Leonard Bernstein

His last work for the musical theater, "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue", was one of his few failures in the medium. "Candide" had also been a failure when it first opened in 1956, but eventually became a hit in its 1974 revival. "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," with book and lyrics by Bernstein's old friend Alan Jay Lerner, attempted to tell the story of all the US Presidents who had occupied the White House in a single evening. Starring Ken Howard and Patricia Routledge, it had an extremely difficult pre-Broadway try-out period, marked by extensive re-writes, poor reviews and negative audience response. When it ultimately opened on Broadway, in May of 1976, it ran only seven performances. Bernstein ultimately re-cycled much of the music for other works, and the complete score went unrecorded (at Bernstein's insistence) for 24 years. At that time, some ten years after Bernstein's death and 14 years after Lerner's, it was recorded and issued as "White House Cantata".

Was the first American-born and American-trained conductor of a major orchestra to become as famous as he did. There had been some American-born conductors before him, including Arthur Fiedler, who conducted the Boston Pops from 1930 to the late 1970s, and Alfred Wallenstein, who became conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1943. However, neither Fiedler nor Wallenstein were trained in the US, as Bernstein was. Bernstein is still the only American-trained US conductor to become so famous that his name is virtually a household word. Fiedler did become very well-known, but the Boston Pops played, and still play, mostly light classics, not pieces like Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" (as orchestras conducted by Bernstein did). Few other American-born conductors had even a fraction of the impact that Bernstein did, although the Boston Pops' recordings have always rivaled Bernstein's in popularity. Bernstein's many talents--conducting, composing, writing, teaching and piano-playing--aroused the admiration of the public, but also envy and resentment from a few major critics, such as Harold C. Schonberg, who was then the music critic of the New York Times. It was not until Bernstein was into his later years that some critics who had previously dismissed him (like Schonberg) began to show a grudging respect for him. Nowadays he is universally acknowledged as perhaps the greatest conductor that the US has ever produced.

Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, Heinrich Gebhard and Isabelle Vengerova, at the Curtis Institute with Fritz Reiner, and at the Berkshire Music Center with Serge Koussevitzky (and became an assistant to Koussevitzky). He was assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1943-1944, and conductor of the New York Symphony, 1945-1948.

In 1945 Bernstein considered acting, and actually discussed the possibility of playing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in a film, opposite superstar Greta Garbo as the legendary composer's friend Mme. von Meck.

He was guest conductor of symphony orchestras in the USA and Europe, and conducted the Israel Philharmonic seven times between 1947 and 1957.

He was music advisor to the Israel Philharmonic from 1948-1949, and a member of the faculty at the Berkshire Music Center from 1948 (though he did take leaves of absence), and head of the conducting department there in 1951.

He was Professor of Music at Brandeis University, 1951-1956; and co-conductor of the New York Philharmonic, 1957-1958, and music director there after 1958. He won an Emmy award for his televised Young People's Concerts.

He toured the US with Koussevitzky in 1951, and was the first American to conduct at the La Scala Opera House in Milan, in 1953. He was awarded the Sonning Prize in Denmark, and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Won three Tony Awards: in 1953, as Best Composer and his music as part of a Best Musical win for "Wonderful Town;" and in 1969, a Special Tony Award. He was also Tony-nominated on two other occasions: in 1957, his music as part of a Best Musical nomination for "Candide;" and in 1958, his music as part of a Best Musical nomination for "West Side Story."

He selected November 14, 1954, as the date for his first television lecture (the famous Omnibus (1952) episode featuring Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony"), because he had made his professional conducting debut 11 years previously on the same date, and he felt it brought him good luck.

Served as music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1958-69; took a one-year sabbatical in 1964-65. Was named laureate conductor for life when he stepped down from the music director's post.

In collaboration with conductors Bruno Walter and Dimitri Mitropoulos, both former conductors of the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein was the first conductor to lead an all-Gustav Mahler symphonic cycle in New York, in 1961. It was that cycle that spurred the revival of interest in Mahler's symphonies, which is still going on today.

Caused a stir in April of 1962 when he informed the audience at a concert that he assumed no responsibility for the performance they were about to hear of Johannes Brahms' "D Minor Concerto" with soloist Glenn Gould.

Named to then-President Richard Nixon's famed "enemies list" for hosting a fund-raising party in 1970 for the Black Panthers, the Afro-American militant group, with a glamorous Who's Who of the New York City performing arts scene (for that era) in attendance. Journalist/novelist Tom Wolfe covered the event for New Yorker Magazine, later publishing his comments in book form as "Radical Chic".

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 94-98. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

His musical, "Candide," at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California was awarded the 1995 Drama-Logue Award for Production.

The production of Candide was awarded a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Outstanding Musical Production.

In his series 20th Century Greats (2004), British composer and presenter Howard Goodall made a case for Bernstein as one of the four most important composers of the 20th century, along with Cole Porter, Bernard Herrmann and the Lennon (John Lennon)\McCartney (Paul McCartney) songwriting partnership.

His musical, "Candide," at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2011 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Musical Production (Large).

Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins and his musical, "West Side Story" at the Paramount Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2016 Joseph Jefferson (Equity) Award for Large Musical Production.

The 2018 season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra dedicated several programs to Bernstein's work to coincide with his 100th birthday as well as his roots in Massachusetts.