A Love Letter to Leonard Bernstein from Wife Felicia

Leonard Bernstein himself started giving the Library of Congress his music manuscripts in the 1950s. After Bernstein’s death in 1990, his estate and family donated hundreds of thousands of additional items, providing the bulk of the collection, which now also includes: correspondence, writings, photographs, business papers, fan mail, datebooks, even his wedding suit, and the suit he wore at his unexpected debut conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1943. Filling in for an ailing Bruno Walter, Bernstein became an overnight sensation at the young age of 25.
Then in the 2000s, in a profoundly generous gesture, the family gave the Library several hundred additional letters that had previously been sealed and never before shared with the public. These letters provide an intimate view to the private life of Leonard Bernstein which in turn inform researchers, writers and screenwriters who use the collection as source material for books, articles, and films. Take a look as one of the Library’s senior music specialists, Mark Horowitz, shares one of those extraordinary items, a letter from Felicia Bernstein to her husband Leonard Bernstein, describing her feelings about their new marriage.
For transcript and more information, visit www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11184