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New Book: Leonard Bernstein in Context
Posted April 25, 2024
Leonard Bernstein in Context
Edited by Elizabeth A. Wells
Designed for students, aficionados of classical music, and historians, this volume offers a wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary and comprehensive view of Leonard Bernstein. Scholars from diverse backgrounds and fields have contributed rich insights into Bernstein's life and work in an approachable style, shedding light on Bernstein's social, professional and ideological contexts including his contemporaries and rivals on Broadway, his artistic collaborations, his celebrity status as a conductor on the international concert circuit, and his involvement in music education via broadcasting. From his early education, through his conducting and composing careers, to his fame as musical and cultural ambassador to the world, this book views Bernstein the man and the artist and provides a fascinating overview of American classical music culture during Bernstein's long career in the public spotlight.
Part I. Bernstein's World:
1. Education (Paul R. Laird)
2. Mishkan Tefila (Ann Glazer Niren)
3. Jewishness (Mark Kligman)
4. Sexuality, relationships, and family life (Nadine Hubbs)
5. Civil Rights activist and Vietnam War resister (Barry Seldes)
6. The Cold War, democracy, and hope (Sally Bick)
Part II. Conducting:
7. Conducting choreography (Daniel Callahan)
8. Mahler before and after Bernstein (Megan Francisco)
9. Interactions among three mavericks in the 1960s (Rob Haskins)
10. Conductor/pianist (Jennifer Del Motte)
Part III. Composition, Creation, and Reception:
11. The crisis of faith (Michael Slon)
12. Popular music (Katherine Baber)
13. American sound (Paul R. Laird)
14. Exotic evocations: Latin America, Polynesia, and the Middle East (including Israel) (Ralph P. Locke) 15. Opera (Ralph P. Locke)
16. Women, gender, and sexuality (Elizabeth L. Keathley)
17. Film (Anthony Bushard)
18. Early shows (Helen Smith)
19. Late shows (J. Daniel Jenkins)
Part IV. Bernstein as Musical and Cultural Ambassador:
20. Music appreciation (Dominic Broomfield-McHugh)
21. Omnibus (Dorothy Glick Maglione)
22. The Young People's Concerts (Alicia Kopfstein)
23. Israel (Erica Argyropoulos)
24. The USSR (Emily Abrams Ansari)
25. Asia (Mari Yoshihara)
26. Latin America (Hermann Hudde)
Part V. Connections:
27. Aaron Copland (Sophie Redfern)
28. Stephen Schwartz (Paul R. Laird)
29. Stephen Sondheim (Dominic Broomfield-McHugh)
30. Kurt Weill (Rebecca Schmid)
31. Jerome Robbins (Dustyn Martincich)
32. William Schuman (Steven R. Swayne)
33. Marc Blitzstein (Maria Cristina Fava)
Part VI. The Legacy:
34. Composing legacy (Stephen Banfield)
35. Conducting legacy (Tim Page)
36. The Library of Congress (Janet S. McKinney and Caitlin Miller)
37. Major writings (Paul R. Laird)
38. The New York Philharmonic (Matthew Mugmon)
39. Columbia Records and Deutsche Grammophon (Nigel Simeone)
40. Cultural icon (D. Kern Holoman)