Leonard Bernstein was born into a family full of “constant fighting” between his parents—Russian immigrants Jennie and Samuel Bernstein (Peyser 21). His father escaped Ukraine at the age of sixteen and struggled in the United States, working menial jobs until he finally built a successful business in distributing beauty products (Peyser 20). Thus, Leonard grew up with the understanding that financial stability was essential to one’s future; therefore, to his parents, music and arts were a waste of time because art-based careers had little job security. When Bernstein was ten years old, his Aunt Clara was undergoing a divorce and “left an old upright piano in the Bernstein house.” The close presence of the piano motivated Bernstein to take …show more content…
. . [having] a marvelous education . . . great teachers . . . [and studying] the piano . . . with Helen Coates and Heinrich Gebhard” (Peyser 64). Thus, he auditioned and was accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music to begin studying conducting with Fritz Reiner, a demanding teacher with high standards, after being recommended by Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos (Peyser 65). However, Bernstein soon learned that his idol, Russian conductor Serge Koussevitzky, would begin teaching conducting courses at his summer music festival at Tanglewood Music Center; he applied and was accepted, allowing him to develop a close friendship with Koussevitzky (Peyser 76). Here, Bernstein was able to effectively apply his learning and develop his skill through conducting its student orchestra (Peyser 83). Studying with two globally known conductors, who were both homosexuals, indirectly led to Bernstein’s eventual understanding that his sexual orientation would not undermine his goal to become a prominent musician (Teachout). His connection to Koussevitzky concretely led to the turning point of Bernstein’s musical career: Bernstein was appointed Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1943 because Artur Rodzinski, the philharmonic’s music director, “admired Koussevitzky” and “Koussevitzky believed in [Bernstein]” (Peyser
Composers effectively reflect and communicate how universal human experiences can explicitly modify an individual’s understanding and acceptance of one’s sense of identity and maturation. Goldsworthy’s novel Maestro, Don McLean’s song ‘Vincent’ and Baz Luhrmann’s film Australia all inter-relate within the deeper realisation of the impact the appreciation of art, and the development of understanding the concept of love acting as a compelling emotion can create towards one’s self-image.
Ginsberg’s mother often made up bedtime stories with strong Communist ideas like: 'The good king rode forth from his castle and, saw the suffering workers and healed them.'" Ginsberg was equally critical of his father. "My father would go around the house," Allen once said, "either reciting Emily Dickinson and Longfellow under his breath or attacking T. S. Eliot for...
Warhol, Andy. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: (from A to B and Back Again). Orlando: Harcourt, 2006. Print.
During his thirty-eight year life, Mendelssohn traveled the world as a concert pianist and musical director. Mendelssohn served as the conductor for the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig from 1835-1840, and then from 1845-1847, he also served the Berlin Philharmonic in various positions from 1840-1844. Felix Mendelssohn also founded the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany, with faculty including Robert Schumann.
this paper I will discuss Gershwin’s life as a child and his upbringing and how his music
Until the age of ten, George wasn’t interested in music; however, when he heard his friend Maxie Rosenzweig's violin recital, he became intrigued. His parents had bought a piano, originally for Ira; to their surprise and Ira's relief, it was George who played it. George had several piano teaches over the following two years, before he was introduced to Charles Hambitzer. Hambitzer acted as George’s mentor until his death in 1918; teaching him piano technique, introducing him to music of the European classical tradition, and encouraging him to attend orchestra concerts. Following such concerts, young Gershwin would try to play the music that he had heard.
The Piano Lesson written by August Wilson is a work that struggles to suggest how best African Americans can handle their heritage and how they can best put their history to use. This problem is important to the development of theme throughout the work and is fueled by the two key players of the drama: Berniece and Boy Willie. These siblings, who begin with opposing views on what to do with a precious family heirloom, although both protagonists in the drama, serve akin to foils of one another. Their similarities and differences help the audience to understand each individual more fully and to comprehend the theme that one must find balance between deserting and preserving the past in order to pursue the future, that both too greatly honoring or too greatly guarding the past can ruin opportunities in the present and the future.
