Leonard Bernstein: Doomed to Success

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Special thanks to Bonnie Blackwell, Katharine H. Henry, Mark Kagan, and Cheryl Nalbach for their assistance on this video.
This was requested by some guy on the internet, Sean Ramsdell, Ronnie Roddy Jr., Giant Deflating Football, Nicoville20, Kwabzy, Daniel Madsø, Soren Stavnicky, and Garret Kaplan. See all requests at lentovivace.com/classicalnerd....
📚 Sources/further reading:
“Leonard Bernstein” by Humphrey Burton (Doubleday, 1994)
“The Joy of Music” by Leonard Bernstein (Doubleday, 1959)
“Leonard Bernstein's Piano Music: A Comparative Study of Selected Works” by Leann Osterkamp, 2018 (DMA Dissertation, City University of New York): academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/vi...
“Modeling Compositional Grammars in Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1957)” by Thomas William Posen, 2016 (Master’s Thesis, University of New Mexico): digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi...
“An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Individual Dramatic and Musical Elements in the 1956, 1973 and 1988 Versions of Leonard Bernstein's Candide” by Leanne Pettit, 2009 (DMA Dissertation, Louisiana State University): digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/vi...
“Leonard Bernstein’s Jewish Boston: Cross-Disciplinary Research in the Classroom” by Carol J. Oja and Kay Kaufman Shelemay, 2009 (Journal of the Society for American Music): dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/ha...
“The Contributions of Leonard Bernstein to Music Education: An Analysis of His 53 Young People's Concerts” by Brian David Rozen, 1997 (PhD Dissertation, Eastman School of Music)
“Convergences Between Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town (1944) and Wonderful Town (1953) and his Contemporary Concert Music” by Hsun Lin, 2013 (PhD Dissertation, University of Kansas)
“The Power of Gaze in Music. Leonard Bernstein’s Conducting Eyes” by Isabella Poggi et al. (Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, May 2020)
“Leonard Bernstein Through His Daughter’s Eyes” by David Denby (The New Yorker, 2018): www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
www.brandeis.edu/bernstein-10...
blogs.wdav.org/2018/10/tom-co...
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Classical Nerd is a video series covering music history, theoretical concepts, and techniques, hosted by composer, pianist, and music history aficionado Thomas Little.
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Music:
- Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story,” arranged for two pianos and percussion, performed by Dubravka Vukalovic, Bruno Vlahek, Ami Rossier, Jan Beauge, and Sébastien Aegerter [free recording courtesy pianosociety.com]
- Thomas Little: Dance! #2 in E minor, performed by Rachel Fellows, Michael King, and Bruce Tippette
- Leonard Bernstein: “I Hate Music!” from I Hate Music: A cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano and Piano (1943), performed by Bonnie Blackwell and Benjamin Blozan [original upload: BlhSqbMNHVA, used with permission of Bonnie Blackwell]
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9, Mvts. III and IV, performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra conducted by Barbara Schubert and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/y7m8eyjk​
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Questions and comments can be directed to:
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All images and audio in this video are for educational purposes only and are not intended as copyright infringement. If you have a copyright concern, please contact me using the above information.

[@william-michaelcostello7776]

Well as a former conducting student at Tanglewood 1972, I knew Bernstein quite well. We stayed in contact almost up to his passing. I can verify almost everything in this article. It is very good and informative.

[@andreaguarino8207]

I guess he was a God

[@belindadrake5487]

LEONARD was/is GOD! 👊🏾🎹✨😈

[@soumilbiswas5231]

I clearly understand why you were taking so much time to upload this video. You have studied a lot, worked extremely hard and made the video entertaining and awesome. You are great! Thank you so much!

[@derbar7051]

Bernstein is also my musical idol. I haven't seen your video yet but I am looking forward to watching it!

[@emilgilels]

Excellent Lenny video. Great job!

[@FreakieFan]

Leonard Bernstein is my ultimate musical idol. Can't wait to dive into this video, I know it's going to be good!

[@johnmorrisrussell4680]

Why not post a comment after you've watched it ?

[@segmentsAndCurves]

@@johnmorrisrussell4680 Why have to?

[@emilyblack7342]

There’s a character in a book I read that was described as someone who would become a legend in any field he applied himself to. Musically, that sounds like Bernstein. With his work ethic and drive, he could have been a great classical composer, conductor, or big name on Broadway. He decided to go do all three, I guess.

[@nasosp.3117]

Is the book the Name of the Wind?

