Bernstein Leonard musical works. Book: L. A. Bernstein “Analysis of financial statements. Approximate word search
Year of issue : 2003
Genre : Economy
Publisher:"Finance and Statistics"
Format: PDF
Quality : Scanned pages
Number of pages:
622
Description : The book gives an idea of the methods of effective accounting policies of US accountants and the degree of its regulation; introduces the methodology for constructing financial statements, including a balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow statement. The discussion of the essence of the information contained in these documents ends with a consideration of methods for analyzing the financial position of companies, which is carried out on specific data.
For accountants seeking to improve their skills, teachers of accounting and analysis, graduate students and students of economic universities and departments, as well as those who make decisions based on financial statements.
PART I
FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS AND ACCOUNTING DATA
Chapter 1. Objectives of financial statement analysis
1.1. The essence of financial analysis
1.2. Approaches to the problem
1.3. Development of investment theory
Chapter 2. Financial Statement Analysis and Accounting
2.1. Financial Statement Analysis Functions
2.2. Initial data for analysis
2.3. Accounting Data Values
2.4. Information limitations of accounting data
2.5. Relative importance of financial statement analysis in the overall scope of decision-making work
2.6. Accounting Functions
Chapter 3. Goals, conditions and standards of accounting - their significance for analysis
3.1. Accounting purposes
3.2. FASB Conceptual Diagram
3.3. Organizing a Conceptual Diagram
3.4. Prerequisites for analysis
3.5. Accounting Principles and Standards
3.6. Human factor
Chapter 4. Tools and Techniques for Financial Statement Analysis - General Overview
4.1. Reconstruction of business activities and operations
4.2. The Importance of Cash Flow Reporting
4.3. Additional Analytical Functions
4.4. Information sources
4.5. Complete set of information
4.6. Basic analysis tools
4.7. Market meters
4.8. Comparability of financial information
4.9. Example of calculating financial ratios
4.10. Checking understanding of relationships
4.11. Main components of financial statement analysis
4.12. Financial analysis using computer technology
4.13. Review of Accounting Principles - Purpose and Focus
Appendix 4a. Sources of information containing performance indicators and financial ratios
Appendix 4c. Example of financial statements
PART II. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - THE BASIS FOR ANALYSIS OF THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF AN ENTERPRISE
Chapter 5. Analysis of current assets
5.1. Cash
5.2. Marketable securities
5.3. Accounts receivable
5.4. Providing data on the current value of financial instruments
5.5. Reserves
5.6. Adjustment when moving from LIFO to FIFO
5.7. Other analytical problems
Chapter 6. Analysis of non-current assets
6.1. Long-term investments
6.2. The most realistic valuation of debt securities
6.3. Accounting by borrowers and creditors of debt restructuring caused by the difficult financial situation of the borrower
