Read The Leonard Bernstein Letters Online
Authors: Leonard Bernstein
The “loving friends,” Comden, Green, Robbins and Bernstein – who remained the closest of friends even after this harrowing project – had a tough time trying to recapture the success of earlier collaborations such as
On the Town
(1944) and
Wonderful Town
(1953). The surviving musical material is fairly desultory: a couple of numbers that were reworked for the
Chichester Psalms
, and Sabina's opening aria (“Oh! Oh! Oh!”), which survives in a pencil sketch.
129
Printed in Hussey 1985, p. 113.
130
Never one to waste a good idea, Bernstein used almost all of “Mix!,” a cut number from
West Side Story
, in the second movement of the
Chichester Psalms
. His recycling of the music originally written for “Mix!” had uncanny parallels with the idea of conflict in the original song: “Lamah rag'shu goyim” (“Why do the nations rage”), a passage from Psalm 2 about the futility of nation fighting nation. Hussey's “hint” of
West Side Story
(see Letter 497) turned out to be a very apt choice.
131
Printed in Hussey 1985, p. 116.
132
Hussey has written “1963” but this is an error. The
Times
article to which Hussey refers appeared on 19 July 1965, three days before he wrote this letter.
133
Quita Chavez was classical promotions manager for CBS Records in London.
134
Printed in Hussey 1985, p. 118.
135
Printed in Hussey 1985, pp. 118–19.
136
Printed in Hussey 1985, p. 119.
137
A note in Helen Coates' hand at the top of the letter reads: “Sketch of Psalm XXIII (
Chichester Psalms
) sent to him Nov. 15th.” This sketch was requested by Cage as part of his
Notations
project, started in 1965. Cage donated all the manuscripts he collected to Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) in 1973, where Bernstein's sketch now forms part of the John Cage Notations Project collection.
138
Printed in Hussey 1985, pp. 119–20.
139
George Szell (1897–1970), Hungarian-born conductor who was Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1946 until his death.
140
The same day that Szell wrote this letter he conducted the first of four concerts with the New York Philharmonic (28, 29, 30 October, and 1 November 1965), which included Mussorgsky's Prelude to
Khovanshchina
, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 (with Gary Graffman as the soloist), and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. He remained with the orchestra until 22 November, conducting three further weekly programs in the subscription series.
141
Yo-Yo Ma (b. 1955), American cellist; he had already played for Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy as a child prodigy by the time he wrote this letter to Bernstein.
142
John Adams (b. 1947), American composer, who was a student at Harvard in 1966. Adams writes about the circumstances of this letter in
Hallelujah Junction
: “Despite my hunch that Boulez's was the wrong way to make art, I continued to try embracing the beast. Still in my freshman year, and by way of venting my frustration with the direction contemporary music was heading, I wrote a letter to Leonard Bernstein. I had never met him, but for some reason I felt the need to prick such a famous superstar to see if he might possibly bleed. I thought maybe that sharing my own frustration would perhaps sting him enough to elicit a response. Composed more in the negative spirit of a heckler at a baseball game than in any true seriousness […] it was prompted by my hearing of his most recent piece,
Chichester Psalms
. […] In my letter I chided him, asking ‘What about Boulez?’ A week later there in my mailbox at Wigglesworth Hall was a letter – from Leonard Bernstein” (Adams 2008, p. 32).
143
Draft letter written in pencil, unsigned.
144
Bernstein was in Vienna to conduct
Falstaff
at the Vienna State Opera.
145
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sang Falstaff in this production. See Letter 546.
146
The conductor Josef Krips and his wife.
147
William Weissel was the Viennese-born assistant manager of the New York Philharmonic.
148
“Mendy” was the nickname of the actor Michael Wager (1925–2011). The play mentioned by Bernstein is
Where's Daddy?
by William Inge, produced by Wager and directed by Harold Clurman. It ran for just 22 performances in March 1966.
