Celebrities Project: Leonard Bernstein

I originally thought that I was going to dedicate about three weeks to Leonard Bernstein (in order to make up for the extra weeks I spent on Buddy Holly and James Dean), but I realized that there is so much to study with Leonard Bernstein's career and life that it would be better to give him some extra time. So I think that I'm going to now focus on twelve celebrities instead of thirteen this year; so we'll see who gets cut out from the list at the end of the year!

I decided to not read a full biography on Bernstein this month, but I read an online biography and also heard some biographical information in interviews that were included as bonus features with a 2001 dramatized performance of Trouble in Tahiti.  Based on the interview that I read in Dinner With Lenny: The Last Long Interview with Leonard Bernstein by Jonathan Cott, Bernstein seems like a witty intellectual who loved to read and learn. I love that he and his family loved Alice in Wonderland; Bernstein was buried with a copy of the book.

Probably the most impressive thing that I learned about Bernstein was that his widespread acclaim as a conductor began when he was twenty-five years old; he was called to substitute for a guest conductor, Bruno Walter, at Carnegie Hall. Bruno Walter was ill with the flu and so, Bernstein was called upon to come to Carnegie Hall that same day; without any rehearsal, he led a performance that received critical acclaim and attention.

Bernstein was often criticized for being an exhibitionist when he conducted, and in some ways I can see what critics mean. He does seem overly emotive, but I appreciate the sound that he is able to get the orchestra to produce as a result. I'm also impressed with his keen ears and his ability to pick out multiple sounds at the same time, which was especially apparent to me when watching videos of him rehearsing with orchestras.

Since I've already written down some quotes by Bernstein and also highlighted his interest in pop music, I thought I would share just a few more thoughts about Bernstein's own music. When I started listening to Leonard Bernstein's music, my only previous association (that I was aware of) was his music in West Side Story, which is a show that I love. I know that music very well, and I noticed that I kept finding similar intervals, beats, an instruments appearing in his other compositions. (For example, his three dance episodes from the musical On the Town remind me of the dance songs in West Side Story.) I have been trying to find the right way to describe Bernstein's distinctive sound, and I kept thinking of the word "sonorous," but I don't feel like that is descriptive enough, although it is a start. The best thing I have found about Bernstein's musical style is this quote by Kenneth LaFave in Experiencing Leonard Bernstein: A Listener's Companion:

"Bernstein's early scores are a search for a self, for a voice. In a way, Bernstein oeuvre itself will continue this search, turning the quest for a voice into the voice itself. Here is Bernstein's so-called eclecticism...[which] means that, once he got past emulating Scriabin and company, the young composer naturally turned to the music of his time and his life: to Gershwin and Copland, to jazz, to the variety of folk music sources made available by the new technology of sound recording, and last, but far from least, the music of Hebrew worship" (p. 9, source available online).

Here are some of my thoughts on some specific Bernstein compositions that I listened to this past month:

• Trouble in Tahiti (see clips of the opening scenes and "Island Magic" song): This is an interesting one-act opera. Musically, it is interesting and the chorus and clarinet in the opening scenes remind me more of musical theater. However, I think the seriousness of the subject matter and complexity of (some) of the vocal music elevates this piece to the level of opera. It's a little bit of a downer, actually, since it follows the troubled marriage of two individuals. It seems strange that Bernstein began writing this opera on his honeymoon, but perhaps he wanted to work through personal issues about his parents' troubled relationship before he embarked on a marriage of his own. I also wonder if Leonard's concern 
• On the Waterfront film score: Leonard Bernstein had some difficulties when working on this project, since he had to keep reminding himself that the dialogue needed to be heard above his music. To be honest, I had to keep reminding myself to listen for music when it came along; the director Kazan used music rather sparingly throughout the film. One place where I noticed the music most was during the "Death in a Dark Alley" scene. There is some discussion of how the music relates to the action of different scenes HERE.
• I like how diverse Leonard Bernstein was in the types of compositions that he produced. His short piece "I Hate Music" for soprano and piano is really amusing and fun. It also seems like it would be a really challenging piece to sing, because of all of the large intervals.
• I realized that I already knew one song from Leonard Bernstein's mass, "Simple Song." I really like Renée Fleming's recording of this song. It is a really pretty piece, and I like the connectedness of the intrumental parts along with the voice. As for the mass itself (see BBC performance), I think some songs are a little to sharp in their beats and chords for mass music.
• I don't feel like there were tons of revelatory new things that I learned while watching his Omnibus series (and following the shows with the text and transcripts included in The Joy of Music). But I did find the episode on Bach to be very interesting, and I especially liked how Bernstein explained that the the strings which accompany Christ's singing in Saint Matthew's Passion have been described as a "halo."

I feel like I have a better understanding of Bernstein as an individual and conductor now, but also a better sense of him as a composer. I liked the opportunity to listen to various types of the Omnibus series and get to think about music itself, too. This month may end up being the most educational of this whole year, in the sense that Bernstein wanted to educate people (young and old) about music.

Leonard Bernstein and Pop Music

Starting about 5:10 in this clip, Leonard Bernstein explains to a group of young people how jazz and pop music often incorporates the Mixolydian mode (which has a lowered seventh note in the scale). Some of his examples include The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood."

At the beginning of this documentary, Leonard Bernstein explains why he sees value in some of the rock music that is produced at the time. I really like his serious approach to rock music, and especially that he tries to help adults see the value and beauty in the music that teens were listening to during the 1960s. Leonard gives an introduction to pop music for the first twenty minutes of the film, and then the documentary follows the music of a few select singers and bands.