[@emilyblack7342]

@@nasosp.3117 yes, and you know where that lead our main character

[@nasosp.3117]

@@emilyblack7342 So far to a lot of debt.

[@mesolithicman164]

You can stretch talent too far and end up doing nothing in depth.

[@YooLookMarvelous]

A masterful production, sir! You have managed to capture so much of the man's enormous personality, his energy, and his contributions to music--and with a minimum of illustrative musical examples. Not that listening to more music of Lenny’s wouldn't be lovely, but then your video would run for hours. I spent my childhood and early adulthood listening to his music, watching him conduct, and reading books by the man. I have watched People's Concerts, with my face two inches from the t.v. screen so that my parents' conversations wouldn't drown out a single syllable. I sat in Avery Fisher Hall (yeah, Geffen Hall) just before he was to conduct a Shostakovich symphony, and suddenly stepped down from the podium, walked over to the edge of the stage, and delivered a spellbinding analysis of the poems quoted in the piece, without benefit of microphone. Some clown in the audience shouted "Can't hear you!" and a hundred angry audience members yelled "QUIET!" while he quietly continued his analysis, which he did entirely from memory. You captured that spirit of the man. Thank you!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Thank you! I could not, for copyright reasons, include more of Bernstein's music. I would have been happy to have had this video run an hour or more otherwise.

[@stevehinnenkamp5625]

Tremendous tale, though well documented, told with brilliance and compassion. Thank you for presenting a picture in a short time that a thousand pages of biography could not compete.❤

[@wolfgangresch1650]

One of the greatest of all time-All the time that this great man took to teach all of us, despite all his other duties. This world owes you a lot, Maestro!!🇺🇸♥️

[@ericrakestraw664]

I just watched your video after seeing the Bernstein biopic "Maestro" on Netflix. Excellent job filling in the details of his life that the movie ignored.

[@PeterLunowPL]

again, Mr. Nerd : a deeply researched and loving portrait of a great musician. You are simply the best!

[@jbbevan]

This was a rather different take on Bernstein (arriving at the same conclusion) than "Reaching for the Note." I enjoyed it very much. One small thing: Nobody ever seems to have ever mentioned that the "Ode an die Freiheit" was not as wild (or kitschy) an idea as has been intimated ever since 1989. Back in 1963 I did a research paper for an Honors Music History Class which I took as an elective (as a Mechanical Engineering student...no less). It was about the composition of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. While researching that subject I came upon an article which claimed that Schiller had originally wished to entitle his poem "An die Freiheit" (with Freiheit in the text where Freude occurs) but decided the better of it because of political forces at work at the time. So in 1989 Bernstein simply "tried out" Schiller's original conception much as he had tried out the different endings of Beethoven's 5th Symphony on Omnibus years before. I'm not correcting you or anyone else...just adding a neglected footnote to the 1989 concert.

[@william-michaelcostello7776]

Yes, but from during failed revolutions of 1848 they Freiheit.

[@jbbevan]

@@william-michaelcostello7776 I don't know what that means, exactly. I'm not sure you said what you really meant to convey. But Schiller's poem was written about 40 years before 1848. It too Beethoven about 11 years from first notes to final symphony with the 9th so what may have happened in 1848 had no bearing on the story...except the conditions that led up to those "failed evolutions" certainly were in the spirit of both works. Lucky you for knowing Lenny in the way you did.

[@HaKohen]

I'm getting a nice cup of tea for this one. Almost an hour of content. Great job!

[@musicalintentions]

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 I’m currently studying serialism in Bernstein’s MASS. The connections between his works are fascinating.

[@raphaelneves7666]

This channel is just great!

[@georgealderson4424]

Watching this video was like seeing a master surgeon identifying and painstakingly dissecting a complex problem. They say "You can't hold a good man down" so I pity the anaesthetist working on such a patient as LB! It was as ever (but more so) an excellent biography! Thank you sir. Blessings and peace

[@caroleem1319]

Just a total genius!!

[@MonMoon27]

Thank you so much for this wonderful video. In my opinion, Leonard Bernstein symbolizes to music what Carl Sagan does to Science.