149
Victor de Sabata (1892–1967), Italian conductor, renowned not only for his operatic conducting (especially at La Scala, Milan), but also for his performances of twentieth-century orchestral repertoire and for his phenomenal musical memory. When Bernstein first saw de Sabata conduct in London in 1946, he described him in a letter to his sister Shirley as “a wildman” (see Letter 225), but once Bernstein came to know him at La Scala in the 1950s he developed a warm admiration for de Sabata. In 1977, he wrote a short tribute entitled “Memories of Maestro de Sabata”:
The first word that comes to mind as I call up memories of de Sabata is
generosity
. It seemed to me to inform and characterize all his actions: his abundant love for music and for the colleagues with whom he produced it; the abundance of his passions and of his patience; his profound gratitude for his own gifts; his kindness to young performers like me; his devotion to his public, whether in Milan or Pittsburgh – all of it generous, generous. It was also in the music he composed: the spirit of
abbondanza
.
It was because of his sudden illness in 1953 that I was called upon to open the Scala season with Cherubini's
Medea
, Callas and all. There were only six days for me to learn an unknown score, to make cuts and repairs, to meet and cope with Callas (which turned out to be pure joy), to make a difficult debut alla Scala, and all with severe bronchitis. In all this Maestro de Sabata was intensely helpful and encouraging; he gave me the extra measure of courage that I needed. And two years later, when I returned to conduct a new performance of
Sonnambula
, he virtually saved my life. “Too slow! Too slow!” I can still hear him chiding. “Bellini was Sicilian; and Sicilian blood runs hot! Run with it! Run!” Who knows what a boring disaster I might have made without that affectionate warning!
There was much other good counsel besides; and of course he was equally generous with his praise. And this abundance of spirit flowed through all his conducting: one has only to listen to his old recording of
Tosca
with Callas. I still believe it to be the greatest recording of an Italian opera I have ever heard. I have only to listen to it – any dozen bars of it – and the spirit of de Sabata is in the room with me. Leonard Bernstein, May 1977.
150
Robert Russell Bennett (1894–1981), American composer and arranger. After studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Bennett began working as an arranger and orchestrator on Broadway, collaborating with Kern (
Showboat
), Gershwin (
Girl Crazy
,
Of Thee I Sing
), Porter (
Anything Goes
,
Kiss Me, Kate
), Rodgers (
Oklahoma!
,
Carousel
,
South Pacific
,
The King and I
,
The Sound of Music
), and many others. He also composed extensively for symphony orchestra, concert band, and chamber ensembles.
151
Georg Solti (1912–97), Hungarian conductor. This letter serves as a reminder of the dilemma that faced Jewish musicians working in Vienna during the 1960s. In dealing with anti-Semitism, Solti – himself a Jew – had an outlook that was a mixture of humanity and pragmatism: to look forward rather than back, with the aim of rebuilding Europe after the ravages of war. He established a productive working relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic during the 1950s that grew into a warm and enduring association. The same was to happen with Bernstein, but not until he had come to terms with the fact that Helmut Wobisch, the orchestra's manager (and also one of its trumpeters), had been an active Nazi during the Second World War. Solti played a crucial role in this: his advice to Bernstein – to give Wobisch a chance rather than to condemn him out of hand – was both wise and realistic: he knew the Vienna Philharmonic very well by 1967, whereas Bernstein had made his debut with the orchestra only the year before; and Solti's letter is also written by someone who had clearly learned to rise above the gossip-mongering that was a constant feature of the city's musical life.
Bernstein quickly took his colleague's advice to heart. According to Humphrey Burton (1994, p. 354), Bernstein “brushed aside [Wobisch's] past: he would refer to him openly as ‘his SS man’.” Wobisch's well-documented past was catalogued in detail in a letter to Joseph Wechsberg from Simon Wiesenthal on 3 February 1967 (a copy of which was sent by Wechsberg to Bernstein) confirming Wobisch's membership not only of the Nazi Party and the SS, but also of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst), the intelligence agency of the SS and the party. Despite these grim associations, both Solti and Bernstein found Wobisch friendly and supportive, and Bernstein was to spend much of the latter part of his career performing and recording the symphonic repertoire with the Vienna Philharmonic (including Mozart's late symphonies, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Mahler, and Sibelius). Solti's letter was a timely and characteristic intervention, encouraging Bernstein to take a conciliatory approach.