6.4. The problem of bank loans
6.5. Material fixed assets
6.6. Intangible assets
6.7. Deferred expenses and reserves for future expenses and payments
6.8. Unrecorded intangible or contingent assets
Chapter 7. Analysis of accounts payable
7.1. Short-term accounts payable
7.2. Long-term accounts payable
7.3. Debt repayment
7.4. Lease liabilities
7.5. Capital lease accounting
7.6. Off-balance sheet financing
7.7. Off-balance sheet liabilities
7.8. Accounts payable for pension plans
7.9. Identification of additional pension debt
7.10. Other payments besides pensions
7.11. Liabilities bordering equity
7.12. revenue of the future periods
7.13. Minority
7.14. Reserves
7.15. Accounting for contingencies
7.16. Contract obligations
7.17. Financial instruments with off-balance sheet risks
7.18. Contingent accounts payable
Chapter 8. Equity Analysis
8.1. Differences between accounts payable and equity instruments
8.2. Classification of shares
8.3. retained earnings
8.4. Book value per share
Chapter 9. Intercorporate Investments, Mergers and Foreign Activities
9.1. Intercorporate investments
9.2. Accounting for business combinations
9.3. Accounting for business combinations
9.4. Accounting for goodwill is the area of greatest concern
9.5. Accounting for foreign economic activity
9.6. Analysis of profit and loss from translation
Chapter 10: Income Statement Analysis: Part I
10.1. Variety of profit concepts
10.2. Accrual of costs and expenses
10.3. Depreciation and reduction of resource depletion costs
Chapter 11: Income Statement Analysis: Part 2
11.1. Pension expenses and additional employee benefits
11.2. Elements of periodic pension costs
11.3. Pension obligations
11.4. Accounting for other employee benefits after retirement
11.5. Other additional payments to employees
11.6. Payments for scientific research, survey and development
11.7. Goodwill
11.8. Interest expenses
11.9. Income tax
11.10. Extraordinary gains and losses
11.11. Accounting changes
11.12. Profit and loss statement - the essence of the analysis, overview
Chapter 12. Earnings per share: calculation and estimation
12.1. Calculation of the weighted average value of issued ordinary shares
12.2. Complex capital structure
12.3. Fully diluted earnings per share
12.4. Examples of EPS calculations for business combinations
12.5. Restatement of earnings per share for the previous period
12.6. Additional data requirements in connection with reporting earnings per share
12.7. Accounting statements for changes in earnings per share
Chapter 13. Cash Flow Statement
13.1. Meaning of Cash Flows
13.2. Accounting for cash and cash flows
13.3. Determination of net cash flows from business activities
13.4. Reconstruction of operations
13.5. Determining the amount of cash as a result of business activities - two methods
13.6. Transition from indirect representation to representation of receipts and payments
13.7. Cash flows - problems of their study
Chapter 14. The Effect of Price Changes on Financial Statements
14.1. Research and professional advice
14.2. Objectives of this chapter
14.3. Accounting at current prices
14.4. Accounting at constant prices
14.5. An example of transaction accounting using four reporting schemes
14.6. Analytical considerations when using the current price model
14.7. Analytical considerations when using the constant price model
14.8. Comparison of general and specific price changes
Chapter 15. Auditor's opinion - content and meaning
15.1. What should an analyst know?
15.2. Audit report
15.3. Inconsistency of financial statements with generally accepted accounting principles
15.4. Special reports
15.5. Prerequisites for analysis
15.6. Assumptions arising from the standards that guide the auditor's opinion
15.7. Audit functions from the auditor's point of view
PART III. IMPORTANT SECTIONS OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS
Chapter 16. Liquidity Analysis
16.1. Liquidity value
16.2. Working capital
16.3. Coverage ratio
16.4. Turnover ratio of average accounts receivable
16.5. Inventory turnover ratios
16.6. Current liabilities - short-term accounts payable
16.7. Coverage Ratio Interpretation
16.8. Intermediate quick liquidity ratio
16.9. Other indicators of quick liquidity
16.10. The concept of financial flexibility
16.11. Discussion and analysis by company management
Chapter 17: Cash Flow Analysis and Financial Projections
17.1. Review of Cash Flow Models
17.2. Spreadsheets
17.3. Cash Flow Statement Analysis
17.4. Cash Flow Statement Analysis Example
17.5. Valuation of the cash flow statement
17.6. Designing a Cash Flow Statement
17.7. Example of designing a cash flow statement
18.1. Key elements in assessing long-term solvency
18.2. Importance of capital structure
18.3. Accounting principles
18.4. Adjustments to the carrying amount of assets
18.5. Importance of capital structure
18.6. Principles of using borrowed funds
18.7. Calculation example
18.8. Financial leverage ratio
18.9. Measuring the impact of capital structure on long-term solvency
18.10. Long Term Forecast - Value and Limitations
18.11. Capital structure analysis - structural reports
12.18. Debt to total capital ratio (debt and equity)
18.13. Preferred shares in the capital structure
Chapter 18. Analysis of capital structure and long-term solvency
18.14. Analytically adjusted long-term accounts payable/equity ratio
18.15. Interpretation of capital structure indicators
18.16. Unforeseen event and other types of risk
18.17. Asset allocation indicators
18.18. Profitability is critical
18.19. Profit coverage indicators
18.20. Ratio of profit to fixed costs
18.21. Conditional calculations of coverage ratios
18.22. Covering fixed costs with cash flows
18.23. Stability of cash flows as a result of business activities
18.24. Covering dividends on preferred shares from profits
18.25. Estimation of cost-coverage ratios by profit
18.26. Capital structure, buyout of a controlling stake through a loan, junk bonds and other financial “innovations”
18.27. Essential aspects of the analysis
Appendix 18A. Debt rating
Appendix 18A.1. Corporate bond rating
Appendix 18A.2. Municipal Securities Rating
Appendix 18A.Z. Limitations Inherent in the Rating Process
Appendix 18B. Ratios as predictors of enterprise failure
Appendix 18C. An example of calculating the analytically adjusted long-term debt/equity ratio
Chapter 19. Analysis of return on investment and use of assets
19.1. Different perspectives on performance
19.2. Criteria for assessing performance results
19.3. The value of the return on investment indicator
19.4. Main goals of using ROI
19.5. Basic elements of ROI
19.6. Adjusting the components of the ROI formula
19.7. Asset utilization analysis
19.8. Analysis of earnings per common stock (ROCSE)
19.9. Example of analysis of profit on total assets and equity
19.10. Comparing return on equity with return on shareholders' investment
Chapter 20. Performance Analysis: Part 1
20.1. The Importance of Income Statement Analysis
20.2. Income Statement Analysis
20.3. Financial reporting of diversified enterprises
20.4. Stability and change in revenue amount
Chapter 21. Performance Analysis: Part 2
21.1. Cost of goods sold analysis
21.2. Break-even analysis
21.3. Analytical value of break-even analysis
21.4. Analyzing the relationships between sales volume, accounts receivable and inventory
21.5. Income tax
21.6. Analysis of financial results
Chapter 22. Profit estimation and forecasting
22.1. Earning Quality Assessment
22.2. Assessing profit level and trend
22.3. The concept of Earning Power
22.4. Profit forecasting
22.5. Control over the enterprise’s activities and results
Chapter 23. Comprehensive analysis of financial statements
23.1. Methodology for financial statement analysis
23.2. The importance of the "block approach" to financial analysis.....
23.3. Distinctive features of a properly conducted financial analysis
23.4. Characteristics of special industries or areas of activity
23.5. Example of a comprehensive analysis of Campbell Soup Company financial statements
List of major abbreviations (US)
Biography
Louis (Louis) Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, into a Jewish family that came from Rivne (Ukraine): mother Jenny (née Reznik), father Samuel Joseph Bernstein, a wholesale supplier of hairdressing products (according to some sources, owned a bookstore store). The grandmother insisted that the child be named Louis, but his parents always called him Leonard. He legally changed his name to Leonard at the age of fifteen, shortly after the death of his grandmother. To his friends and many others, he was simply "Lenny".
His father initially opposed young Leonard's interest in music. Despite this, the elder Bernstein took the boy to orchestra concerts and eventually supported his musical education. In his youth, Bernstein intended to become a pianist.
Bernstein began taking piano lessons as a child and studied at the Garrison and Boston Latin schools. Studied composition at Harvard University under Walter Piston, with Edward Burlingame-Hill and A. Tillman Merritt, among others. Before graduating from university in 1939, Bernstein made his unofficial conducting debut with his own score for The Birds and also played and conducted Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock. Later studied with Fritz Reiner (conducting), Randall Thompson (English)Russian(orchestration), Richard Stöhr (counterpoint) and Isabella Vengerova (piano);
In 1940, Leonard Bernstein studied at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's institute, Tanglewood, which was created in the summer under the direction of Sergei Koussevitzky. Bernstein later became Koussevitzky's assistant conductor.
Assistant conductor (1943-1944), conductor (1957-1958), chief conductor (1958-1969) of the New York Philharmonic (where he succeeded Bruno Walter) and the New York City Symphony (1945-1948).
In 1971, he was inducted into the National Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Died of a heart attack on October 14, 1990. He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in New York next to his wife and with a copy of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 near his heart.
Repertoire and recordings
He premiered the symphony “Turangalily” by Olivier Messiaen (not recorded).
Bernstein twice recorded complete Beethoven symphony cycles (for Sony and Deutsche Grammophon), and participated in the recording of the Beethoven piano concerto cycle with Christian Zimmermann. Bernstein is the only conductor to have twice recorded the complete cycle of Gustav Mahler symphonies (also for Sony and Deutsche Grammophon). He also recorded a complete cycle of symphonies by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, numerous works by American composers, and works by Carl Nielsen and Darius Milhaud. Among the music of the pre-Beethoven era, recordings of works by Joseph Haydn stand out. In April 1962 he performed Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 with pianist Glenn Gould.
