The Unanswered Question 1973 4 The Delights & Dangers of Ambiguity Bernstein Norton

[@marcelouz1]

Bernstein was a genious in every sense of the word . Probably the best conductor of the XX century, Pianist , child's teacher, Professor , composer , everything in one man.

[@wolfgangresch1650]

The greatest teacher. Thanks for everything, Maestro!!!!!🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏♥️♥️♥️

[@janmarina1]

What a wonderful way he has of explaining things, as brilliant as his music. I am so grateful to God for the gift of Leonard Bernstein.

[@darkprose]

Grateful, indeed. He's definitely on my list of reasons to stay on this planet.

[@BeauJames59]

darkprose Sorry to break it to you, he's dead. I'd say nice seeing you, but it wasn't. Goodbye.

[@darkprose]

BeauJames59 Priceless! Back again, huh? I didn't even have to call you this time. Here trolly, trolly, troll... ;-)

[@the_Rade]

Yes, all praise the mighty Thor

[@pedrinho.90]

I love his "grunting mode" ahahah❤ He's really having fun here 18:39 😁 These lectures, for a music student/lover who wants to appreciate more intelligently musical art, are the best thing since sliced bread... I need to watch them all again once a year, at least. Miss you, Lenny❤

[@TheGeoDaddy]

When people complain about Lenny “grunting” when he plays piano... it strikes me that THAT is the ONLY thing they take away from these lectures... truly we live our lives on MANY and incompatible levels

[@ralitsa-ost]

I actually love the outpour of emotion in the form of grunting

[@BaldursGate2Jonaleth]

I don't think "THAT is the ONLY thing they take away from these lectures". Individuals may acknowledge something annoying or silly while still learning from and appreciating a master. It happens all the time.

[@TheGeoDaddy]

Well, I guess we would have to ask an - individual - and not trust a group... “Yes, besides the grunting, did you get anything else out of Lenny’s talk?” In my experience, people are only looking for the first excuse NOT to listen and justify their disinterest on that... “Naw, if the dude is gonna ‘grunt’ I’m not gonna listen to him” THAT’s why advertisers make sure to get to their point within ONE minute... and in this day and age 15 seconds is a LONG time for people simply ‘click’ especially if they are casually interested and/or unfamiliar with the content/author... sobering to realize - as accomplished as Lenny was - you could go down the street and find, say 1 in a 1,000 people who had ever heard of him today.

[@mrlopez-pz7pu]

Why are you assuming that one took nothing from this lecture simply because one's comment complained about the grunting? Silly.

[@srothbardt]

Grunt grunt, grumpy grudge…

[@hirschowitz1]

A genius....in every way..... thank you for posting this gem.

[@caginn]

You are welcome, enjoy, best!

[@viggosimonsen]

This series is really a revelation to me. Bernstein is an amazing intellectual, quite apart from his musical accomplishments.

[@manuelgasse]

I could listen to this for days.

[@viggosimonsen]

Absolutely sublime! And note how Bernstein asks for a pause after the Isolde's Liebestod clip; he is simply too moved to continue right away. It is very evident that exactly this piece has had a very special place in his heart. Quite touching, indeed. I couldn't help thinking, as he explained the opening bars of the Faun at the piano, how the first proper resolution into E major in the intro, evokes a feeling of dawn and sunrise. I always had that visual association when I heard it.

[@IggyDieu]

All these lectures in every sense and thought are just splendid and delivered with such didactic subtleness and intellectual nuance. I just can't get over it. Thank you very 'very' much for uploading all of these!

[@ednoled]

We need more arts education. Everywhere. Period.

[@dibaldgyfm9933]

Call it something other than education.

[@johnwaters5675]

More arts education like this, absolutely!

[@chessematics]

@@dibaldgyfm9933 enlightenment

[@dpurdynyc]

And more French!

[@loge10]

Sadly, education in this era is primarily a means to learn about making money - in one way or another. A liberal arts education, including the humanities and the arts in general, are just not a priority - and our culture shows it.

