By MARK EDEN HOROWITZ
When West Side Story debuted in Washington, before it opened in New York City, an effusive Leonard Bernstein wrote his wife, Felicia, on August 23, 1957, "… It sure looks like a smash and all our experiments seem to have worked. The book works, the tragedy works, the ballets shine, the music pulses and soars … It's all too good to be true."
This letter and hundreds more, which reveal the remarkable life and career of Leonard Bernstein, one of America's most important composers and conductors in the 20th century, are the latest additions to the Library's American Memory Web site at www.loc.gov.
The Leonard Bernstein Online Collection makes available 85 photographs, 1,100 pieces of correspondence, 177 scripts from the "Young People's Concerts," 74 scripts from the "Thursday Evening Previews," a complete Finding Aid for the collection, and a special presentation of an in-depth article on Bernstein as a music educator, "Professor Lenny" by Joseph Horowitz, originally published in The New York Review of Books.
The online items were culled from the Library's Leonard Bernstein Collection, one of the largest and most varied of the many special collections held by the Library's Music Division. It contains more than 400,000 items, including music and literary manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, audio and video recordings, fan mail, two suits worn by Bernstein, batons, and other types of materials.
The online collection focuses mostly on personal correspondence and writings. The music is not included for several reasons: it is published and available at libraries and for purchase through music publishers. Also, the music is still under copyright and permission from the publishers to put it on the Web appeared unlikely.
The letters between Leonard Bernstein and Helen Coates, who was Bernstein's piano teacher when he was a teenager, comprise the largest portion of the online correspondence.
When Bernstein went to college, he and Coates maintained a friendship and exchanged letters. Bernstein achieved virtual overnight success in 1943 at 25, when he made a last-minute conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic, substituting for Bruno Walter. Henceforth, Coates became his assistant and secretary until her death, which was shortly before Bernstein's in 1990.
The correspondence begins with Bernstein's first letter to Coates in 1932, when he had just turned 14. The letter begins, "… Mr. Gebbhard … referred me to you as a teacher," and ends "Hoping to have the pleasure of studying with you soon." As their correspondence continues, Bernstein discusses being taken under the wing of Serge Koussevitzky (his mentor). He also mentions his teachers at the Curtis Institute of Music, particularly his new piano teacher, Isabelle Vengerova.
As Bernstein's assistant, Coates serves as the home base for all of his professional dealings. When he is on tour or vacation, it is through their correspondence that offers and deals are discussed and finalized, and frustrations and gossip are shared.
In the summer of 1957, Bernstein's wife, Felicia, was visiting her family in South America while Bernstein was preparing for the opening tryout of West Side Story in Washington, D.C. As a serendipitous result, their letters chronicle the process of the show.
Bernstein's comments range from despair to elation: "… people will be looking at West Side Story in public and hearing my poor little mashed-up score. All the things I love most in it are slowly being dropped — too operatic, too this and that."; "We ran through today for the first time, and the problems are many, varied, overwhelming; but we've got a show there and just possibly a great one."; "… we wrote a new song for Tony that's a killer ("Something's Coming") … It's really going to save his character — a driving 2/4 in the great tradition … but it gives Tony balls so that he doesn't emerge as just a euphoric dreamer."
Bernstein continues, "We had our first run-thru for people yesterday and it was a smash. But I'm worried: there is so much that doesn't work — for me… But there's a great show there."; " … the orchestrations have turned out brilliant. I tell you, this show may yet be worth all the agony."; and finally: "It's all too exciting. I never dreamed it could be like this — reviews such as one would write for oneself — the whole town is up and doing about the show — those delicious long lines at the box office …"
Also among the correspondence are letters to Bernstein from his mentors Aaron Copland and Serge Koussevitzky, letters from Bernstein to Koussevitzky, and family letters between Bernstein and his parents and siblings.
A selection of Bernstein's writings are online. They include handwritten first drafts and typewritten final scripts of the "Young People's Concerts." Between 1958 to 1972, Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic conducted concerts for children that were televised in the United States and Canada. In these concerts, Bernstein took the opportunity to teach the children about the featured composers and compositions, and a wide array of subjects relating to music history, theory, forms and genres.
"The Young People's Concerts" were highly regarded by music educators and included in school music curriculums. A small selection of these scripts had been edited and published in book form, but never before have all the scripts been available — and in their original form.
Other Bernstein writings online are the handwritten drafts and typed final scripts of the "Thursday Evening Previews." Beginning with the New York Philharmonic concert season of 1958-59, Bernstein offered his audience a departure from the normal concert experience. He included an informal talk in the first concert of a week's series, which he called a "Thursday Evening Preview." The brief talks covered a variety of topics, often centering on the techniques, styles and compositional school of a composer whose work was featured that evening. The talks continued until 1964.
As the "Young People's Concerts" and the "Thursday Evening Previews" demonstrate, Bernstein was fond of using new mediums and technologies as tools to educate and enlighten. His vision, however, wasn't limited to music. He foresaw the possibility of his archives being used "for digital conversion … and transmitted electronically to a broad, international public." These wishes were conceived before the explosion of the Internet, the Web and the existence of the National Digital Library. Bernstein, one might say, has another hit.
Mr. Horowitz is a specialist in the Music Division and archivist for the Leonard Bernstein Collection.