Essays
Operas
- "Trouble in Tahiti" (1952, Waltham)
- “A Quiet Place” (1986, Vienna)
Operettas
- "Candide" (1956, New York)
Musicals
- On the Town (1943)
- Wonderful Town (1953)
- Candide (1954)
- West Side Story (1957)
- "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, 1976)
Symphonies
- No. 1 - Jeremiah (Jeremiah, 1942)
- No. 2 - The Age of Anxiety (1949)
- No. 3 - Kaddish (Kaddiss, 1963)
Other
- Music for the ballet “Unloving” (Fancy Free)
- "Chichester Psalms" for choir and orchestra (Chichester Psalms, 1965)
- Mass (1971)
- Prelude, Fugue and Riffs for Clarinet and Jazz Ensemble
- The play "Peter Pan" (Peter Pan, 1950)
Confession
According to a survey conducted in November 2010 by the British classical music magazine BBC Music Magazine among one hundred conductors from different countries, including such musicians as Colin Davis (Great Britain), Valery Gergiev (Russia), Gustavo Dudamel (Venezuela), Maris Jansons (Latvia), Leonard Bernstein took second place in the list of the twenty most outstanding conductors of all times Inducted into the Gramophone Magazine Hall of Fame.
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Notes
Literature
- Bernstein L. Music for everyone. - M., 1978.
- "Leonard Bernstein. Easy arrangement for piano (guitar)”/“Leonard Bernstein. Facilitated arrangement for piano (guitar)". Ed. Composer - St. Petersburg, 2012, 14 pp., edition 300, ISBN 979-0-66004-384-4, paperback
- “The creator is at the conductor's stand. Leonard Bernstein." Elena Mishchenko, Alexander Steinberg. Published by IP Strelbitsky. (Digital book)
Links
- (English) on the Allmusic website
- - article from the Krugosvet encyclopedia
- Zakharova O. A. // Electronic encyclopedia “The World of Shakespeare”.
- (Russian)
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Excerpt characterizing Bernstein, Leonard
Passing by the buffet, she ordered the samovar to be served, although it was not the right time.The barman Fok was the most angry person in the whole house. Natasha loved to try her power over him. He didn't believe her and went to ask if it was true?
- This young lady! - said Foka, feigning a frown at Natasha.
No one in the house sent away as many people and gave them as much work as Natasha. She could not see people indifferently, so as not to send them somewhere. She seemed to be trying to see if one of them would get angry or pout with her, but people didn’t like to carry out anyone’s orders as much as Natasha’s. “What should I do? Where should I go? Natasha thought, walking slowly down the corridor.
- Nastasya Ivanovna, what will be born from me? - she asked the jester, who was walking towards her in his short coat.
“You give rise to fleas, dragonflies, and blacksmiths,” answered the jester.
- My God, my God, it’s all the same. Oh, where should I go? What should I do with myself? “And she quickly, stamping her feet, ran up the stairs to Vogel, who lived with his wife on the top floor. Vogel had two governesses sitting at his place, and there were plates of raisins, walnuts and almonds on the table. The governesses were talking about where it was cheaper to live, in Moscow or Odessa. Natasha sat down, listened to their conversation with a serious, thoughtful face, and stood up. “The island of Madagascar,” she said. “Ma da gas kar,” she repeated each syllable clearly and, without answering m me Schoss’s questions about what she was saying, left the room. Petya, her brother, was also upstairs: he and his uncle were arranging fireworks, which they intended to set off at night. - Peter! Petka! - she shouted to him, - take me down. s - Petya ran up to her and offered her his back. She jumped on him, clasping his neck with her arms, and he jumped and ran with her. “No, no, it’s the island of Madagascar,” she said and, jumping off, went down.
As if having walked around her kingdom, tested her power and made sure that everyone was submissive, but that it was still boring, Natasha went into the hall, took the guitar, sat down in a dark corner behind the cabinet and began plucking the strings in the bass, making a phrase that she remembered from one opera heard in St. Petersburg together with Prince Andrei. For outside listeners, something came out of her guitar that had no meaning, but in her imagination, because of these sounds, a whole series of memories were resurrected. She sat behind the cupboard, her eyes fixed on the strip of light falling from the pantry door, listened to herself and remembered. She was in a state of memory.
Sonya walked across the hall to the buffet with a glass. Natasha looked at her, at the crack in the pantry door, and it seemed to her that she remembered that light was falling through the crack from the pantry door and that Sonya walked through with a glass. “Yes, and it was exactly the same,” thought Natasha. - Sonya, what is this? – Natasha shouted, fingering the thick string.
- Oh, you’re here! - Sonya said, shuddering, and came up and listened. - Don't know. Storm? – she said timidly, afraid of making a mistake.
“Well, in exactly the same way she shuddered, in the same way she came up and smiled timidly then, when it was already happening,” Natasha thought, “and in the same way... I thought that something was missing in her.”
- No, this is the choir from the Water-bearer, do you hear! – And Natasha finished singing the choir’s tune to make it clear to Sonya.
-Where did you go? – Natasha asked.
- Change the water in the glass. I'll finish the pattern now.
“You’re always busy, but I can’t do it,” said Natasha. -Where is Nikolai?
- He seems to be sleeping.
“Sonya, go wake him up,” said Natasha. - Tell him that I call him to sing. “She sat and thought about what it meant, that it all happened, and, without resolving this question and not at all regretting it, again in her imagination she was transported to the time when she was with him, and he looked with loving eyes looked at her.
“Oh, I wish he would come soon. I'm so afraid that this won't happen! And most importantly: I'm getting old, that's what! What is now in me will no longer exist. Or maybe he’ll come today, he’ll come now. Maybe he came and is sitting there in the living room. Maybe he arrived yesterday and I forgot.” She stood up, put down the guitar and went into the living room. All the household, teachers, governesses and guests were already sitting at the tea table. People stood around the table, but Prince Andrei was not there, and life was still the same.
“Oh, here she is,” said Ilya Andreich, seeing Natasha enter. - Well, sit down with me. “But Natasha stopped next to her mother, looking around, as if she was looking for something.