[@pchabanowich]

Pedagogy of the highest order!💐

[@suzannederringer1607]

God he was brilliant. And so wonderful st communicating this fairly arcane material in a clear and interesting manner. We took this for granted in the '60s and '70s. I had totally forgotten the US-Soviet Crisis of that particular moment...

[@TravisTheTreeGuy]

This is some high level musical analysis. Well done. On my 3rd time thru...

[@NicolaCappellini]

Maestro has been cracking me up all through the video! 1:57:22 "But who's on top?" 1:34:09 Absolute genius!

[@composer7325]

Excellent This is a brilliant site.Thank you for the uploads.

[@caginn]

You are welcome, enjoy, best!

[@lawrencevelogirl]

God bless you for the upload! This lecture series changed my life.

[@aminkabir]

Thank you so much for uploading this video.

[@caginn]

You are welcome, enjoy it, best !

[@yaserthe1]

This man speaks like music, and music's like speech.

[@SpeegBJ]

Such levity for our world today......brilliant man still very missed.

[@tarrera2005]

Thank you ever so much! You Cagin for the upload, and you Mr. Bernstein for being!

[@leor-k3173]

We need more people that bridge over the distance between us and the terrains of art, like Bernstein, philosophy, like Michael Sandel, and science, like Hawking; for the elevation of our culture and human experience. Thanks to all that contribute to this enormous task!

[@urmorph]

The diminished 7th chord is used by Bach in the St. Matthew Passion. when both choirs sing ff the single word, "Barrabam!" (the accusative case of "Barrabas"). In some English writers I have seen it called "Clapham Junction", because you can go anywhere from there. The chord is built by adding minor thirds indefinitely, which is why there are only three different ones of 4 notes each; flattening any one of the four notes will give you 4 different dominant 7th chords. From there you can go to 4 major keys or their tonic minors (8 in all, of the 24). Any keyboard player can show you this quickly and easily. (This is why every composer of any versatility whatever is familiar with a keyboard.).

[@theburb08]

This could well have been a lecture in an introductory college degree program for a music major....a whetting of the appetite to delve more deeply into the characteristics of what each period brought ..harmonically,structurally, tonally, etc, Maestro Bernstein is a master lecturer as well as musician.

[@MarkSeibold]

At 22:25 ~ 22:55 Bernstein displays in the E and A minor key examples, what Eric Satie did at the beginning of the 20th Century with his Gymnopedies pieces, so was Satie possibly borrowing from Chopin? Life Imitates Art! *This lecture is priceless, thank you again for posting, [cagin]

[@matteopesce7405]

Hey man I know I'm late... Do you know which piece is that? I tried to search for mazurcas #50 by chopin but I couldn't find that specific one...

[@MrNoun182]

@@matteopesce7405 Mazurka No. 4 Op. 17 :)

[@matteopesce7405]

@@MrNoun182 thanks man!

[@BenjiOrthopedic]

55:00 - I believe that is Doriot Dwyer there, legendary Principal Flutist of the BSO! She died a couple years ago (2020) at a ridiculously old age. And then again later in the film she has those mellifluous solos in the Debussy.

[@zxbc1]

Thanks so much for this! I have been constantly amazed by the old BSO performances and a lot of it is due to her. She has the most impeccable vibrato technique out of all the flutists I've seen, it absolutely made this piece.

[@Glicksman1]

The Tritone! “The Devil's Interval”, or less dramatically, an augmented fourth or diminished fifth. Maestro Bernstein was all too aware of it. It was, after all, and no less than the harmonic basis of his brilliant score of "West Side Story", and the subsequent purely orchestral “Symphonic Dances” of the same.. From the first three notes of the “Prologue” and throughout, the Tritone is prominently featured as it is in the “Jet’s Song”. It appears thereafter at moments of tension, hate, and anger (of which there are many) throughout. It even appears in moments of love, tenderness, and passion as in “Maria”. However, here the main, titular melody resolves one half-step up to the fifth as if to say, “Thus, through love hate is abolished.” The Tritone is the harmonic basis of “Cool”, and even has a strong but subtle bearing on the lovely and hopeful “Take of This Hand”, in that it begins in the key of “C” and moves to the key of “Gb”. The interval between “C” and “Gb” is, you may have guessed it, a Tritone, indicating that perhaps underlying the pleasant fantasy of the moment there exists a stark, harsher reality. Tritones frame the “Rumble” which consists of much of that which we heard in the “Prologue” including the discord motif with its prominent Tritone. As the scene inexorably builds to its climax, the thick, harmonically dissonant orchestration, and pounding percussion suddenly dissolve, leaving only the discord motif just as Bernardo kills Riff, the incident that precipitates and forms the overall tragic remainder of the story.. There are many more examples of the Tritone dominating and closely informing the score of “West Side Story”, but rather than describe them here, perhaps it would be more satisfying to discover them for yourself.

