The composer of the West Side Story was born 100 years ago

Leonard Bernstein was born on the 25th of August1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. His father, Sam,
originated from Ukraine, studied as a rabbi, and would continue the family tradition. However,
settling down in New York he had to build up a new life: he prepaired fish for cooking, cleaned up in
a hairdresser's shop, and then traded beauty products, struggling himself up to the middle class.
Perhaps that's why he did not support his child's musical aspirations - for him music did not seem
too lucrative. Little Lenny was 10 years old when his aunt Clara left her piano in their house because
of her divorce. After another three years his father finally accepted on his bar mitzvah that God
created his child to be a musician.
Shortly thereafter, we find him at Harvard University: A. Tillman Meritt taught him musical theory
and his counterpoint teacher was W. Piston. Subsequently. In 1940, at the Tanglewood Music
Center, he was one of the five talented students whom the famous conductor, S. Koussewitzky, fell
under his wing. Leonard believed in the power and importance of music more and more.
On the morning of the 14th of November 1943, something unexpected happened: he was called to
the New York Philharmonics at 9 o'clock. That time around Artur Rodzinski was the conductor of the
orchestra, but that afternoon, Bruno Walter was supposed to be in charge if he weren't ill. Someone
recommended to Rodzinski to name the 25-year-old Bernstein as his substitute, who was reluctant
to jump in, and although he had never repeated with theorchestra, he impressed both the audience
and the musicians with his dynamism, energy, and expressive conducting. He on the front page of
the New York Times and then he became Rodzinski's assistant. In the next few years, he conducted
all the major orchestras of the US and some Europe and Israel. In 1958, he was elected a musical
director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, until 1969. He became the first important
American conductor in history. Following his resignation, which he did to free up more time to seek
new ways to address people's music, the orchestra gave him the title of honorary conductor.
In the beginning he was less successful as a composer: his first works, though well-composed by,
never were considered masterpieces. His musicals enjoyed more recognition. He himself loved very
much the pop music. He once explained that all the musical genres, except pop music, were old-
fashioned, outdated - which is why he got also a lot of criticism. His international reputation as
composer came with the West Side Storymusical composed in 1957. His music is dominated by the
contrast of violence and tenderness, and for him is very important thst the audience should feel
itself as a part of the show.

Many considered him a controversial personality, mainly because of his youthful lifestyle and
homosexuality. His mentor, D. Mitropoulos adviced him to get merried. In 1951he got merried with
Felicia Cohn Montealegre, a Chilean actress - they had three children together. His friends and
colleagues testified that he was emotionally attracted to women, he loved his wife very much. Later
he also protested against the Vietnam War, which resulted in his activities and contacts being
watched by the FBI.
In the '80s, his concerts were often a matter of important issues. At the fortieth anniversary of the
atomic explosion at Hiroshima, he expressed his compassion towards the families of the former
victims. He also went on to draw attention to the importance of supporting research aimed at curing
AIDS. In the Christmas of 1989 he had a concert in Berlin, he performed with an international
orchestra after the fall of the Berlin Wall - he renamed Beethoven's Ode to Joy as Ode to Freedom
for an evening.
According to the family tradition, his father learned to be a rabbi - at some level Bernstein remained
faithful to this tradition: he taught and reformed throughout his whole life. He taught at Brandeis
University in 1952-1957. In Tanglewood, he regularly taught the young talents - he conducted here a
real orchestra for the first time in 1940, and 50 years later in August 1990, he conducted here for the
last time. His teaching activity was not only professional: he also spent a lot of energy using the
media to educate the audience. His 53 Young People's Concerts filmed between 1958-1972 were
particularly popular, they were broadcasted by CBS TV channel. His deep thoughts in simple words
were understood easily by the children, and also the parents and the viewers accompanying them
were enriched by listening to the broadcast.