[@bruceweaver1518]

I of course never got to meet Bernstein, but I always considered him a fantastic teacher. My father parted company with him due to the Black Panther incident, and my mother despised him-she thought he explained too much. I enjoyed his Young Philharmonic Series when ever I got a chance to see them, although the worst broadcast was the last one he did. What I thought was his greatest work was “The Norton lectures,” because he equated music with the study of language. I got to hear the whole series, and then saw them. The greatest lecture in the series is #5- The Twentieth Century Crisis.” His score for the musical “Wonderful Town” needs to be looked at more carefully. As far as “Mass” is concerned, for me it was a puzzle. Because of its ambiguous ending, never could figure out what, if anything. It was trying to say. I miss his lectures, and I watched him do a cycle of the Beethoven Symphonies in 1983 on television that was excellent; and I thought it was appropriate he conducted the Ninth at the collapse of the Berlin Wall. I thought his great strength was as an educator, and I used his Young People’s Concerts in my classroom.

[@mattia.a_p]

Great video! Thanks for all the effort you put into this!

[@corra7]

West side story is my musical connection….learning about his other creations now.

I've been looking forward for this one, bravo!!

[@reinislodzins1509]

Big props for the healthy and unromanticized documentation of workaholism. While around the middle of the video I felt like Bernstein's work attitude would be one of the best things to have in a life of an artist, by the end of the video it was clear that it was a double-edged sword with its fair share of pains and just generally a lifestyle that one should not necessarily look up to and idealize.

[@user-ki9ly1uy1w]

Beautifully done. I just watched "Maestro." Thank you so much.

[@tombruges1557]

Always excited to see an upload from this channel!

[@markbrown6978]

Excellent, thank you so much.

[@thlee3]

very well put together … incredible

[@classicaldame4372]

This video is soooo good...I had a GREAT time watching it. So entertaining, so informative. Thanks for uploading!!

[@asa.pankeiki]

Oh hell yeah this was definitely worth the wait

[@williamevans9426]

A very wide-ranging yet thoroughly enjoyable biography. BTW, I loved the caption about Nadia Boulanger at 23:20!

[@paulandrewsmith_henriksen]

Nice job on the video! Very informative!

[@agp745]

What a video! Keep doing what you!

[@gilbertdaroy6080]

Incredible content about Bernstein. Bravo.

[@loganm2924]

You make music history an interesting and engaging subject, thanks for all the work you put into these videos!

[@jeansimon326]

I now have watched several of your videos...all of them great! This one was a true gift - giving us a fuller insight into this remarkable man. My gratitude knows no bounds. Thank you.

[@mcknottee]

51 minutes and 43 seconds of my life well spent. :)

[@brendaboykin3281]

Thanx, Maestro 🌹🌹🌹

[@ivanbarbosa81]

Thank you

[@DavidA-ps1qr]

Crammed full, as usual, with an abundance of facts about Bernstein's life. This post tells us practically everything we would ever want to know about this amazing musician. I am always saddened how he constantly kept shooting himself in the foot with his political activities, but nothing can ever be taken away from him that he was a true icon in 20th music, both as composer and conductor. A wonderful masterclass on offer here.

[@dhoffheimerj]

Wonderful how you went to the locations of his life.

[@johannagarzon9313]

Yeiiii NEW VIDEO and a roadtrip!!

[@georgeallen7887]

Bravo. A wonderful account

[@geoffroymb]

Good to see you back!

[@ClassicalNerd]

It's good to be back!

[@henrygingercat]

A great lecture on a fascinating man and musician. And wringoutable is a great word. Am I alone in thinking that his musicals are so much better than his concert pieces?

[@PeterLunowPL]

no, you are not!

[@ronaldomercado6253]

Great video

[@timshuker1302]

A. great video on my favourite American composer. I got into Classical Music through his “Unanswered Question” lectures when they were broadcast on the BBC at Christmas 1977. I love your videos. I’d love to see more on American composers. Any chance on videos on my favourite Americans Samuel Barber or William Schuman? Vittorio Giannini would be a good one too...love your work...💯🎼🎹🥰

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@salernolake]

Great video as always. At 48:28 you said that Bernstein's substitution of "Freiheit" for "Freude" might seem kitschy. I am currently reading Jan Swafford's excellent biography of Beethoven. He mentions that some scholars think Schiller used the word Freude in the poem as code for Freiheit. In 1785 Schiller had to mind his p's and q's with the censors in Saxony, so such a subterfuge is at least plausible.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Kitsch obviously has some subjectivity to it, but I would argue that it's just an unnecessary change; playing the Ninth already has a message of joy that would have resonated with the East German people without any such alteration.