[@bannanabagle]

amazing. This man is a genious. thank you for uploading this amazing video

[@jasonreynolds3903]

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde discussion begins @ 1:00:11

[@caginn]

Your welcome and thank you for your kind comment. Enjoy, Best !

[@BenjiOrthopedic]

One time, Bernstein asked the hypothetical sort of question, "How many people out there are in the class of somebody like Mozart, who can still sound fresh and original 200 or so years later? Almost nobody." Well, Bernstein was one of the very few. He knew music - as a whole, not just classical - better than almost anyone. It'll be interesting to see how well he holds up over time - but there is little doubt that he will always remain one of the greatest musical figures in world history. Thankfully he recorded a ton and a lot of his performances were filmed, and he talked a lot in public and - like this lecture series - a lot of it was also filmed. Stravinsky, among a few other composers, also did lecture series. Stravinsky did a series at Harvard too.

[@caginn]

I know that Stravinsky - Harvard lectures were published (Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons) but I've never heard that they were filmed. It would be interesting watching them.

[@BenjiOrthopedic]

@@caginn yeah totally. I would've loved to be a fly on the wall for those... You are right, it was indeed not filmed. I believe it was done in the late 30s/early 40s. He mentions this in an old clip that is part of the AMAZING 1982 Tony Palmer film about his life. He said, "I had accepted the Harvard lectures 6 months before I came to the US."

[@Twentythousandlps]

Stravinsky's lectures were definitely not filmed.

[@lorenzobettucci4361]

​@@BenjiOrthopedicit's a real shame that the entire film has been removed from KZbin. It was available two years ago and when I went looking for it again it had already disappeared.

[@BenjiOrthopedic]

@@lorenzobettucci4361 Sorry I didn't see your reply until now but YES, it's too bad the Tony Palmer film is not on here anymore in its entirety but the second half is here kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5CQl3eCZ7SJnck There was also another really good documentary done in approximately the late 50s/early 60s, before Cocteau (Stravinsky's longtime pal) died. It has since been removed. This other one was only about an hour long - Palmer's is more than 2 1/2 hours.

[@josephalvarez5315]

I can't count how many times I've watched this lecture

[@RichardBoyer]

such great wisdom

[@MrInterestingthings]

amazing.thankyou so much.Pianists must laugh with the conductor playing etude in thirds and hammerklavier but he had great pianistic training at Curtis.He was special like few of us get to see in this life.

[@backspace3111]

I love the way he breaks down prelude to the afternoon of a faun at 1:44:58

[@papa_gummybear]

He's brilliant. Sings like a gremlin

[@undergroundphilharmonic8502]

It is interesting to see him talk about the romeo and Juliet, knowing he wrote west side story, I wonder if he took these same considerations into his own work... I will have to go back and listen.

[@darkprose]

I thought of that, too!

[@Dionysosable]

Bernstein Was just Amazing. he seemd to always make wonders when or whatever he conducted. His conducting of Richard Wagner here is incredible. It always seemed that he was the total orchestra. He seduced them through his emotions and personality. which is ofcorse that what makes a masterful great conductor. he was one of a kind. And what a mind he was. A real gift from god to mankind.

[@TheKodheli]

Wonderful

[@isaiasramosgarcia9771]

this is extremely interesting

[@Twentythousandlps]

The Boston Symphony recording of the Berlioz excerpt is very fine. With Bernstein they also filmed two more excerpts from Romeo (Love Scene and Mab Scherzo) that can be seen at the Paley Center in Manhattan.

