Great
Classical Music
Composers

Leonard BERNSTEIN

25 August 1918 - 14 October 1990 (age 72)

Portrait by Paul Helm
click on image for more info

Leonard Bernstein was an American 20th century composer, writer, teacher and conductor. All of these activities he pursued to a remarkable degree with great energy and success.

Family

Born: Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA in 1918 .Parents first generation Jewish immigrants from Russia.
Father: Sam Bernstein, businessman, initially discouraged Leonard's musical aspirations.
Mother: Jennie
Siblings: sister - Shirley
Wife: Chilean actress Felicia Montealegre
Children: 3 - Jamie, Alexander and Nina
Death: Died 5 days after retiring. Pneumonia and lung cancer. Suffered from emphysema for a long time. Heavy smoker.
Grave: Green Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Works

Theatre/Film

West Side Story

On the Waterfront (Oscar nominated)

Candide

On the Town

Wonderful Town

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Orchestral

Opera: Trouble in Tahiti

3 Symphonies: Age of Anxiety, Jeremiah, Kaddish

Ballet: Fancy Free

The Chichester Psalms

Mass

Various other orchestral works

Quotes

- This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.

- In the olden days, everybody sang. You were expected to sing as well as talk. It was a mark of the cultured man to sing.

- I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer.

Thanks to Brainyquote.com

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