Jay Cai

Music 1010
Professor Cox
December 4, 2015

Leonard, the Great

For many, when you hear the name Leonard Bernstein, you think of the
movie or story; West Side Story. But Leonard was so much more than just
that, he was a composer, conductor, author, lecturer, and a pianist! Leonard
Bernstein was born on August 25 of 1918, in Massachusetts, growing up his
real name is Louis but family and friends started to called him Leo after a
while. By the age of 16 he officially changed his name to Leonard. Leonard
moved to New York at a young age but was a native of Ukraine, and he was
named to be a rabbi in the future, but once arrived at New York, he took up
the job of Fish cleaning, then went through a couple of different jobs.
His music career didnt really start till the age of 10, when his Aunt left
her piano over at Leos house. Leo was naturally had a liking towards
instruments, but giving his situation being an immigrant, money was scarce
and music lessons were not something that could be afforded by the family.
When Leo realized his situation that is when he took matters into his own
hand and started earning money on his own and started a couple sessions
here and there, his father impressed by his determination actually got him a
baby grand piano eventually. Leonard attended Boston Latin School, then
onto Harvard then he found his way into the Boston Symphony.

Leonard was a very lucky man, he was around the time of the great
wars, what had happened is he lost jobs multiple times and eventually found
himself working as an Assistant conductor for New York Philharmonic, and
thats not where it stops, at one point, Bruno Walter had gotten sick and
Bernsteins conductor, Rodzinski, offered the position to step up to Bernstein.
Leonard didnt disappoint either, after he played at that orchestra, everyone
loved him and wanted more. In 1945 he started to conduct for the New York
Orchestra and guest conducted around the United States and Europe.
Leonard mainly projected his music towards the Anti-war and the
restoration of Europe. And it was finally known through the usage of his work
with West Side Story. Leonard wrote in many different genres, he wrote film,
Musical Theatre, Classical, Ballet and even Opera! Overture was written
specifically for West Side Story, not only is it supposed to hide anything but
have a story. If you listen to Overture, youll get a short idea of what the
story pertains to and what happens in the beginning a bit.
Leonard was very famous for his music in West Side Story, so I ended
up choosing the first track in West Side Story, Overture.
West Side Story Overture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow7vNQ_avy8
Date: 1949
What to Listen for

Melody: Marchlike; fast-paced, Forte, Crescendo

Rhythm/meter: Duple then sometimes goes into a triple.
Harmony: Major Key, Latin music mixed with some American classic.
Texture: Homophonic, and heterophonic. Strings playing the melody while
the brass comes in here in there, and at parts Brass and Percussion play at
the same time.
Form:
Expression: Fun and pleasing, has a mixture of soft and loud tones to explain
situations.
Performing Forces: Large Orchestra.

Work Cited
"Leonard Bernstein." Leonard Bernstein. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.