- Mother! - she said. “Give it to me, give it to me, mom, quickly, quickly,” and again she could hardly hold back her sobs.
She sat down at the table and listened to the conversations of the elders and Nikolai, who also came to the table. “My God, my God, the same faces, the same conversations, dad holding the cup in the same way and blowing in the same way!” thought Natasha, feeling with horror the disgust rising in her against everyone at home because they were still the same.
After tea, Nikolai, Sonya and Natasha went to the sofa, to their favorite corner, where their most intimate conversations always began.
“It happens to you,” Natasha said to her brother when they sat down in the sofa, “it happens to you that it seems to you that nothing will happen - nothing; what was all that was good? And not just boring, but sad?
- And how! - he said. “It happened to me that everything was fine, everyone was cheerful, but it would come to my mind that I was already tired of all this and that everyone needed to die.” Once I didn’t go to the regiment for a walk, but there was music playing there... and so I suddenly became bored...
- Oh, I know that. I know, I know,” Natasha picked up. – I was still little, this happened to me. Do you remember, once I was punished for plums and you all danced, and I sat in the classroom and sobbed, I will never forget: I was sad and I felt sorry for everyone, and for myself, and I felt sorry for everyone. And, most importantly, it wasn’t my fault,” Natasha said, “do you remember?
“I remember,” said Nikolai. “I remember that I came to you later and I wanted to console you and, you know, I was ashamed. We were terribly funny. I had a bobblehead toy then and I wanted to give it to you. Do you remember?
“Do you remember,” Natasha said with a thoughtful smile, how long ago, long ago, we were still very little, an uncle called us into the office, back in the old house, and it was dark - we came and suddenly there was standing there...
“Arap,” Nikolai finished with a joyful smile, “how can I not remember?” Even now I don’t know that it was a blackamoor, or we saw it in a dream, or we were told.
- He was gray, remember, and had white teeth - he stood and looked at us...
– Do you remember, Sonya? - Nikolai asked...
“Yes, yes, I remember something too,” Sonya answered timidly...
“I asked my father and mother about this blackamoor,” said Natasha. - They say that there was no blackamoor. But you remember!
- Oh, how I remember his teeth now.
- How strange it is, it was like a dream. I like it.
- Do you remember how we were rolling eggs in the hall and suddenly two old women began to spin around on the carpet? Was it or not? Do you remember how good it was?
- Yes. Do you remember how dad in a blue fur coat fired a gun on the porch? “They turned over, smiling with pleasure, memories, not sad old ones, but poetic youthful memories, those impressions from the most distant past, where dreams merge with reality, and laughed quietly, rejoicing at something.
Sonya, as always, lagged behind them, although their memories were common.
Sonya did not remember much of what they remembered, and what she did remember did not arouse in her the poetic feeling that they experienced. She only enjoyed their joy, trying to imitate it.
She took part only when they remembered Sonya's first visit. Sonya told how she was afraid of Nikolai, because he had strings on his jacket, and the nanny told her that they would sew her into strings too.
“And I remember: they told me that you were born under cabbage,” said Natasha, “and I remember that I didn’t dare not believe it then, but I knew that it wasn’t true, and I was so embarrassed.”
During this conversation, the maid's head poked out of the back door of the sofa room. “Miss, they brought the rooster,” the girl said in a whisper.
“No need, Polya, tell me to carry it,” said Natasha.
In the middle of the conversations going on in the sofa, Dimmler entered the room and approached the harp that stood in the corner. He took off the cloth and the harp made a false sound.
Well, isn't there a secret in it? He is so enthusiastic on the stage, so devoted to the music! Orchestras love him.
R. Celetti
L. Bernstein's work is striking primarily in its diversity: a talented composer, known throughout the world as the author of the musical "West Side Story", the greatest conductor of the 20th century. (he is called among the most worthy successors of G. Karajan), a brilliant musical writer and lecturer who knows how to find a common language with a wide range of listeners, a pianist and teacher.
Bernstein was destined to become a musician, and he stubbornly followed his chosen path, despite obstacles, sometimes very significant. When the boy was 11 years old, he began taking music lessons and within a month he decided that he would be a musician. But his father, who considered music to be empty fun, did not pay for the lessons, and the boy began to earn money for his studies himself.
At the age of 17, Bernstein entered Harvard University, where he studied the art of composing music, playing the piano, and attended lectures on the history of music, philology and philosophy. After graduating from the university in 1939, he continued his studies - now at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (1939-41). An event in Bernstein’s life was a meeting with the greatest conductor, a native of Russia, S. Koussevitzky. An internship under his direction at the Berkshire Music Center (Tanglewood) marked the beginning of a warm and friendly relationship between them. Bernstein became Koussevitzky's assistant and soon became assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic (1943-44). Before that, not having a regular income, he lived on money from occasional lessons, concert performances, and work as a performer.
A happy accident accelerated the start of Bernstein's brilliant conducting career. The world famous B. Walter, who was supposed to perform with the New York Orchestra, suddenly fell ill. The orchestra's permanent conductor, A. Rodzinsky, was vacationing outside the city (it was Sunday), and there was nothing left to do but entrust the concert to a novice assistant. Having spent the whole night studying the most complex scores, Bernstein appeared before the public the next day, without a single rehearsal. It was a triumph for the young conductor and a sensation in the musical world.
From now on, the largest concert halls in America and Europe opened in front of Bernstein. In 1945, he replaced L. Stokowski as chief conductor of the New York City Symphony Orchestra and conducted orchestras in London, Vienna, and Milan. Bernstein captivated listeners with his spontaneous temperament, romantic inspiration, and depth of penetration into music. The musician's artistry truly knows no bounds: he conducted one of his comic pieces... “without hands,” controlling the orchestra only with facial expressions and glances. For more than 10 years (1958-69), Bernstein served as chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic until he decided to devote more time and energy to composing music.