[@RedZed1974]

I love how he affects accents to make certain points and then always goes back to that classy, silky smooth Transatlantic speech.

[@nat-moody]

A truly great orator

[@sunao1nemoto]

In this film, Tristan part is special to me. Deeply moving by his conducting, music and last words which are It will stop all the clocks in the world you will perform only in terms of Wagner's clock which is extraterrestrial one.

[@dibaldgyfm9933]

I love the subtitles (closed captions) when they say "traumatic" and I hear Bernstein saying "chromatic". // At places I need the subtitles, though. I emphatically recommend listening to this "masterclass" in expressions of music.

[@al1936ful]

They're all available on DVD.

[@caginn]

@lawrencevelogirl This lecture series changed many life's, am sure of that. Mine too, it changed. Enlightening, they are. Thanks for the comment. Enjoy, best !

[@caginn]

I see your point. You are right. Maybe the university thought that these lectures were very valuable and Bernstein was a star by all means. So they just wanted to record them. These lectures are published by Kultur. You can find it on Amazon. Best.

[@Twentythousandlps]

Bernstein's own company Amberson took a major role in initiating and controlling the videos made of him beginning in 1970.

[@ironmaz1]

Mr Bernstein got so emotional after that Wagner that he had to take a break :)

[@JBorda]

This man lived too short.

[@XolisykeswifeX]

Clicked for the thumbnail

[@theportablemr]

After watching Bunuel's early films I can't come away from listening to Wagner's Tristan with anything other than a smirk on my face

[@By1Phi]

AmaZing All VIDS STELLAR!!

[@Paolo8772]

Viggo Simonsen: You are 100 percent correct

[@alexanderleeart]

jesus, he has quite the vocabulary

[@windstorm1000]

+Alexander Lee it helps when one is a teacher

[@mrnarason]

Probably had over 40 years of experience, also all that music learnedness and memory probably helps him give these lecture with no notes.

[@timharris2291]

jewish

[@ismireghal68]

Tim Harris jewish=good vocabulary?

[@doublenegation7870]

Read books.

[@EdvardBolaasMusic]

Wagner really is just.. Makes me at a loss for words.

[@MarkSeibold]

A human humbling through great art, music and life - Leonard Bernstein could have run for President, and won on this lecture alone. [But he probably would't have lowered himself to that]. I forgot, my last post was only Part 2 of many lectures that Bernstein presented in 1973 at Harvard. *Here is the one in which he actually refers to a current political situation then. A profound statement he makes about the ambiguous dangers of miscomunication in linguistics, with the Russians'. *Imagine George W. Bush speaking this eloquently ?? It mignt have caused a pause to the 9/11 terrorists. ??

[@SamBorgman]

+Mark Seibold Totally agree! Wouldn't even want him to waste time being the president. I had no idea LB was so good at teaching and had such in-depth knowledge of everything. Kinda shocked! This is already giving me ideas for more complicated songs I could make.

[@2dicone]

At 22:00, does anyone know what Chopin piece he's playing?? I have to hear it

[@terryharrington6544]

Mazurka in A minor op 17 #4

[@brianbuch1]

William Empson waves at him. "7, Lenny, not just 2"

[@nat-moody]

Does anyone know which of Chopin's Mazurkas Bernstein plays at 21:47? It's so nice

[@michaweinst3774]

Mazurka Op. 17 No. 4

[@nat-moody]

Thank you very much, Micha!

[@caginn]

Your welcome, enjoy, best !

[@alcelaya1365]

If we keep running into ads every 4 minutes I won't last very long. Imagine being in the lecture room with this fascinating lesson and every 220 seconds some clown loudly interupts to try to sell you car insurance or something ambiguous

[@cybergwen]

I'm so happy giving KZbin money gets rid of ads...

[@the_Rade]

Download the video

[@maxalaintwo3578]

Heh.... ambiguous....

[@danielmunder810]

1:07:38 all 12 tones used. Most common 4 create dim7 chord. (This bookmark is mostly for me to refer back to)

[@Dan474834]

The specific version of Mahler's Adagietto adapted to piano that Bernstein plays so beautifully at 6:24 is something I've been searching for for a very long time. Does anyone know where I could get the score to this?