[@trevorpsy]

Obviously you didn't have the time, but (when you get a chance) I'd love to hear more about the rivalry between Bernstein and von Karajan, or lack thereof. The dressing room scene between the two aging conductors, during which von Karajan invites Bernstein to conduct the Berlin Phil. is fascinating, especially in light of Bernstein's taking advantage of the opportunity to teach Mahler's 9th to Karajan's orchestra. Too bad von Karajan wasn't a composer, because I'd love to hear your take on his career, many controversies, and personality.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@Twentythousandlps]

The Berlin Phil had already played and even recorded the Mahler Ninth before Bernstein conducted them in it.

[@trevorpsy]

Note what I heard. Von Karajan took advantage of the fact that Bernstein had taught them the 9th.

[@CharlesAustin]

Virtue signalling !! What a hoot.. so true.. You are great!! Entertaining and informative. Keep up the good work !!

[@stevehinnenkamp5625]

Amazing documentary that captures artist and man with honesty and compassion. A brilliant achievement. Thanh you.

[@antoniboleslawowicz8095]

Generally magnificent, and hitting on just about every facet of Bernstein’s development as a professional musician. I do think you sell two of his major influences short, and those are Dimitri Mitropoulos and Fritz Reiner. Mitropoulos was one of few guest conductors during Koussevitzky’s quarter-century tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony. His program included Schumann’s second symphony, the Beethoven op. 131 quartet played by the full string section and the Prokofieff third piano concerto in which Mitropoulos conducted from the keyboard. The Schumann and Beethoven works became Bernstein specialties. Koussevitzky slighted Mitropoulos after the Greek-born conductor garnered high critical and public acclaim. Mitropoulos also influenced Bernstein to enter the Curtis Institute, where Reiner taught conducting. Reiner gave Bernstein the sense of professional discipline essential for a major career. It was also Reiner, while he was music director at Pittsburgh, who promoted his former pupil as both conductor and composer, securing him a guest slot in Pittsburgh (after the celebrated NY Philharmonic debut) and insisting that Bernstein include his Symphony in the program.

[@ClassicalNerd]

There's always more to say than can be included in the video proper, which is why I hope those who are still interested in learning more will investigate the sources listed in the description.

[@smguy7]

I believe that Bernstein conducted the first performances of Messiaen's Turangalila Symphonie and Takemitsu's beautiful November Steps (which Bernstein encouraged the composer to write). Both are favourites of mine. Thank you for your wonderful video! I just watched your video on Scarlatti, which was great, too.

[@Twentythousandlps]

He did conduct the Messiaen premiere. He never conducted Takemitsu.

[@WoFfan13]

It was worth the wait to hear about Leonard Bernstein! Could you do a great performers on Toscanini?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@Elwrt455]

I ❤️ Leonard Bernstein

[@unnamed_boi]

i was going to sleep.. then this came out

[@jefolson6989]

My dad was in the beauty supply business , as was Bernsteins father. They knew eachother. Lenny's background was same as mine. He had talent. I guess I didnt

Also, welcome back!

[@ClassicalNerd]

😊

[@alexanderhowardchairartand5039]

Very Cool video, Bernstein was such a lovely figure! Hey, could you do Max Reger in the future, I see he's near the top of the list.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@lordwilksy]

my favourite work of his is Trouble in Tahiti.

[@iangreer4585]

His quote on reply to violence is my high school senior quote

[@thbroadway]

Quite a pleasant surprise to see Ben Blozan in one of these clips; I was his intern for a while!

[@ClassicalNerd]

How neat! I've never met him myself, but Bonnie had nothing but nice things to say about him when she gave me the thumbs-up to use her recording.

[@bullcutgaming7749]

An outstanding video. If you still take requests I would find Henryk Wienawski an interesting subject.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@gerthenriksen8818]

Great thanks! No Copland on the book shelves?🤔

[@ClassicalNerd]

It's there! Next to the Cowell book that didn't reflect the light at my old apartment nearly as much.

[@gerthenriksen8818]

@@ClassicalNerd Thanks, nice to know!

[@Mike-dk7wj]

A fine lecture both informative and well delivered. Very surprised there was no mention whatsoever of his first important composition, the ballet Fancy Free, an enormous public and critical success in 1944, and Bernstein's first collaboration with Jerome Robbins .

[@ClassicalNerd]

There is only so much that one can include and still keep the program to an hour or less.

[@Mike-dk7wj]

@@ClassicalNerd Agreed, but this wasn't a peripheral or minor matter but a pivotal event in his professional and composing career arguably as important as anything that followed.