Bernstein's works began to be performed almost simultaneously with his conducting debut (the vocal cycle “I Hate Music”, the symphony “Jeremiah” based on text from the Bible for voice and orchestra, the ballet “The Loveless One”). In his younger years, Bernstein preferred theater music. He is the author of the opera “Unrest in Tahiti” (1952), two ballets; but the greatest success accompanied his four musicals written for Broadway theaters. The premiere of the first of them (“On the City”) took place in 1944, and many of its numbers immediately gained popularity as “action films.” The genre of Bernstein's musical goes back to the very roots of American musical culture: cowboy and black songs, Mexican dances, and the sharp rhythms of jazz. In “Wonderful City” (1952), which ran for more than half a thousand performances in one season, one can feel the reliance on swing, the jazz style of the 30s. But the musical is not a purely entertaining show. In “Candide” (1956), the composer turned to Voltaire’s plot, and “West Side Story” (1957) is nothing more than the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, transferred to America with its racial clashes. With its drama, this musical is close to opera.
Bernstein writes sacred music for choir and orchestra (oratorio Kaddish, Chichester Psalms), symphonies (Second, Age of Anxiety - 1949; Third, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Boston Orchestra - 1957), Serenade for string orchestra and percussion based on Plato's dialogue "Symposium" ( 1954, a series of table toasts in praise of love), music for films.
Since 1951, when Koussevitzky died, Bernstein took his class at Tanglewood and began teaching at the University of Weltham (Massachusetts) and lecturing at Harvard. With the help of television, Bernstein's audience - an educator and educator - surpassed the boundaries of any university. Both in his lectures and in his books The Joy of Music (1959) and The Infinite Varieties of Music (1966), Bernstein strives to infect people with his love of music and his inquisitive interest in it.
In 1971, for the grand opening of the Arts Center. J. Kennedy in Washington, Bernstein creates the Mass, which evoked very mixed responses from critics. Many were confused by the combination of traditional religious chants with elements of spectacular Broadway shows (dancers participate in the performance of the Mass), songs in the style of jazz and rock music. One way or another, the breadth of Bernstein's musical interests, his omnivorousness and complete lack of dogmatism were revealed here. Bernstein visited the USSR more than once. During a tour in 1988 (on the eve of his 70th birthday), he conducted the International Orchestra of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), consisting of young musicians. “In general, it is important for me to address the topic of youth and communicate with them,” said the composer. “This is one of the most important things in our lives, because young people are our future. I like to pass on my knowledge and feelings to them, to teach them.”
K. Zenkin
Without in any way disputing Bernstein's talents - composer, pianist, lecturer - we can still say with confidence that he owes his fame primarily to the art of conducting. Both Americans and music lovers in Europe first called on Bernstein, the conductor. This happened in the mid-forties, when Bernstein was not yet thirty years old, and his artistic experience was insignificant. Leonard Bernstein received a varied and thorough professional training. At Harvard University he studied composition and piano.
At the famous Curtis Institute, his teachers were R. Thompson in orchestration and F. Reiner in conducting. In addition to this, he improved under the guidance of S. Koussevitzky - at the Berkshire Summer School in Tanglewood. At the same time, in order to earn a living, Lenny, as his friends and admirers still call him, became a pianist in a choreographic troupe. But he was soon fired because, instead of traditional ballet accompaniment, he forced the dancers to practice to the music of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Copland and his own improvisations.
In 1943, Bernstein became B. Walter's assistant in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Soon he happened to replace his sick leader, and since then he began performing with increasing success. At the end of 1E45, Bernstein already headed the New York City Symphony Orchestra.
Bernstein's European debut took place after the end of the war - at the Prague Spring of 1946, where his concerts also attracted widespread attention. In those same years, listeners became acquainted with Bernstein's first works. His symphony “Jeremiah” was recognized by critics as the best work of 1945 in the United States. The following years were marked for Bernstein with hundreds of concerts, tours on different continents, premieres of his new compositions and a continuous increase in popularity. He was the first among American conductors to stand behind the podium of La Scala in 1953, then he performs with the best orchestras in Europe, and in 1958 he leads the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and soon makes a triumphant tour of Europe with it, during which he performs in THE USSR; finally, a little later, he becomes the leading conductor of the Metropolitan Opera. Tours at the Vienna State Opera, where Bernstein created a real sensation in 1966 with his interpretation of Verdi's Falstaff, finally cemented the artist's world recognition.
What are the reasons for his success? Anyone who has heard Bernstein at least once will easily answer this question. Bernstein is an artist of elemental, volcanic temperament, who captivates listeners and makes them listen to the music with bated breath, even when his interpretation may seem unusual or controversial to you. The orchestra under his direction plays music freely, naturally and at the same time with unusual intensity - everything that happens seems to be improvisation. The conductor's movements are extremely expressive, temperamental, but at the same time completely accurate - it seems that his figure, his hands and facial expressions seem to radiate music that is born before your eyes. One of the musicians who attended the performance of “Falstaff” conducted by Bernstein admitted that ten minutes after the start he stopped looking at the stage and did not take his eyes off the conductor - the entire content of the opera was so fully and accurately reflected in him. Of course, this unbridled expression, this passionate impulse is not uncontrollable - it achieves its goal only because it embodies the depth of intellect, allowing the conductor to penetrate into the composer's plan, convey it with utmost integrity and authenticity, with a high power of experience.
Bernstein retains these qualities in those cases when he acts as both a conductor and pianist, performing concerts by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Bernstein's repertoire is enormous. Only as the head of the New York Philharmonic, he performed almost all classical and modern music - from Bach to Mahler and R. Strauss, Stravinsky and Schoenberg.
Among his recordings are almost all the symphonies of Beethoven, Schumann, Mahler, Brahms, and dozens of other major works. It is difficult to name a work of American music that Bernstein would not perform with his orchestra: for several years he, as a rule, included one American work in each of his programs. Bernstein is an excellent interpreter of Soviet music, especially the symphonies of Shostakovich, whom the conductor considers "the last great symphonist."
Bernstein the composer penned works of various genres. Among them are three symphonies, operas, musical comedies, and the musical “West Side Story,” which has performed on stages all over the world. Lately, Bernstein has been trying to devote more time to composition. To this end, in 1969 he left his post as head of the New York Philharmonic. But he expects to continue performing periodically with the group, which, in recognition of his remarkable achievements, awarded Bernstein the title of “lifetime conductor laureate of the New York Philharmonic.”
L. Grigoriev, J. Platek, 1969
It would take a long time to list the merits and achievements of Leonard Bernstein; During his life he held many wonderful concerts and wrote many magnificent works. Perhaps one of Leonard's most important achievements was his 10-plus years as music director of the New York Philharmonic.