152
John Culshaw (1924–1980) was a producer for Decca. He is best remembered for producing the Solti
Ring
and for numerous recordings conducted by Benjamin Britten.
153
Janis Ian (b. 1951), American songwriter, singer, and author. The CBS News Special,
Inside Pop
–
the Rock Revolution
, was broadcast on 27 April 1967, presented by Bernstein and produced by David Oppenheim. In this program, Janis Ian performed “Society's Child,” which Bernstein discussed as a social protest song.
154
Foss' “Philharmonic tragedy” was the cancellation at the last minute of the first performance of Foss' Variations. According to
The New York Times
(9 July 1967), this was because “the materials needed to perform the new work were not ready.” The other work on the program was Honegger's
Joan of Arc at the Stake
, conducted by Seiji Ozawa, with Vera Zorina (whose real name, Brigitta, Bernstein uses) playing Joan.
The New York Times
review suggests that it was indeed the triumph Bernstein suggested: “Her diction was beautiful, her voice was musical, and her intensity was compelling.”
155
John Gruen's
The Private World of Leonard Bernstein
was published in 1968.
156
The musical Bernstein hopes is “ship-shape” is
Follies
(information from Stephen Sondheim). Ted Chapin explains that: “In June of 1967
The Girls Upstairs
[the original title for
Follies
] was scheduled for the coming Broadway season, to be produced by David Merrick and Leland Hayward. The plan ultimately fell through” (Chapin 2005, p. xxii).
Follies
eventually opened in 1971.
157
Bernstein has written a draft reply at the foot of this letter: “Dear Janis, I'd love to come but I can't and I'm flattered you asked me & thought of me. I wish you a
howling
success. LB”
158
The 9 January 1968 edition of
Look
magazine (pp. 74–7) included an article by Joe Roddy entitled “How to Think about Leonard Bernstein,” mostly about his tenure at the New York Philharmonic and his relationship with the orchestra.
159
Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012), English composer and pianist.
160
Bennett's Symphony No. 2 was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 125th anniversary and first performed on 18 January 1968, conducted by Bernstein.
161
Sondheim's “Dedicated Dodecahedron” puzzle was published in
New York Magazine
on 15 April 1968.
162
“The Funke literary effort” refers to an article by Lewis B. Funke published in
The New York Times
on 8 April 1968, under the headline “
West Side Story
Collaborators Plan Musical of Brecht Play”.
163
Derived in part from comments made by Bernstein “speaking from Vienna,” Funke ends with what seems like an unduly brusque comment: “Mr. Sondheim, who will do the lyrics, will have to wait until Mr. Bernstein completes some of the score.” Understandably, Bernstein was keen to clear up any misunderstanding this remark might have caused.
164
Bernstein's desire “get back and dig in” refers to the planned musical based on Brecht's
The Exception and the Rule
that he was working on with Sondheim and Jerome Robbins. Though several songs were written and there are a number of sketches in the Leonard Bernstein Collection, the project was abandoned.
165
Jacqueline Kennedy (1929–94), First Lady of the United States during the presidency of John F. Kennedy, from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. She had come to know and like Bernstein during his frequent visits to the Kennedy White House.
166
Shortly after midnight on the morning of 6 June 1968, Jacqueline Kennedy's brother-in-law, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles. The younger brother of President Kennedy, Robert had served in his brother's administration as Attorney General, then as Senator from New York. He had just won the California Democratic primary in the 1968 presidential campaign, running on a radical platform of social justice and racial equality. Jacqueline Kennedy phoned Bernstein later on the same day (6 June) to ask him to oversee the musical aspects of the funeral Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral, New York. The funeral took place on 8 June; Bernstein conducted the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony with thirty members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and part of the last movement of Verdi's Requiem. As reported in
The New York Times
(9 June 1968), “Mr. Bernstein's role in the Mass was specifically requested by the Kennedy family, with whom he has been friendly for several years.” As Jacqueline Kennedy wrote in her letter, the Mahler was played at a particularly touching moment in the Mass, during the Offertory procession.
The New York Times
described this “procession by eight Kennedy children who marched in twos up the sanctuary behind two candle bearers to present the hosts and the wine used in the consecration of the Mass.”