Archives and Other Materials

The Leonard Bernstein Collection, Library of Congress

This extraordinary collection-consisting of over 1,700 boxes of approximately 400,000 items, including correspondence, manuscripts, business papers, programs, scrapbooks, and photographs-is both a dream and a nightmare for researchers, as one could easily spend onefs entire life immersed in it. With the online initiative of the Library of Congress, a growing portion of the collection is now viewable online.

New York Philharmonic
Leon Levy Digital Archives

This amazing archive contains approximately six million pages of material dating from 1842 to 1970 that are viewable online. The archives include orchestra scores with Bernsteinfs markings, business correspondence, photographs, and programs that are digitally searchable. It is such a fun archive that I spent many more hours with it than was necessary for my research.

The Official Leonard Bernstein Site

Administered by The Leonard Bernstein Office, this website contains comprehensive information about Bernsteinfs life, listing of his works, discography/videography, lectures/scripts/writings, and bibliography.

Houston Grand Opera Archives

Houston Grand Opera has an archive that houses programs, artist files, production records, audio and visual recordings, etc. including those for Bernsteinfs A Quiet Place which premiered in Houston in 1983.

Pacific Music Festival

This is the website for the Pacific Music Festival (PMF), an international educational music festival in Sapporo, Japan, founded by Bernstein in 1990. The PMF has become one of the most coveted music festivals for talented young musicians around the world.

Music and Other Materials

Toru Takemitsu,
November Steps (Chapter 4)

This is the work that Seiji Ozawa conducted during the New York Philharmonicfs 1970 Japan tour which he led with Bernstein.

Bernstein conducts
Verdi Requiem (Chapter 6)

This grand recording at St. Paulfs Cathedral in London was produced in 1970 by Schuyler Chapin, symbolizing Bernsteinfs leading role in the use of visual media in classical music. Kazuko Amano wrote in her letter to Bernstein how moved she was as she watched it on Japanese television.

Bernstein in Vienna (Chapter 6)

A documentary of Beethovenfs two hundredth birthday celebration in Vienna in 1970, during which Bernstein performed Beethovenfs Piano Concerto no. 1, Symphony no. 9, and opera Fidelio. Kazuko Amano and her family watched the documentary in Japan.

Bernstein, gBig Stuffh (Chapter 10)

A clip from the recording of gBig Stuffh from the ballet Fancy Free, in which Bernstein himself played the piano. Kunihiko Hashimoto witnessed the recording in Hamburg during his visit in the summer of 1979.

Bernstein conducts Wagner,
Tristan and Isolde,
Prelude to Act 1 (Chapter 10)

Hashimoto visited Bernstein in Munich for the second time in 1980 when the maestro recorded Act 1 of Wagnerfs opera Tristan and Isolde. Upon completion of the recording, Bernstein exclaimed: gMy life is complete.h

Bernstein, Touches: Chorale,
Eight Variations, and Coda
(Chapter 11)

A solo piano piece written for the Sixth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Bernstein showed the fresh manuscript to Kazuko Amano when she visited him at his New York home for the first time in 1980.

Bernstein, Divertimento (Chapter 11)

An orchestral suite written for the centennial celebration of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which premiered in 1980 with Seiji Ozawa conducting. Kazuko Amano listened to the recording in Bernsteinfs New York home just weeks after the premiere. B

Bernstein, Trouble in Tahiti (Chapter 12)

A one-act opera written in 1952 with classic Bernsteinesque musical language. His opera A Quiet Place was written as a sequel to this work, set three decades later.

Bernstein, A Quiet Place (Chapter 12)
Act 1.Samfs Aria gYoufre late . . .h
Act 2 Quartet gMy God, Dinah . . .h @

Premiered at the Houston Grand Opera in 1983, the opera dealt with themes of gender, sexuality, and family in ways that challenged the repressive social norms of Reaganfs America. While composing the work, Bernstein wrote to Hashimoto that gnobody would love [it] except us.h

Bernstein, Symphony no. 3
gKaddishh (Chapter 15)

Bernstein performed this work at the Hiroshima Peace Concert in August 1985 with the European Community Youth Orchestra. Hashimoto played a key role in organizing this concert commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the atomic bombing.

Bernstein conducts
Mahler Symphony no. 9 in Osaka (Chapter 16)

Bernsteinfs performance of Mahlerfs Ninth Symphony with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Osaka in September 1985 became legendary. Amanofs letter written in her hotel room immediately after the concert describes the profound and sublime performance more powerfully than many reviews by professional critics. Hashimoto assisted in this tour and also spent precious personal time with Bernstein during the maestrofs trip.

The Making of
West Side Story (Chapter 17)

In 1985, Bernstein made a new audio recording of West Side Story, himself conducting the work for the first time. This documentary of the recording process reveals the unfading originality of the music that made him a superstar as well as his pride in the work decades after the original production. The recording became one of the biggest hits in Deutsche Grammophonfs history.

Leonard Bernstein:
Teachers & Teaching (Chapter 17)

A 1988 documentary in which Bernstein reflects on the teachers that influenced him and speaks about his own passion for and philosophy of teaching. The film also shows his intimate and lasting relationships with his proteges, including Seiji Ozawa and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Bernstein conducts
Beethoven Ninth Symphony
in Berlin (Chapter 20)

Bernstein made a historic performance of Beethovenfs Ninth Symphony in Berlin in December 1989, soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He performed the work with an orchestra and chorus consisting of musicians from former East and West Germany, US, USSR, and other nations, changing the word Freude (joy) in Schillerfs text to Freiheit (freedom). The performance symbolized Bernsteinfs role as the twentieth-century world maestro.

Bernstein conducts
Candide in London (Chapter 20)

In December 1989, Bernstein performed with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, conducting his own Candide. This video of the popular Overture shows the sheer joy of music Bernstein shared with the orchestra and the audience both through his compositions and conducting.

Pacific Music Festival 1990 (Chapter 21)

This film documents the Pacific Music Festival (PMF) held in Sapporo in the summer of 1990, where Bernstein worked with young musicians from eighteen countries. Hashimoto played a major role in the planning and execution of this event that became one of the most coveted festivals for young musicians around the world. Around 0:33, we get a glimpse of Hashimoto assisting Bernstein at the press conference. At 1:16, Amano is seen sitting in the audience dressed in kimono. The performance of Schumannfs Symphony no. 2 was a culmination of Bernsteinfs and the young musiciansf weeks of intense work together.

Bernstein,gMake Our Garden Growh
(Chapter 23)

Hashimoto continued to love and Bernstein after the maestrofs passing. One form in which his devotion was expressed was his translation of Candide, which premiered in Japan in 1994 at the fifth anniversary of the PMF. Just as the entire cast sings in the finale number gMake Our Garden Grow,h those touched by Bernsteinfs music and love-Amano, Hashimoto, and all the musicians and others who worked with Bernstein-have continued to pass on the maestrofs gifts and legacies in their respective ways.