Leonard Bernstein As A Renaissance Man Of Music

The play “West Side Story” presents itself as a story of two gangs who are in the midst turf fueled feud. This feud between the sharks and the jets runs deeper than turf, the feud is truly about how Americans

Imagine you are a play fanatic in 1957, clutching your ticket, waiting to enter a magnificent theater, to see the opening of West Side Story. You loved the choreography Jerome Robbins always created, and watching his pervious plays, Peter Pan, Fiddler on the Roof, and Gypsy .You could not be more thrilled to see the musical West Side Story, which he choreographed and directed. Leonard Bernstein has grown to become one of you favorite composers, and you can barely contain your anticipation to listen to the music he created for West Side Story. As the musical ends, you begin to think about how authentic its music is.

The producers were Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince; The very first production was September 26th, 1957. There were 985 performances. Arthur Laurents is the playwright for ‘West Side Story.’ Arthur is most known for his work in ‘West Side Story,’ and ‘Gypsy.’ He attended Cornell University and majored in English. His career started writing simple scripts for radio stations and programs. Soon Laurents got drafted into the U.S Army. While in the army, he made and wrote scripts for training films and programs for the Army. Leonard Bernstein was the composer for ‘West Side Story.’ Leonard Bernstein is most famous for helping compose the score for West Side Story. He learned to play piano when he was only 10. Dmitri Mitropoulos, a conductor for the Boston Symphony, was Leonard's mentor for a week. Afterwards, he had a love for music, and wanted to center his life around it. Serge Koussevitzky was also his mentor, and a father figure to Leonard. He first met Serge, when he was one of only five, that were

In 1943, the musical Oklahoma!, by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, influenced the artistic style of American musical theatre. The integration of music, book, dance, and design provided a new foundation for the future of Broadway. The musical illustrates the 1940s lifestyle by capturing the essence of rural America during World War II. Americans were at their rock bottom, as the Great Depression wiped them of all things good. Additionally, some of the most vivid and abrupt changes in the history of American civilization occurred, reshaping society forever. America at war and eight million Americans unemployed in the continuing depression, feared for safety of loved ones abroad fighting for freedom. These things affected American life intensely in 1940s. (Brinkley, 1994). Fortunately, Oklahoma! gave people the opportunity to escape from the real world for the duration of the show.

In her doctoral dissertation, Katherine Axtell examines Show Boat from its novel origins to its inception and creation as a work of musical theater. It is clear from her analysis that even though Hammerstein and Kern may not have intended Show Boat to be about race, it was still at the forefront of their minds. Axtell states, “sources…strongly suggest that, page for page and line for line, the composer and librettist expended the greatest energy on the development of material for the romantic leads, Magnolia and Ravenal; that they took inspiration…from contemporary African-American musical theater.”6 Axtell also cites Todd Decker, “who in 2007 included Show Boat in a larger study of ‘black-white encounters’ in selected American stage and film musicals... Decker argues that Kern and Hammerstein concentrated, from the beginning of their collaboration, on the development of interracial encounters and the creation of such numbers as ‘Can’t Help Lovin; Dat Man’ and ‘Ol’ Man River.’”7

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are two of the greatest composers ever to write music. Both men lived in the early 18th and 19th century, but their music and influences are still felt today. The men faced similar experiences, yet they both lead very different lives. All together the pieces that these men composed amounts to over 300 published, and unpublished works of art. The people of their time period often had mixed feelings about these men, some “complained that Mozart’s music presented them with too many ideas and that his melodies moved from one to the next faster than audiences could follow, yet the ideas themselves seem effortless and natural, clear and

This essay explores the influence composers had on the musical output of John Williams. Throughout his career, Williams has been able to provide his audiences with emotions and thoughts that were brought upon with the use of his musical compositions. Williams’ work has been able to capture the thoughts and feelings of individuals both onscreen and off screen. His film scores were able to tell a story in ways that previous composers were not able to.

Both Kander and Ebb always complemented each other’s raging romanticism and witty cynical work while they worked in the same room which maintained a perfect balance in their music. Their unique style of musical hasalways been appreciated in music industry. In 2000, they were honored with Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement by the York Theater Company of New York City.

Black Broadway provides an entertaining, poignant history of a Broadway of which few are aware. By focusing a spotlight on both performers long forgotten and on those whom we still hold dear, this unique book offers a story well worth

George Gershwin is one of the most celebrated composers of modern times. He is Famous for bridging the gap between Jazz and Classical music, and developing a new kind of popular music that held a genuine, American voice. With such pieces as his Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F he has become the most widely played American composer of all time. Although he boats having one of the most recognizable names in modern music, many people do not truly know the story behind it all.

Before coming into this class, I have to be honest, I didn’t know much about the history of the American musical theatre or anything that was related to musicals in general. As a kid, I was exposed to a few musicals here and there, but it never really grabbed my attention because I was a stereotypical athlete. I also have to admit that I was one of those people that thought that there wasn’t a lot of work that go into making a musical and as soon as I started taking this course I have been proved wrong and I am much more appreciative of all the blood sweat and tears that individuals make in creating a musical. One of the very first composers that peaked my interest is the legendary Irving Berlin. Irving Berlin had an interesting and successful life and career that was full of many events and Berlin certainly left his legacy in the world of musical theatre.

The second chapter in Sondheim & Co. by Craig Zadan, “I’ve never even known a Puerto Rican!”, describes Stephen Sondheim’s journey - the challenges, the failures, and the successes - before, during, and after the production of his first Broadway musical, West Side Story. Sondheim, rather young compared to his counterparts, was asked by Leonard Bernstein to co-write lyrics for his new musical version of Romeo and Juliet. Sondheim was very reluctant to jump on board because he did not view himself as merely a lyricist, but a composer. His music was not esteemed by many, but Arthur Laurents and Bernstein greatly cherished his lyrics. Sondheim was a natural wordsmith and Bernstein shared his love for words and appreciated his musical ability to understand common complications that come with writing theatrical pieces.

Playing for kings and royalty, Beethoven’s talent was immediately recognized from a young age by his father and other fellow musicians. By his early 20’s, he had composed 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, and a full opera - clearly a stupendous feat by itself, but tragically, a couple years later, he had begun strenuously overworking himself to the point of becoming deaf through idiosyncratic acts like dumping cold water on his head in order to stay awake. However, this did not stop him; "Live alone in your art! Restricted though you be by your defective sense, this is still the only existence for you” (Beethoven). For the rest of his life, Beethoven sacrificed his hearing for his undeniable - and even obsessive - passion for music - ultimately leading to the creation of some of classical music’s greatest compositions of all time. Ergo, with enough dedication and that 1% of talent, anyone - from an everyday student to the legends of the past - can truly be a “genius”.

By 1935, Gershwin had successfully written several serious compositions, but it was during this year in particular that his most famous opera, Porgy and Bess, was performed. This opera received mixed reviews and led Gershwin to pursue an interest for films. Gershwin moved to California and wrote several film scores.

In 1941, Bernstein started to work on his Sonata for Clarinet and Piano at the Institute of Modern Art in Boston. It was dedicated to Bernstein’s friend and clarinetist David Oppenheim, even though clarinetist David Glazer premiered the work it 1943 with Bernstein at the piano. The composition was initially met with mixed reviews but eventually became a standard work in the clarinet repertoire. The Bernstein Clarinet Sonata claims many influences, including that of Bernstein’s colleagues and mentors: Aaron Copland, in his first movement, the idyllic lyrical grazioso, and Hindemith, in his opening musical line of the same movement. The parts of the second movement forecast Bernstein’s writing in his West Side Story with his frequently changing