Leonard Bernstein is an American composer, conductor, writer and pianist. He became one of the first conductors of American origin and education to achieve international fame; according to some sources, he was one of the most talented and successful musicians in the history of the country.
Leonard was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Ukrainian Jewish parents Jennie Resnick and Samuel Joseph Bernstein. Leonard is not related to film composer Elmer Bernstein, although the two of them happened to be friends, and they were quite similar in appearance; in the music world they were called the Bernsteins of the West and the Bernsteins of the East. At birth, Bernstein was named Louis, at the insistence of his grandmother; the parents, however, always called their son Leonard, and he himself clearly preferred this name - after the death of his grandmother, he even changed it officially.
Leonard was interested in music from an early age; the father initially did not approve of his son’s hobbies, but still took him to concerts,
and subsequently agreed to pay for his musical education. After leaving school, Bernstein entered Harvard, where he studied music for some time; His biggest influence, however, was local aesthetics teacher David Prall, from whom Leonard adopted an interest in an interdisciplinary approach. After receiving a bachelor's degree with honors, Leonard went to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (Philadelphia); Studying here gave him much less pleasure, although Bernstein learned something useful from here.
After graduation, Bernstein lived for some time in New York; Along with his friend and neighbor Adolph Green, he performed in the comedy troupe "The Revuers" in Greenwich Village. Leonard led a very active social life; During this period he had relationships with both men and women. In 1940, Bernstein began studying at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer institute in a conducting class.
Bernstein had to make his first debut as a conductor quite suddenly; On November 14, 1943, Leonard was informed that the guest conductor had come down with the flu. Bernstein had to replace him almost at the last moment, and without any rehearsals. Leonard coped with his task perfectly - and instantly became a star; the concert at which he suddenly became conductor was broadcast nationally, and The New York Times made a front page story about the replacement. Bernstein began to be invited to performances by major American orchestras.
From 1945 to 1947, Bernstein served as music director of the New York Symphony Orchestra, founded just a year earlier; The orchestra differed from the New York Philharmonic primarily in its focus on a wider audience (and more affordable ticket prices).
After World War II, people started talking about Bernstein at the international level. In 1946 he went on tour to Europe for the first time, in 1947 - for the first time
e performed in Tel Aviv. A year later, he had the opportunity to perform outdoors for troops in Beersheba, in the heart of the desert, during the Arab-Israeli war.
On September 10, 1951, Leonard married Chilean-American actress Felicia Cohn Montealegre. There were rumors that Leonard went to this marriage - after much deliberation and a rather unstable relationship - to maintain his image, on the advice of a colleague. There has been much controversy about Bernstein's sexuality; Apparently, Leonard was at least bisexual. At least the first years of marriage, however, turned out to be quite rosy - and subsequently the couple even had three children.
In 1951, Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in the world premiere of Charles Ives' "Symphony No. 2" - written almost 50 years earlier but never performed. In 1958, Leonard became musical director of the entire orchestra; he held this position until
1969 In 1959, Bernstein went on tour in Europe and the USSR with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; The key moment of the tour was the performance of Shostakovich's "Fifth Symphony" in the presence of the composer himself.
Bernstein continued to work successfully; he did a lot to reveal to the world several little-known or unfairly forgotten composers. In 1966, Leonard made his debut on the stage of the Vienna State Opera. Bernstein spent some more time in Vienna, simultaneously recording an opera for Columbia Records and organizing his first subscription concert.
Working with the New York Philharmonic forced Leonard to somewhat abandon his composing activities, although Bernstein nevertheless wrote a symphony in honor of the recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy. In order to somehow unload his busy schedule, Leonard decided to leave the post of music director - and subsequently did not hold such positions. Perform with Orke
Strom, however, Bernstein continued until his death, periodically going on tour. Leonard also had a good relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - here he staged all 9 completed symphonies of Gustav Mahler.
Bernstein could have had certain problems due to his political views - like many of his friends and colleagues, Bernstein had actively collaborated with left-wing organizations and movements since the 40s. The US State Department even put Leonard on its blacklist, although this did not particularly affect his career.
After leaving management, Bernstein began writing music more actively; during this period he wrote "MASS: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers", the soundtrack for the ballet "Dybbuk"; orchestral-vocal “Songfest” and musical “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue”. The premiere of "MASS" was also planned as an anti-war action; This rather unusual and eclectic work contained certain attacks on Roman Catholicism
ical church.
In 1979, Leonard Bernstein conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the first and only time in his life.
Until the very end of the 80s, Bernstein continued to write, conduct, teach and create new music. Among his most famous creations of this period, mention should be made of the opera "Quiet Place". Bernstein's last performance as a conductor was on August 19, 1990, with the Boston Symphony. During the next piece, Leonard was attacked by a terrible cough, which almost disrupted the concert; the conductor, however, controlled himself. On October 9, 1990, Bernstein announced his retirement, and 5 days later he died of a heart attack. At the time of his death, Leonard was only 72 years old; Being a heavy smoker, closer to the age of 55, the composer was forced to go into battle with emphysema. The outlines of his memoirs, Blue Ink, were preserved only in electronic form, and the document was password protected and remains unhacked and unread to this day.
“I don’t want to spend my life like Toscanini, studying the same 50 works over and over again. I would die of boredom. I want to conduct, I want to play the piano. I want to write for Hollywood. I want to compose symphonic music. I want to try to be a musician in the full sense of the word. I also want to teach. I want to write books and poems. And I believe that I can do all this in the best possible way."
L. Bernstein
American conductor, composer and educator Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, into the family of Jewish emigrants from Ukraine Samuel Bernstein and Jenny Resnick Bernstein. Bernstein's maternal grandmother insisted that his grandson be named Louis, but the family preferred to call the boy Leonard or Lenny, and at age 16, Leonard officially took this name for himself when he received his driver's license.
Compared to other famous musicians, Bernstein began to study music quite late. Only at the age of ten did he see a piano for the first time: the composer’s aunt divorced her husband and, moving from Massachusetts to New York, gave her things to the Bernsteins. Among them was an old piano. Leonard Bernstein recalled: “I remember touching it the day it was delivered... I had no doubt that my whole life would be connected with music...”