Leonard Bernstein is widely known not only as one of the greatest American conductors, but also as a composer whose creativity and passion was spread over a wide range. His social and cultural influences helped shape his career into a musical icon and his music rekindled the American spirit. Above all, he will be remembered as one of the most amazing and influential musical personalities of the twentieth century.
Their mother insisted that she had no musical talent as an excuse to not be involved in the male competition. Later Werner also learned the piano and used his musical talents as a social vehicle during the course of his life. This manly competition carried out in many other activities in the house.
this requires much loss and pain. The strive of the American culture for the attainment of such social luxuries is of great courage, will-power, faith and pride. During a time when the first World War had ended and the country was in a state of isolation, there were people within its borders that had an undying belief in what this country stood for. Though often overlooked and underappreciated in their time, artists had an advantage of using the suffering of the country and its industrial growth as a concentration for their bodies of work.
Every person has a past, every race has a heritage, and every family has a legacy. In Wilson’s play, four protagonists, Boy Willie, Berniece, Doaker and Wining Boy are all wounded by their traumatic pasts’ and have only have one reminder of their family history – the piano. During the beginning of the play, Wilson describes the setting and illustrates a piano that is dominating the parlor and gathering dust in the Charles’ home. The piano is covered with carvings of events and “mask-like figures resembling totems.” Wilson then begins to describe the carvings as “graceful” and rendering a “power of invention that lifts them out of the realm of craftsmanship and into the realm of art.” Nevertheless, to the Charles’ family, the piano is not just an ornately carved piano but rather the only symbol of their family legacy; the only way to understand the piano is to go back to the period of slavery. In the play, Doaker begins to reveal the family history to Boy Willie and explains the significance of the piano. During the slave period, Boy Willie and Bernice’s' grandfather's (Willie Boy) was owned by a man named Robert Sutter. Sutter had traded their grandmother and uncle for the piano as a present for his wife, Miss Ophelia. After getting tired of the piano, Miss Ophelia missed her slaves so much, Sutter made Willie Boy hand-carve the faces of his wife and son's faces all over the piano. However, Willie Boy didn't end there; he carved all of his ancestors onto the piano and “all kinds of things that happened with [the] family.” Miss Ophelia became ecstatic when she saw the piano, because “now she had her piano and her niggers too.” When she looked at the carvings in the piano, she could see all the faces of the slaves she missed and the...
So Ludwig Beethoven was lucky with his music career he got to continue with it, but he was a rather lonely and sad man. he would argue constantly with his brothers, his publishers, housekeepers, and because he was shy and short tempered he was never married. Though there was a women that he was in love with. She was already married though. Her name was Antoine Brentano and he wrote her a letter that took him two days, explaining his love for her, although the letter was never
In Peter F. Ostwald’s biography/autobiography, Glenn Gould: The Ecstasy and Tragedy of Genius, Glenn Gould’s life slowly unravels, chapter by chapter. The exposure of the personal details of Glenn’s life, as disclosed by Peter Ostwald, allowed for me to gain insight into several aspects of Glenn’s life. While reading this novel, I was able to identify some of the challenges Glenn faced and how I would prioritize those challenges according to my own experiences. As well, I was able to detect some of the BPN core concepts as pertained to Glenn Gould; Being, Time and Context. In this essay I will identify how Glenn’s ambivalent attachment style is reflected in each of these aspects of his life, and how Glenn uses music as a means to maintain closeness as well as distance with his mother.
After my brother died, I never saw that look of pure joy in my father’s eyes. I would try so hard to impress him. I played the violin, cello, piano, and even the flute hoping to please him but it was all in vain. I never saw even a glimmer of pride in his eyes. I would often ask. ”Daddy are you proud of me?” and he would sigh and say of course he was, but his tone sounded like that of a tired old man whose daughter was exhausting him. I just wished my brother were there to teach me how to play as he did.