He was given piano lessons as a boy and had his pre-college education at the Garrison and Boston Latin schools. Going on to Harvard University, he worked with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame Hill, and A. Tillman Merritt, among others. By the time of his graduation, in 1939, he had made an unofficial conducting debut (his own incidental music to The Birds), and directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock. Later, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and composition with Randall Thompson.
In 1949 he became a student of the Boston Symphony’s reigning conductor, Serge Koussevitzky, at Tanglewood, and he was subsequently named his conducting assistant.
Bernstein’s first permanent conducting post, however, was as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, to which he was named in 1943. That was an important year for him both as a composer and as a conductor. Not only did he win the New York Music Critic’ Award for his first symphony, Jeremiah, but he also made his sudden and now famous debut with the Philharmonic, substituting on just a few hours’ notice for the indisposed Bruno Walter at a concert at Carnegie Hall. He won extraordinary praise, and was soon being sought as guest conductor by leading orchestras all over the world.
In the years following he served as music director of the New York City Symphony Orchestra for three seasons, from 1945 to 1947, and was head of the conducting faculty at Brandeis University from 1951 to 1956.
Serge Koussevitzky had died in 1951, and Bernstein took over the orchestral and conducting departments at Tanglewood, where he continued to teach in the summer from time to time. Of great personal importance this same year was his marriage to the Chilean actress and pianist, Felicia Montealegre.
In 1957 Bernstein was invited to become Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, and from 1958 until 1969 conducted more concerts with them than anyone had ever done. Relinquishing the post after his eleven-year tenure, he accepted the lifetime title of Laureate Conductor. Two years later he led his thousandth concert with the Philharmonic, and he continued to be a frequent guest. More than half of his 400-plus recordings were made with this orchestra.
He traveled the world with his baton. He conducted in London and at the International Music Festival in Prague in 1946, and in Tel Aviv in 1947; he shared a transcontinental tour of the United States and Israel with Koussevitzky in 1951, and in 1953 became the first American ever to be invited to conduct a production at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Cherubini’s Medea with Maria Callas). Meanwhile, he was making almost annual tours with the New York Philharmonic, both in his years as music director and afterwards as well, ultimately playing hundreds of concerts in 70 cities throughout 35 countries. For an international tour that commemorated the United States Bicentennial in 1976 he programmed only American music and played it to sold-out houses wherever he went.
His support and promulgation of American composers is a matter of record, particularly in the case of Aaron Copland, whose close friend he had been for decades..."half of his life," Bernstein remarked in an affectionate tribute on the occasion of Copland’s birthday celebration in 1975. As a young pianist he played Copland so much that he called the Piano Variations his trademark. As conductor he programmed and recorded (several of them twice) nearly all the Copland orchestral works. He devoted several of his television Young People’s Concerts to Copland and commissioned an important work, Connotations, for the opening of Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) at Lincoln Center in 1962. At another birthday party, this one in 1979, Bernstein’s greeting happily and publicly acknowledged Copland as "my first friend in New York, my master, my idol, my sage, my shrink, my guide, my counselor, my elder brother, my beloved friend."
Bernstein composed his own first large-scale work, the Jeremiah Symphony, in 1944, inspired by his Jewish heritage. It was performed in Pittsburgh for the first time, the composer conducting. His second symphony, based on a poem by W. H. Auden and called The Age of Anxiety, was first performed by Koussevitzky, with Bernstein as piano soloist, in 1949. The Boston Symphony and the Koussevitzky Foundation together commissioned his Symphony No. 3, subtitled ‘Kaddish.’ It was composed in 1963 and dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy.
Other major compositions by Bernstein include Serenade for violin, strings, and percussion (1954); Five Anniversaries for piano solo (1964); Mass: A Theater Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, commissioned for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and first produced there in 1971; Chichester Psalms for chorus, boy sopranos, and orchestra (1974); a "political overture," Slava!, written in 1977 to honor Mstislav Rostropovich; Songfest, a cycle of songs for singers and orchestra (1977); Divertimento for Orchestra (1980); Missa Brevis (1988) for singers and percussion; Arias and Barcarolles for piano duet (or alternatively, chamber orchestra or string orchestra) and two singers; and Concerto for Orchestra (subtitled Jubilee Games), both works completed and first performed in 1989.
Bernstein’s one-act opera, Trouble in Tahiti, from 1951, was followed in 1983 by A Quiet Place, a sequel meant to be performed with it. He collaborated with choreographer Jerome Robbins in three major ballets: Fancy Free (1944) and Facsimile (1946) for American Ballet Theater; and Dybbuk for New York City Ballet. He composed the film score for the Academy Award-winning On the Waterfront (1954) and the scores for two theater works on Broadway, Peter Pan (1950) and The Lark (1955).