Lenny fell in love with the instrument and pretty soon learned to play popular songs. Samuel Bernstein, remembering the poor itinerant violinists he met in the Ukraine, was sure that a Jewish boy could not have prospects in serious music. He dreamed of the time when his son would graduate from the prestigious Boston Latin School, which was supposed to provide Leonard with a decent education, and would go into the family business - selling cosmetic products. Lenny had to work hard to convince his father to let him take piano lessons from his neighbor Frieda Karp, and later from Susan Williams at the New England Conservatory of Music. Young Bernstein first paid for his studies partially and then completely himself, earning money by performing at holidays.
When Lenny was 13 years old, his father gave him a piano and began taking him to classical music concerts. In 1932, Bernstein auditioned for one of Boston's best piano teachers, Heinrich Gebhard. He immediately noticed the young man’s talent, but noticed that he lacked technique and recommended a teacher, Helen Coates, who would later become Bernstein’s friend and secretary.
Young Bernstein plunged into music studies. To his parents' relief, his studies at the Latin School did not suffer, and he continued to be one of the first students, excelling in science, sports, and sports.
At the age of 17, Leonard Bernstein entered Harvard, where he chose literature, philosophy and music as his subjects of study. By his own admission, having heard a live symphony orchestra only at the age of 16, he made up for lost time by disappearing into rehearsals and performances of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Impressed by the talent of conductors Sergei Koussevitzky and Dimitri Mitropoulos, Bernstein decided to take up conducting.
Bernstein continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Isabella Vengerova in piano, Fritz Reiner in conducting and Randall Thompson in orchestration. In 1940, Bernstein attended the Tanglewood Summer Institute at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by the famous conductor Sergei Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky offered his young colleague a contract as a guest conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but Lenny was forced to refuse - the American Guild of Musicians (AGMA), of which he was a member, recommended a boycott of this group, since he was one of the few in the country not part of its composition and therefore did not obey union rules.
To earn a living, Bernstein tried to give lessons, but there were no people willing to study with him, and Leonard decided to move to New York, where much more opportunities opened up for the young musician. He was working at the music publishing house Harms-Remick, where for $25 a week he transcribed popular jazz tunes onto music paper and made arrangements under the pseudonym Lenny Amber, when he received an offer from Arthur Rodzinsky, head of the New York Philharmonic Society. Society of New York), later The New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The famous conductor invited Bernstein to become his assistant, which came as a complete surprise to Lenny. It turned out that Rodzinsky, while in Tangelwood, saw Bernstein conduct, and when the need for an assistant arose, he decided to find him. 25-year-old Leonard Bernstein took over as assistant in August 1943, and in November he achieved national fame.
This happened after he replaced guest conductor Bruno Walter at a concert at Carnegie Hall, which was broadcast throughout America. Bernstein's dynamic and temperamental conducting style amazed both the audience and critics. Within a few weeks, Bernstein was inundated with invitations from various orchestras across the country. Thanks to his energy, charm and talent, Lenny has always been the center of attention, but now he has become a real celebrity.
From 1945 to 1947, Bernstein was music director of the New York City Symphony Orchestra. After the death of Sergei Koussevitzky in 1951, he became head of the orchestral and conducting department at Tanglewood, where he taught for many years. In the early 50s, Leonard Bernstein collaborated with the Creative Arts Festivals at Brandeis University. Then, in 1951, he married the Chilean actress and pianist Felicia Montealegre, who later bore him three children.
Bernstein traveled widely around the world. In 1946 he conducted in London and at the international music festival in Prague. In 1947, he performed in Tel Aviv - this marked the beginning of Leonard's connection with Israel, which lasted until the end of his life. In the 70s, the composer recorded most of his symphonic music with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1953, Leonard Bernstein became the first American conductor invited to Milan's La Scala theater. His debut at the orchestra of the famous opera house was Cherubini’s “Medea” with Maria Callas in the title role.
In 1958, Bernstein became head of the New York Philharmonic. He held this post until 1969 - longer than any of his predecessors, but even after leaving his position he continued to collaborate with the team. More than half of Bernstein's four hundred-plus recordings were made with the New York Philharmonic. Among them are nine symphonies by Gustav Mahler, then a rarely performed author. The recordings were a huge success, generating a wave of passion for the work of the German composer both in America and throughout the world.
Bernstein was a leading promoter of the work of modern composers - Samuel Barber, Francis Poulenc, as well as a whole galaxy of avant-garde composers of the 60s - William Schuman, Roy Harris, Paul Bowles Bowles and Wallingford Riegger.
He often and willingly performed and recorded the works of his close friend, the American composer Aaron Copland. In his youth, Leonard played his Piano Variations so often that this work became Bernstein's calling card as a pianist. Leonard Bernstein's compositional style was also influenced by Copland's work. Bernstein is the author of three symphonies, several choral, vocal and piano cycles, three ballets and two operas. However, his works for musical theater gained the greatest popularity. In total, Leonard Bernstein composed five musicals and one operetta. And here he did not want to be like everyone else: he excitedly collided classical intonations and modern rhythms, cultivating his own special, eclectic style. The composer's daughter Jamie described her father's work this way: “He composed jazz music for concert halls and symphonic music for the Broadway stage.”
While still at Harvard, Bernstein actively participated in theatrical productions as a conductor, composer and accompanist. He wrote additional music for The Birds and participated in the Harvard student production of Marc Blitzstein's groundbreaking musical The Cradle Will Rock.
In the early 1940s, an up-and-coming choreographer named Jerome Robbins approached Bernstein with his idea for a dance show about three sailors who spend 24 hours in New York City. The result was the ballet Fancy Free, which premiered on April 18, 1944. This project launched Bernstein's composing career and his collaboration with Robbins, with whom he created two more ballets, Facsimile (1946) and Dybbuk (1974).
The plot of “Fancy Free” was developed in the musical “On the Town”. Bernstein's co-authors were director George Abbott and librettists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Like the ballet, the show was set in New York during World War II, and its main characters - sailors Gabi, Chip and Ozzie - went on leave to New York, where they experienced romantic adventures in the 24 hours allotted to them. The show exuded youth and vigor and did not go unnoticed on Broadway. Immediately after its premiere on December 28, 1944 at the Adelphi Theater, the musical became a hit, and the MGM film studio was quick to acquire the film rights. In 1949, a film was released starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, but for some reason MGM owner Louis B. Mayer was not satisfied with Bernstein's music, and as a result, it appeared in the film. practically does not sound.