[@catx]

“Crazy modern music.” LOL

[@悪魔城下町]

Surprised there's not more comments on his "who's on top?" joke, lol. It's gotta be Isolde, too.

[@caginn]

1:01:10 "Entartet Geschlecht!..." Such a tempestuous monolog implies that it should be her who is on top, not Tristan with his lame "Was ist? Isolde? ..." :)

[@bobkurland186]

I think the performance Bernstein did with the Salzau youth orchestra of the Berlioz was more moving and subtle than that of the BSO in this video, but then I'm not a musician.

[@mobettergrooveflashmobbusk6308]

How much experience is needed to talk about this complicated questions that simple ?

[@hrvojebartulovic7870]

I'd say the real question is how to find a compassionate ear with whom you can develop transforming your nerve irritations into such coherent thoughts talking!?!?😂😂😂

[@jimslancio]

1:02:18 It's striking to hear about Wagner, the narcissist megalomaniac, expressing envious admiration for anybody else's work. Berlioz' R&J should be much better known and frequently performed.

[@Paolo8772]

This leaves even people with brain damage sitting intently on the edge of their seats for almost 2 and a half hours. Only Bernstein has a gift like that to be able to teach the most advanced concepts of music to ANYBODY

[@chriscampbell1342]

I wonder if this blonde inquisitor ever actually existed :) It seems her presence, real or not, helped structure these lectures.

[@ferce889]

Was thinking the same thing here...the blond inquisitor was too convenient to be true

[@SarahJones-wy5us]

@@ferce889 The blonde inquisitor was his daughter Jamie Bernstein .

[@maxalaintwo3578]

No one expects the blonde inquisition

[@EmbraceTheAbsurd]

Definitely a dim 7 in bar 20 of the prelude to Tristan? But somehow i refuse to believe he was wrong about that. Not that it really matters either way I suppose... spectacular lecture none the less.

[@brendanward2991]

+EmbraceTheAbsurd Definitely? Bernstein would probably claim that the B-flat is an appoggiatura, whose resolution onto A gives us an A-major seventh chord.

[@EmbraceTheAbsurd]

Upon closer inspection, I agree that the Bb is a 7-6 suspension into a V(7-)6/5 of d minor. The keyboard reduction in Burkhart's anthology is misleading, with a Bb that is not treated as a leaning tone doubled an octave lower, that is in fact not present in the full score. You win, Bernstein. For now... XD

[@matcoddy6097]

DOUBLING THE LEADING TONE!!!?????!!?? :O

[@chicolofi]

I'm sure that guy on the left playing the cello at 1:17:51 is Vladimir Putin.

[@songsabai3794]

What a presence this man commands.

[@stechapo4009]

2:09 A woman!! Must've sneaked in when the golden gates of tonality where flung open.....

[@facusaquito]

Alguien le puede poner subtitulos??? Es un material fantástico.

[@jomaleca2005]

lo pediste hace un año y nada..!Alguien le puede poner subtitulos en español..por favor!!

[@chessematics]

@@jomaleca2005 no progress in 6 years

[@fcmilsweeper9]

How did you obtain these lectures?

[@Jasmin-xw7nx]

I love his German 😂

[@srpilha]

Second time he disses Gertrude Stein for no good reason. Why, Lenny, why? You should be above that. Actually, seeing the hints he's been giving from the start of the series, I'm a bit worried about what he'll say on 20th century music. It's worth reminding that the "crisis" he's talking about is not a crisis of music in general, just of tonal music. Lots of other possibilities out there, as the whole century (and the rest of the world outside of Europe and its colonies) has shown.

[@Sodhats]

I get how he gets from the prelude phrase to the second phrase by removing the appoggiaturas and moving the A up an octave, but how does he get from that to the liebestod?

[@caginn]

@TheFjordz Ur welcome. U can find the lecture 3 (and the rest) from my channel or just directly search for 'The Unanswered Question 1973 3 Musical Semantics Bernstein Norton' title at the search engine. Enjoy, best !

