In the same year, he entered the Cortes Conservatory of Music in Philadelphia to study conductor, and studied under the conductor Fritz Reiner of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at that time. /kloc-in the summer of 0/940, he was invited to join the Berkshire Music Center and studied conductor with Sergei sergey koussevitzky.
During this period, Bernstein once fell in love with a music major, but that student later chose the road of getting married and having children, which made Bernstein extremely sad. Although he has been looking for an artistic confidant who has a common language with him all his life, he is often trapped in the pursuit of sensuality. As he himself said, "If I just repeat fifty works like toscanini, then I will be bored to death." So is his attitude towards love. Serge koussevitzky heard some rumors about Bernstein and called him "Lenusha". He once said to Bernstein, "My old friend Tchaikovsky is gay, and so is my friend Copeland. Lenusha, I heard that you are also. " However, Bernstein knew that his tutor didn't want him to admit it, so he denied it. Two years later, serge koussevitzky appointed Bernstein as New York Philharmonic's assistant conductor.
1943, the famous conductor Bruno Walter was unable to command New York Philharmonic due to illness, and Bernstein took over temporarily. The performance was unanimously praised by the critics. The New York Times reported the success of the concert on the front page, and then the major orchestras sent out invitations. Bernstein began to make his mark in American music. At this time, Felicia Montealegre, an actress from Chile, madly launched a love attack on Bernstein, but Bernstein was worried about it and said more than once that she could not be a good husband. He is deeply attracted by the same sex, but hopes to make himself important through marriage. A movie star's handsome appearance and outstanding artistic talent make many handsome guys fall in love with him, and a large group of young men always follow after each concert. Even after marrying Felicia, Bernstein's love never subsided. Copland once asked in a play, "Do you know 100 musicians know who you really are?". I want to know how you can walk on the podium calmly? "
At the same time, Bernstein has successively created musicals "On Towns", "The Trouble of Tahiti", "Wonderful Towns" and "Honest Man". 1954 "Serenade for Violin, Strings and Percussion" was composed according to Plato's "Drinking", which is the earliest same-sex love chapter in human history, with Isaac Stern as the first solo.
1957, he cooperated with the dancer Jerome Robbins to adapt Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet into the musical west side story, which tells the story of how violence and conflict separated a young man and a woman from different communities. Lively and lyrical music and unrestrained dance make west side story a classic program on Broadway. Not only is it performed in at least one theater in the world every day, arias such as Maria and Tonight have also become classic love songs that span the fields of classical and pop music.
From 195 1 to 1956, Bernstein was a music professor at brandes University, teaching composition. At the same time, with the popularity of TV, he held a series of TV lectures on "Classical Music for Young People" as a music educator, and won the Emmy Award for TV, which became a classic textbook for classical music education.
Although Copeland told a friend privately that Bernstein got married only to have a "vase lady" like Felicia, Felicia really had a crush on Bernstein, giving up her acting career and educating her children at home for him. Having children brought Bernstein infinite joy, and he made every effort to be a competent father. Felicia is a civil rights activist, and Bernstein followed her to the civil rights movement in the United States. They not only held a reception in their apartment for the Panthers, a radical black civil rights organization, but also visited the imprisoned black leaders in prison. The CIA blacklisted him for this and didn't stop tracking him until after his death.
From 65438 to 0958, 40-year-old Bernstein became the first local music director in New York Philharmonic. Many of his works directed by New York Philharmonic have become the trump cards of Columbia Records. At the same time, Bernstein also served as guest conductor of many famous orchestras in Western Europe and Israel. Won the cultural medals awarded by Finland, France, Italy, Austria and Sweden. 198 1 became an academician of the American Academy of Arts and Literature, and became an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra two years later. He also won the gold medal of 1987 London Philharmonic Society. Two years before his death, he became the honorary conductor of Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
1976, Bernstein decided to separate from Felicia when the children grew up. In February this year, he conducted New York Philharmonic to play Shostakovich's 14th symphony. Shostakovich finished this work in the shadow of death, which made Bernstein feel that his life was also facing the same threat. At the beginning of the concert, he spent fifteen minutes talking about his feelings:
"When studying this work, I realized that when death comes, artists will
He must put aside all the fetters that originally bound him and engage in creation completely freely.
I think I should do the same. Starting today, I will do what I want to do.
Hope to live. "
At that time, Bernstein had been in love with a man named Tom Causland for 25 years. He called Causland "the source of inspiration for all my artistic creation". 1976, to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of the United States, Bernstein led New York Philharmonic on a six-week tour in the United States and Europe, accompanied by Causland as his travel secretary. When they traveled around Paris together, it was like the reincarnation of Oscar Wilde and his lover Bos. Causland had a great influence on Bernstein's Singing Festival, which was based on the poems of American gay poet walt whitman. The two also tried to live together, but gave up because of different schedules, and then broke up amicably. After that, Bernstein met Chris Barnes, a black stewardess, started another relationship, and funded Baines to complete his law studies.
From 65438 to 0977, Felicia was diagnosed with lung cancer, and Bernstein returned to her side. Two years later, Felicia died, and Bernstein was very sad. He recorded Mozart's Requiem and remembered his wife as the cover of the record.
In the mid-1980s, the rampant AIDS became a serious social problem, and Bernstein actively participated in the propaganda of AIDS prevention to show his "belated apology". With his outstanding reputation, he convened the most famous classical musicians in the world, held many benefit performances and raised funds for AIDS organizations. 1989 refused to accept the national medal awarded by the bush administration, protesting that the national art foundation of the United States banned public exhibitions on AIDS prevention and treatment in the name of banning pornography.
1989, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bernstein played Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Brandenburg, and changed the last movement from Ode to Freedom to celebrate the reunification of Germany. He was scheduled to lead New York Philharmonic to China to hold the Asian Music Festival that year, but he was unable to make it because of the deterioration of Sino-US relations, which deeply regretted. 1990, Bernstein died in new york.
Bernstein is an outstanding pianist, composer, music educator and conductor. He once joked that he was a "rich conductor but a poor composer", so his achievements in conducting were undoubtedly the best in all aspects. He tends to freely integrate his personal understanding into the conductor, just as he participated in composing music. Although many musicians rely on recording instruments to present their ideal performance, Bernstein prefers live recording. Although defects can be seen from time to time, this improvisation also brings a strong sense of reality, and the presence of the audience also makes him feel great passion in generate. Listening to his symphonic works, we can feel that while paying attention to details, he is not obsessed with the music score, but deliberately let the profound connotation of his works overflow as much as possible, showing an extremely sad aesthetic feeling. Mahler's complete symphonies, which he recorded for Deutsche Records, just embodies this style. When he applies this unconventional interpretation to Brahms' symphonies, the elongated strings will surprise Mahler fans. However, when he applied the same style to Tchaikovsky's fifth and sixth symphonies, this kind of "to tell the truth" long-distance performance caused a deliberate and difficult effect, but it gave people a sense of oppression. Bernstein knows that his deductive style can't please every critic or audience. Some people think that he is too sensational, just like a gay transvestite's exaggerated performance. He just smiled and said, "Think of it as the artist's free will." However, this kind of arbitrary happiness and pain is obvious.