In 1950, the composer wrote songs and choral numbers for a new production of Barry's play Peter Pan.
During his honeymoon in 1951, Bernstein began work on a one-act opera, Trouble in Tahiti, about a young suburban couple going through a relationship crisis. The plot of the opera reflected the problems of the difficult family life of the composer’s parents, and, as it turned out later, Bernstein himself. The composer himself wrote the libretto, which involved only a few characters - a couple of main characters and a trio - a kind of Greek chorus. Bernstein's score contains all the characteristic features of his musical language and is a fusion of jazz, musical and opera. In 1983, the public was presented with a continuation of "Complications in Tahiti" - the three-act opera "A Quiet Place".
On February 23, 1953, the Winter Garden Theater premiered the composer's second musical, Wonderful Town, based on the collection of autobiographical stories by writer Ruth McKenney, My Sister Eileen. The play tells the story of two sisters from Ohio who come to New York in their mid-30s to pursue a career. The score was written in record time - in just a month.
The show was conceived with the popular actress Rosalind Russell in mind, for whom “Wonderful City” was supposed to be a return from Hollywood to the stage. Russell could not boast of outstanding vocal abilities, and Bernstein created for her several simple but brilliant hits, which allowed Rosalind to demonstrate her temperament as a character actress. The play ran for 559 performances and was awarded a Tony Award in six categories, including Best Musical.
In 1954, Bernstein turned his attention to cinema. He composed the soundtrack for Elia Kazan's drama On The Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando. And although the film was a success and even won seven Oscars, the composer was disappointed with the supporting role of music in films and never returned to Hollywood.
In the year of the premiere of "The Wonderful City", together with playwright Lillian Hellman, Bernstein began work on a musical adaptation of Voltaire's story "Candide, or Optimism". The creative process was hampered by endless disputes between authors pursuing different goals. For Lilian, Candide was primarily a political pamphlet directed against the McCarthyism that was corroding American society, and for Bernstein, the European roots of the literary original became an occasion to pay tribute to the composers of the Old World. The result was sad. Critics and the public did not understand the libretto, which was full of hints and allegories, and did not appreciate the large-scale score at the intersection of opera, musical and operetta. The play was shown on Broadway only 73 times (it premiered on December 1, 1956), after which it closed ingloriously. However, Bernstein did not lose hope of bringing Candide to perfection. The musical went through several editions, and only shortly before his death the composer recorded it in the version that best suited his plan.
In parallel with Candide, Bernstein was working on a modern version of Romeo and Juliet, conceived in the late 40s by Jerome Robbins. Then the choreographer shared with the composer his idea for a musical about lovers belonging to two warring youth factions - Catholic Italians and Jews. The action was supposed to take place in the lower East Side, and the musical itself was called East Side Story. Robbins and Bernstein approached playwright Arthur Laurents about writing the play, but it took six years before the writers' schedules allowed them to move forward with the idea. By then, the Catholic-Jewish feud had become irrelevant, and the newspapers were full of stories about gangs of young Latinos. Laurents and Bernstein convinced Robbins to move the action to the eastern part of Manhattan and build the story on the rivalry between the descendants of white immigrants - Poles, Italians, Germans - and immigrants from Puerto Rico.
At first, Bernstein was going to write the poetic texts himself, but then he came to the conclusion that it would be better to entrust this work to someone else. So, on the recommendation of Lawrence, Stephen Sondheim, an aspiring composer and poet, who was attracted by the opportunity to work with his more famous colleague, appeared on the team.
By 1956, the authors had truly innovative material in their hands, full of realism and deep drama. Shortly before the start of rehearsals, it turned out that investors were not ready for experiments - no one wanted to give a penny for the production. Producers Harold Prince and Robert Griffith came to the rescue. They helped overcome financial difficulties, coped with the whims of Robbins, who had a difficult character, and ensured that not a single day of the two months measured during rehearsals was wasted.
The premiere of West Side Story, which took place on September 26, 1957, was organized on a Hollywood scale. The press generally responded positively to the performance. When it came time for the Tony Awards, the musical, which had two characters die at the end of the first act and one at the end of the second, lost in almost every major category to Meredith Willson's buoyant and sentimental show The Music Man. Man). Only one nomination - "Best Choreography" - remained for Jerome Robbins. Bernstein's work remained underrated, and only in 1961, after the release of the film adaptation, the musical gained cult status.
In 1971, the premiere of Bernstein's next theatrical work, MASS: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy, took place. The Mass was first performed on September 8, 1971, at the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Using the Tridentine Catholic Mass as a basis, Bernstein supplemented the liturgical texts with poems by Stephen Schwartz and Paul Simon.
Within two weeks of his appointment as music director of the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein gave his first concert in his planned Young People's Concerts series. Over the 14 years of existence of this educational program, Bernstein prepared 53 concerts, in which he addressed a wide range of issues in an accessible and fascinating manner for the general public - from the basics of musical theory to the philosophy of music. Bernstein introduced his audience to the work of contemporary authors - Shostakovich, Copland, etc. and invited young talented musicians as performers. The concerts were broadcast by CBS and enjoyed enormous success with the audience, shaping more than one generation of American music lovers.
In 1971, Bernstein was invited to Harvard for a year as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry. Among the participants in this program were not only outstanding poets and writers, but also art historians and musicians such as Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland. Bernstein prepared a series of six lectures for Harvard entitled “The Unanswered Question.” In it, using a contemporary interdisciplinary approach, he analyzed music through the prism of linguistics, aesthetics, philosophy and musical history. During the year he spent at Harvard, Bernstein became the idol of students and was recognized as “man of the year.”
Leonard Bernstein also wrote several books that examined various aspects of musical culture: The Joy of Music (1959), Young People's Concerts, The Infinite Variety of Music, 1966), The Unanswered Question (1976) and Findings (1982).
In 1990, Leonard Bernstein was forced to leave conducting for health reasons. This was not an easy step for a person accustomed to constantly being in the public eye. Five days after announcing his resignation, Bernstein died. The composer was buried at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Bernstein's children placed his baton, the score of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, a lucky penny and the book "Alice in Wonderland" in their father's coffin.