| A Leonard
Bernstein: Chronology of a Life in Music |
|
| At the helm of the New York Philharmonic | |
| 1958 |
Debuted as Principal Conductor and Music Director-elect of the New
York Philharmonic in January; his final concert program for the 1957-58
season was Honegger's melodramatic oratorio Jeannd'Arc au Boucher
with Felicia Bernstein as Jeanne d'Arc Co-conducted 7-week Latin American tour with Dimitri Mitropoulos (Funded by President Eisenhower's Special International Program for Cultural Presentation, each program presented a work by an American composer.) Opened his first season as Music Director October 2, with opening night called "the most socially important affair of this or any season;" introduced innovations that were educational in nature such as concert programs built around themes, explorations into American music inersperesed with traditional orchestral fare, Preview Concerts in which the conductor gave prefatory talks about the music; Conducted first of fourteen "Young People's Concerts" which were televised for the first time and soon became a national institution, dubbed in foreign languages and syndicated in forty countries; became nationally recognized as a TV personality; wrote scripts for educational music programs that were subsequently filmed in TV studios in New York and Berlin, at various opera houses and on concert tours and shown on television Made his Paris public debut as guest conductor and soloist of the Lamoureux Orchestra, followed by concerts with Orchestre Nationale de Paris and the La Scala Orchestra in Milan |
| 1959 | Toured
Europe and Soviet Union with the New York Philharmonic; met Russian
writer and Nobel Prize winner Boris Pasternak who in a rare public
appearance attended the final concert Published his first book, The Joy of Music Signed long-term contract with Columbia (later CBS) Records |
| 1960 | Performed
with the Philharmonic at the White House Conducted second premiere of West Side Story on its Broadway reopening, recorded On the Town on LP with original Broadway cast Embarked on a 7-week American tour with the Philharmonic Conducted concerts and taped a TV program with the Philharmonic at the Berlin Festival Staged Mahler centenary celebration with the Philharmonic, in which Fritz Reiner, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Leopold Stokowski, and Bruno Walter guest conducted |
| 1961 | Composed
a fanfare and conducted at President Kennedy's pre-inauguration gala
fund-raising concertin Washington Was elected to the Institute of Arts and Letters Toured Japan with the Philharmonic with Seiji Ozawa as his assistant West Side Story, the movie, was released |
| 1962 | Conducted inaugural concert of Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center September 23, which was hailed as "the most glamorous premiere in the city's history, in a program that included Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Copland's commissioned work Connotations, Ralph Vaughn WIlliams' Serenade to Music and the first movement of Mahler's Eighth Symphony |
| 1963 | Introduced
the young Andre Watts in a Young People's Concert featuring young
soloists Performed with the Juilliard String Quartet at the Library of Congress , accompanied Benny Goodman in the world premiere of Poulenc's clarinet sonata Completed his Third Symphony Kaddish which he dedicated to John F. Kennedy upon news of his assasination and conducted a televised memorial performance of Mahler's ResurrectionSymphony Conducted first performance of Kaddish in Tel Aviv |
| 1964 |
Kaddish
conducted by Charles Munch in four performances with the Boston
Symphony, by Bernstein in five performances with the New York Philharmonic,
and COlumbia recording released |
| 1965 | Received Denmark's
prestigious Sonning Prize, conducted the Royal Danish Orchestra in
a performance of Nielsen's Symphony No. 3 Composed Chichester Psalms and conducted its premiere in New York; the work was later performed in Chichester, England with Bernsein in the audience Resumed his post at the Philharmonic, scheduling programs that surveyed twentieth century symphonic music |
| 1966 | Made
his debut with the Vienna State Opera conducting Falstaff with
Luchino Visconti as Director and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title
role, and soonafter recorded Falstaff with Decca; conducted
a week of concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Made his conducting debut with the London Symphony in a performance of Mahler's Seventh and Eight Symphonies televised by BBC, returning later in the year to conduct a series of TV programs with the London SYmphony Published his second book The Infinite Variety of Music |
| 1967 | Conducted his
first Verdi Requiem at a Philharmonic concert celebrating Toscanini's
100th birthday Appeared in a CBS TV special Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution Conducted three special concerts - one on Mount Scopus - marking the reunification of Jerusalem Co-conducted the Vienna Philharmonic with Karl Bohm at the gala opening of the New York Philharmonic's 125th season, hHis "Young People's Concert" which aired on Christmas Day, A Toast to Vienna in 3/4 Time, seen by 27 million people Completed Mahler symphony cycle for CBS Records |
| 1968 | Conducted
Der Rosenkavalier at the Vienna State Opera and a concert performance
of Act I of Die Walkure with the New York Philharmonic in New
York Supervised the music for the funeral of Robert F. Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral Embarked on a five-week concert tour of Western Europe and Israel with the Philharmonic |
| 1969 | In
the last months of his tenure, conducted Bruckner's Ninth Symphony,
Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Verdi's Requiem and an evening of scenes
from Tristan und Isolde Retired as Music Director of the Philharmonic, but named lifetime Laureate Conductor; conducted Mahler's Third Symphony at his farewell concert - 25 years after his Philharmonic debut, 36 world premieres and 800 concerts as Music Director Conducted Beethoven's Missa Solemnis at the Vienna State Opera's centenary |
The
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Pages
EMAIL THIS PAGE!
Front Page
Leonard Bernstein:
the last 10 years
-a look at the book by T.R Seiler
Unbewußt, höchste Lust
- on the recording of Tristan
Heights of Rapture
- a foreword by Hildegard Behrens
***
Chronology of a
Life in Music:
The not-so-humble beginnings
Big time in the Big Apple
At the helm of the NYPO
The last 20 years
Discography:
The Composer
The Conductor / Pianist
Videography:
The Teacher /
the Musician in performance
and in rehearsal
Books
by and on Bernstein
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