[@ArturoPueyoMusic]

Someone could tell the name of the pieces he analyzes by Chopin and Debussy?

[@caginn]

in order of appearance Chopin etude Op 25 No.6m Mazurkas, Op. 17 and debussy prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune. If there is anything missing, time mark it and I can try to find. Best!

[@caginn]

... and thank you Tarrera2005 for your comment. Enjoy, best !

[@bob32f32]

is this the best yet? Thanks!

[@fcmilsweeper9]

Just wondering...It seems strange...now big universities put some videos online, but 40 years ago taping this sort of thing seems strange, especially since theres no TV Network symbol in either corner? Just wondering

[@allesvergaengliche]

what mazurka does he play at 22:50?

[@bob32f32]

@cagin I have and he sure does...now I have to watch again...goodbye afternoon...

[@yipuwang6434]

Bernstein is a much worse singer than Glenn Gould

[@EliezerPennywhistler]

Utterly pointless observation.

[@DJJonPattrsn22]

@Pennywhistler: It appears to be more of a comparative opinion than an observation to me, and it is certainly less pointless than yours since it actually relates to the video. Either way the "comments" section is the ideal place for it... BTW, where did you get the notion that (other people's) YT comments should have a point, or that you should expect them to? Just curious...

[@matcoddy6097]

@pennywhistler Bernstein and Gould hum in a very similar way, it was a joke, not an "utterly pointless observation"

[@isaiasramosgarcia9771]

he wasnt a singer, but composer and orchestra conductor

[@ariwidjaja6988]

@immanuel kant it's called irony, bernstein says it himself. ... seriously ;)

[@lennon310]

Does someone have the electronic-version of the lectures? I thought there was a same-titled book published around almost the same yr. thx

[@caginn]

@bob32f32 ur welcome. he does it so often. watch his beethoven 9th videos. no one can go 'higher' :)

[@Frode5]

What is the name of the Chopin mazurka around the 23 minute mark?

[@caginn]

op.17 n.4

[@Frode5]

Thank you sir :)

[@caginn]

U r welcome; best! :)

[@boll3t]

The amount of ads in these videos is an absolute turn down...

[@caginn]

@InnerTranquility ur welcome, enjoy, best :)

[@HotRatsAndTheStooges]

Couldn't the thumbnail have rested on a different frame?

[@manhattanvor]

I watched these when they were broadcast. But Mahler and the "Century of Death" are a bit arch these days. Indeed it was just that, but there had been many other such centuries - we just don't know the numbers as we do in the 20th. Still, a brilliant man that i love to watch even now.

[@keithdillon1766]

Notice how, as Lenny goes from Berlioz to Wagner, the idea of diatonic regularity in key and time (beat) begin to simply evaporate, being replaced with something that seems to function both as key and time together. We're hearing the beginnings of Einstein's Space/Time continuum.

[@bobkurland186]

That's a nice analogy, but it doesn't have much physics truth in it..there are no transformations from one reference frame to another.

[@johnp6274]

any idea what the painting is at 1 hour 16 ?

[@caginn]

"How Sir Tristram Drank of the Love Drink" by Aubrey Beardsley .

[@jrbleau]

Does anyone see this musical ambiguity as a precursor to the trends in today's society?

[@MrAMusicPlace]

Indeed it is. Uncontained invention leads to increased self gratification but decreased meaning. Hence, the paradox: a person removes containment to find oneself, but the further one removes that containment, the less likely they are to find the meaning they seek.

[@maxalaintwo3578]

@@MrAMusicPlace When you remove the walls of containment and pillars of sense, the only pillar left is yourself. And you and your impulses suck probably, so they need to be reined in by other structures

[@bob32f32]

is this the best yet? Thanks! And how about 54:29! Lenny Leaps!

[@tonalityludwigvon5748]

What was the German word at 32:03 ?

[@caginn]

Ausgeschlossen = out of the question

[@tonalityludwigvon5748]

@@caginn thanks

[@caginn]

@@tonalityludwigvon5748 You are welcome.

[@1JesseEns]

i think they all disappeared, or maybe are in hiding somewhere, or they are were they always were and we can't understand them anymore.