[@sarahaprincesa]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@seanramsdell4117]

I heard that he praised minimalism for going back to tonality

[@thlee3]

random question that i hope you see .... the little 1/2 size sheet music books of the symphony .... where do you find those??

[@ClassicalNerd]

I'm afraid you're going to be more specific than that ...

[@thlee3]

@@ClassicalNerd i think theyre called Pocket Scores

[@ClassicalNerd]

Music libraries tend to have lots of them. I thought you were talking about something on my shelf, which is what threw me off.

[@nandocordeiro5853]

Has anyone ever asked you to do a video on André Jolivet? You should do one!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@ulisesdemostenes7074]

Do you think that the "yank the hear" had a favorable effect on him? I mean, I've never seen a photo of him without a "normal" amount of hair. (Or maybe he was one of the people who just didn't lose hair).

[@ClassicalNerd]

He was genetically inclined towards baldness, and he didn't despite heavily stressing his body. So ... anecdotally, it probably did something? All I know is that I'd much rather just go bald than employ a "popper" ...

[@jeffpianocomposer]

Hi. Where did you learn of the painting by Congo the Chimp? Trying to find a photo of it. Jeff

[@ClassicalNerd]

I briefly looked to see if I could find a photo myself, but no dice. Anyway, my sources are all listed in the description of the video, and I believe I came across that tidbit in Humphrey Burton's biography.

[@jeffpianocomposer]

@@ClassicalNerd Thanks!

[@kyleconductorandtuba]

Do you do a lot of conducting yourself? I'm curious how often composers nowadays conduct their own music and others.

[@ClassicalNerd]

I've gotten to do so in rehearsals, but never in an actual performance. It's not common to see that happen unless it's like, a school's ad-hoc ensemble; most of the time, it's conductors who try their hand at composition instead of the other way around.

[@neo-eclesiastul9386]

11:36 "Contented River..." :))

[@ClassicalNerd]

I have been to all three of the _Three Places_ now, which I'm delighted to report. 😊

[@miamadojesus]

Por favor, ¿podéis poner los subtítulos en español más lentamente...? casi no da tiempo a leerlos ... Saludos.

[@ClassicalNerd]

I don't speak Spanish. Whatever subtitles you're reading are automatically generated. I don't have control over how fast they are.

[@nbeutler1134]

Bernstein: “I want to star in a film” Copland: “How will this affect Lebrons legacy?”

[@MrNicks-gn8jc]

Classical Nerd, what is your interpretation of the full meaning of "doomed to success" ?

[@ClassicalNerd]

At the time, it seems like it was a clever way of saying that he had good luck-that he was in the right place at the right time. Taking the rest of his life into account, it takes a darker turn (which was not meant when originally said): his successes and achievements wore him out so much that it led to a more rapid aging process and an earlier death, or that his success in one area (conducting and/or education) doomed another (his compositions).

[@martinihenry9792]

Wonderful video again!! can I suggest Viktor Kosenko

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@SRFJTrio]

30:52 what happens here will shock you

[@benvacha1254]

Can you do Samuel Barber? 🙏

[@seanramsdell4117]

No mention of "Age Of Anxiety" based on WH Auden?

[@ClassicalNerd]

I think it should go without saying that it is impossible to mention everything, which is why I provide a list of sources and further reading in the description.

[@brendanward2991]

42:33 - Who's the coolest Schumann?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Clara, of course

[@pega17pl]

Bernstein answered a journalist's question: "Which orchestra is the best in the world: the Vienna Philharmonic or the Isreal Philharmonic?" - Bernstein replied: "How can an orchestra be the best in the world that doesn't play Wagner?" - Heinz cited from kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4u2m2SQmr2UZqs

[@danielcantera5682]

Do a video on Isaac albeinz

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@davidwhite2949]

I enjoyed this. But no reference to Nadia Boulanger - the teacher he, Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter and Philip Glass shared? A huge omission

[@Twentythousandlps]

Bernstein was not a pupil of Boulanger, though they were good friends.

[@danielcic]

Her name was Rita, but they called her the popper? Please, can someone explain this sentence?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Part of her job was to yank Bernstein's hair so hard that apparently you could hear an audible "pop" as his skin separated from his scalp (as a painful, allegedly effective strategy to prevent baldness).

[@danielcic]

@@ClassicalNerd Ah, thank you for the answers. I guess it was no effective strategy 🤔😉.

