestro}}.'' was directed by Creator/BradleyCooper and produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/MartinScorsese. It was released in November 2023.

He is the partial TropeNamer of SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein, based on a lyric in Music/{{REM}}'s [[Music/{{Document}} "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"]]. The song came out in 1987, while Bernstein died in 1990, so it's entirely possible he was aware he was in the song.

Not to be confused with the equally famous composer and conductor, Music/ElmerBernstein (for one, their last names are pronounced differently[[note]]Leonard's surname is pronounced "Burn-STINE", Elmer's surname is pronounced "Burn-STEEN".[[/note]]).

As a conductor, Bernstein is best known for conducting performances of works by his fellow American composers, such as Music/AaronCopland and Music/CharlesIves, as well as works by Music/JosephHaydn, Music/RobertSchumann, Music/IgorStravinsky, Music/DmitriShostakovich, and especially Music/GustavMahler, whose symphonies he helped bring into the standard classical repertoire.

Bernstein was known for his innovative ideas of how to educate the public in music. He was one of the first classical musicians to make frequent television appearances, producing dozens of ''Young People's Concerts'' for CBS in the '50s and '60s. In 1973, he made a series of six videotaped lectures at Harvard University. He titled these lectures ''The Unanswered Question'' after a composition by Charles Ives. These lectures were later broadcast on PBS, and are available today in book form and on DVD.

Bernstein composed works in a variety of genres, including symphonies, suites, pieces for choir and solo voice, and chamber music. His works for the stage include the ballets ''Fancy Free'' and ''Facsimile'', the comic operetta ''Literature/{{Candide}}'' (based on the novella by Creator/{{Voltaire}}), the one-act opera ''Trouble in Tahiti'' later expanded on by the sequel ''A Quiet Place'', incidental songs for a semi-musical production of ''[[Theatre/PeterPan1904 Peter Pan]]'', and the musicals ''Film/OnTheTown'', ''Wonderful Town'' and ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' (and its [[Film/WestSideStory1961 film adaptation]]), the work for which he is most well known. Bernstein also composed the score for the film ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'', and his music featured in films from Hitchcock's ''Film/RearWindow'' to ''Man on the Moon'' and television productions from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' to ''Series/UglyBetty'' and ''Series/{{Glee}}''.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leonardbernstein.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[Music/{{REM}} "The other night I dreamt of knives]], [[Music/{{Document}} continental drift divide]], [[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein mountains sit in a line--"]]'']]

Born in Massachusetts to Russian Jewish immigrants, Bernstein began taking piano lessons when he was ten. He went on to study music at Harvard University and the Curtis Institute of Music, learning from such musicians as Walter Piston, Fritz Reiner, Randall Thompson, and Isabelle Vengerova. He also studied in Paris with the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Bernstein became famous as a conductor when he substituted for Bruno Walter at a concert by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; he later went on to being the director of that orchestra from 1958 to 1969.

A movie about his life: ''Maestro.'' was directed by Creator/BradleyCooper and produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/MartinScorsese. It was released in November 2023.