Bernstein starts his analysis of rock music at 4:00 in the clip, with the example of "Good Day Sunshine" by the Beatles. He explains how the music is unorthodox because one measure leaves out a beat (going from four beats to three beats). He continues to analyze the Beatles with "She Said She Said" and then moves on to discuss "Pretty Ballerina" (The Left Banke) and "I'm a Believer" (The Monkees). He analyzes 9:03 and says the Beatles "Got To Get You Into My Life" could have been something written by Shumann because it is so expansive (in range) and romantic (in interval). He then shows example of appealing "untrained voices" by Bob Dylan, the Association, and the Beatles. He also discusses how he likes the eclecticism of rock music, and how it can absorb styles from blues to a Bach trumpet (with the example of "Penny Lane") to a string quartet ("Eleanor Rigby") to Hindu music ("Love You To").

Leonard Bernstein Quotes

This month is Leonard Bernstein Month. As I've been learning about Bernstein's life and work, I have been really struck with his intelligence and the broad range of his interests. The first book I read was Dinner With Lenny: The Last Long Interview with Leonard Bernstein by Jonathan Cott. This interview took place just a year before Bernstein died. It's interesting to read this interview and think about Bernstein's successful life and all that he was able to learn and ponder in the process. Here are some quotes by Bernstein from this interview that I especially like:

• [Bernstein reminded the interviewer that the word "education" is related to the Latin "educere" - "to bring forth what is within"]. Then Bernstein added, "Though I can't prove it, deep in my heart I know that every person is born with the love of learning. Without exception, every infant studies its toes and fingers, and a child's discovery of his or her voice must be one of the most extraordinary of life's moments." (Dinner With Lenny, p. 17).

• "Part of the artifice of art is knowing how to steal classy." (Bernstein's response to the interviewer's reference to Picasso's statement that "good artists copy and great ones steal," p. 34).

• "Anything of a serious nature isn't 'instant' - you can't 'do' the Sistine Chapel in one hour...you have to life on your back and look up at that ceiling and contemplate" (p. 63, 66).

• "I love learning, I'm an eternal student, and that's maybe why I'm a pretty good teacher" (p. 75).

• "Advise students [of conducting] to look at the score and make it come alive as if they were the composer. If you can do that, you're a conductor...and if you can't, you're not" (p. 122).

I'm currently reading The Joy of Music by Bernstein (and following select chapters as I watch television broadcasts in the Leonard Bernstein Omnibus collection). Here are two quotes that I especially like:

• "Music...exists in the medium of time. It is time itself that must be carved up, molded and remolded until it becomes, like a statue, an existing shape and form. . . So the conductor is a kind of sculptor whose element is time instead of marble; and in sculpting it, he must have a superior sense of proportion and relationship" (The Joy of Music, p. 148-149).

• "...of all the different instruments in this vast, heterogeneous collection called an orchestra, there is none that can compete in any way with the sublime expressivity of the human voice. It is the greatest instrument there is; and when such a voice, or several, or many together, carry the weight of a drama, of a story line, of an emotional situation, then there is nothing in all theater to compare with it for sheer immediacy of impact" (The Joy of Music, p. 271).

Finally, I also want to note a few more great Bernstein quotes that I have come across online and elsewhere:

• "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." (This one is outside of my choir director's office door.) 

• "Music . . . can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable."

Wallace Falls

Last weekend the weather was gorgeous, so we took advantage of the moment and decided to go on a hike. I found the Wallace Falls hike online more-so through a process of elimination, since we have hiked most of the kid-friendly waterfall hikes in the area. But now I wish that we had discovered the Wallace Falls State Park earlier! It is well maintained and the trail to Wallace Falls affords a variety of different views.

The beginning of the hike is placed in a wide area that has been cleared out for power lines. There are some lovely views of the Cascades here: Mount Persis is in the far right (elevation 5452 ft.), Mount Index is the next peak to the left (5979 ft.), and the smaller peak above Sam's head is Philadelphia Mountain (4257 ft.). The smallest peak in the far distance on the right is Mt. Baring (which is actually the largest peak in this view, at 6125 ft.).

This was an unusual hike for our family, because we didn't complete all of it together. The parking lot was full by the trailhead, so J had to drop the rest of off and find a parking spot about 3/4 of a mile away. I started down the trail with the kids (see first photo), and J hurried to catch up with us about 15-20 minutes later. Then, when we were about half a mile from the Lower Falls viewpoint, J and Sam decided to stop (J's leg was bothering him from going running the day before). Lucy and I continued on, but Lucy ended up falling asleep in the backpack a few minutes before we got to the waterfall. I was the last one standing by the time the waterfall was in sight!

We walked a little ways along the Small Falls turnoff: it is a short loop trail off of the main trail to Wallace Falls.

At the Lower Falls of Wallace Falls! You can see the greater waterfall cascading down in the distance on the right, too. A good view of both the Lower and Upper Falls can be seen HERE.

This is the rock that J and Sam sat on while they waited for me and Lucy to finish our trek up to the falls. J said that Sam wanted to just chat about Minecraft, but J kept creatively steering the discussion so that they could also talk about the beautiful surroundings in the forest.

I hope we can go back to this trail another time, not only so J and Sam can see the falls in person, but also so we can hike further. I turned around at the Lower Falls (which was two miles from the trailhead), but one day I would like to go farther to Middle Falls (about 2.3 miles from the trailhead) and the Upper Falls (about 2.8 miles from the trailhead). One day, when the kids are older and can handle hiking or biking longer distances, it would be fun to go to Wallace Lake at the park, too.