[@drewconlin9452]

I’m disappointed that Bernstein’s wall a recent documentary can not get U.S distribution… our culture ain’t what it used to be

[@belindadrake5487]

LEONARD is GOD 🎹😈✨

[@frogmouth]

History is on Bernsteins side in his reservations about serialism and championing of pop. The influence of musicians like Cole Porter transformed pop into interesting stuff culminating in the 60s and 70s with the Beatles Simon and Garfunkel and countless others . After that pop oversimplified and beat boxes and reduction of instrumentation impoverished it again but the classical world allowed tonality back in and more music that people liked. America gave John Rutter a great start because of its openness to so many cultural influences including a very rich choral scene.

[@technicmachine]

It's interesting to see that the criticism Bernstein received for supporting civil rights advocacy is identical to the latest "Ben Shapiro owns the poor" video.

[@pablobear4241]

Dick hart 17:30

[@seaotter4439]

Ha my old name's on here

[@angelobranford1029]

The Black Panthers a terrorist organization? Hmmmmm.

[@swimmad456]

Love the talk but there is no need to wear a mask outdoors. You have a perfectly reasonable face.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Boston is a major metropolitan area. Just because there were no other people on camera doesn't mean that there weren't other people _around,_ towards whom I was obliged to be courteous.

[@nandocordeiro5853]

Maybe he was wearing a mask because there’s a global pandemic

[@1fattyfatman]

Death cultists are into Bernstein? He really did reach a lot of people.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

I've watched tons of Bernstein "music education specials" over the years and... NEVER LEARNED A THING about the music.. I dont know why he is so celebrated for these, such as the children's concerts and pseudo-lectures.. it is complete fluff. Never in ANY of his lectures does he ever even show a sheet of music to the camera.. I'm left with the impression that Bernstein was simply in the right place at the right time with the good level of skill as any good music graduate student.. with the lucky coincidental bonus of being bilingual..

[@frogmouth]

He was a lot more than bilingual. He spoke several languages and knew the literature as well. The music lectures were not for teaching music but for making it accessible. You don't teach music with scores to groups of hundreds of people at once. Pretty important in an era and place where popular music dominated culturally..

[@superblondeDotOrg]

@@frogmouth He may have known a lot but he was a horrible instructor judging from his many videos. Your comment is nonsense "you dont teach music to hundreds of people" duhh, look at some of the great instructors on youtube who use scores and break things down. Many videos on this youtube channel itself are better than Bernstein's lectures!! It takes near ZERO effort to explain verbally what functional chords are being used while talking about some composer's work. I must be insane since I seem to be the only one who sees "the emperor Bernstein has no clothes"...he's a showman full of hot air and useless philosophical soundbites.. I challenge anyone to take a notepad and pen for writing notes and watch his classical lectures and at the end show more than 1, just one, specific musical analysis point which Bernstein explained in any of his long useless lectures.

[@ericbenjamin2908]

There is more to teach about music than theory. You're using an arrow filter as you view the YPC concerts and missing the point. I grew up with them and found them illuminating and inspiring.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

@@ericbenjamin2908 Ok enjoyable and inspiring does not equate to educational, Spiderman is also enjoyable and inspiring.. Take a notebook and a pencil and re-watch one of the YPC, take a note when there is an educational point made by Bernstein, if you have more than 1 concrete thing written down about music at the end of the YPC (fluffy philosophical quotes don't count, that is not concrete), I will send you $50.00 through paypal for a scan of it. Bernstein to me is about as phony and hollow as Gene Simmons of KISS who is also said to have "inspired many young musicians to take up an instrument" ...by wearing face makeup on stage and spitting fake blood while playing a bass solo...

[@ericbenjamin2908]

@@superblondeDotOrg Sonata form, Bach's counterpoint, Major and minor used as symbols in"Also sprach Zarathustra", transformation of motives in Vaughn Williams 4th Symphony, how meter works tracing examples from Bach through Stravinsky, specific repertoire: Brahms 4th, Dvorak New World, Beethoven 5 all citing thematic development, modulation, That's withut a notebook.

[@GiuseppeSavazzi]

Sairam Prof. Giuseppe Savazzi head of the WORLDWIDE CIA SAIRAM secret services in India member of Rotary Club of New York District 7230 blessing to all of you from India 🇮🇳 Music Director and Founder of the Sathya Sai Universal Symphony Orchestra in Putthaparty Founder and music Director of the Rotary Youth International Orchestra with Lufthansa Sponsor since 1990. in šāʾ Allāh إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ Sairam 🙏🇮🇳❤️🙏