Trained in the classical tradition but always thoroughly attuned to and communicative of the popular idiom as well, Bernstein made substantial contributions to the Broadway musical stage, beginning with On the Town in 1944 and following with Wonderful Town in 1953, Candide in 1956 (also produced by numerous opera companies), and the immensely popular West Side Story (1957), later made into an Academy Award-winning film. His Bicentennial work, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, was produced in Washington and on Broadway in 1976.
Bernstein’s eminence as a writer is based on The Joy of Music (1959), The Infinite Variety of Music (1966), Findings (1982), and their translations into nearly a score of other languages. Six lectures given at Harvard University in 1972-73 when he was Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry were later collected into a book entitled The Unanswered Question.
Bernstein was the recipient of scores of honors besides those mentioned. The National Fellowship Award in 1985 applauded his life-long support of humanitarian causes, and he received the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, to which he was elected in 1981, the MacDowell Colony’s Gold Medal, medals from the Beethoven Society and the Mahler Gesellschaft, New York City’s highest honors in the field of the arts, the Handel Medallion, a Tony Award (1969) for Distinguished Achievement in the Theater, and literally dozens of honorary degrees and awards from colleges and universities including his alma mater, Harvard (Man of the Year in 1966). He was given ceremonial keys to the cities of Oslo, Vienna, Beersheva and Bernstein, Austria among others, and high honors from many nations: Italy, Israel, Austria, Mexico, Denmark, Germany (the Great Merit Cross), England, and France (where, successively, he was created Chevalier, Officer, and Commandeur of the Legion d’Honneur), as well as UNESCO’s Silver Wand. Far from being a prophet without honor in his own country, he received Kennedy Center honors in 1980.
Festivals of Bernstein’s music have been produced throughout the world, most recently at the Beethoven/Bernstein Festival in Bonn, Germany; and in London, produced jointly by the Barbican Centre and the London Symphony (of which he was honorary President since 1987). Another was produced by the Israel Philharmonic in commemoration of his debut concerts with the orchestra 30 years before. (The Israel Philharmonic also tendered him the lifetime title of Laureate Conductor in 1988).
In June 1990, Bernstein was among the first recipients of the Praemium Imperiale, an international prize created in 1988 by the Japan Art Association and awarded for lifetime achievement in the arts. Bernstein used the $100,000 prize to found the Bernstein Education Through the Arts Fund, Inc. before his death on October 14, 1990.
Bernstein was the father of three children: Jamie, Alexander, and Nina, and the grandfather of two: Francesca and Evan.
Leonard Bernstein is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
Leonard Bernstein's offical website is: http://www.leonardbernstein.com
This biography appears on Last.fm by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.
Ohio
Leonard Bernstein Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Eileen and ruth
Why, oh why, oh why, oh --
Why did I ever leave ohio?
Why did I wander to find what lies yonder
Wondring while I wander,
Why did I fly?
Why did I roam?
Oh, why oh, why oh
Did I leave ohio?
Maybe id better go
Eileen ruth
Home. O -- H -- I -- O.
Eileen and ruth
Maybe id better go home.
Ruth
Now listen, eileen,
Ohio was stifling.
We just couldn't wait to get out of the place,
With mom saying -- ruth, what no date for this evening?
Eileen
And pop with, eileen, do be home, dear, by ten.
Ruth and eileen
Ugh!
Ruth
The gossipy neighbors
And everyone yapping whos going with whom --
Eileen
And dating those drips that I've known since I'm four.
Ruth
The kiwanis club dance.
Eileen
On the basketball floor.
Ruth
Cousin maude with her lectures on sin --
Ruth and eileen
What A bore!
Eileen
Jerry black!
Ruth
Cousin min!
Eileen
Ezra nye!
Ruth
Hannah finn!
Eileen
Hopeless!
Ruth
Babbity!
Eileen
Stuffy!
Ruth
Provincial!
Ruth and eileen
Thank heavens were free!
Why, oh why, oh why, oh --
Why did we ever leave ohio?!
Wondring while we wander,
Why did we fly?
Why did we roam?
Oh, why oh, why oh
Did we leave ohio?
Maybe wed better go
Eileen ruth
Home. O -- H -- I -- O.
Ruth and eileen
Maybe wed better go home.
The lyrics to Leonard Bernstein's song Ohio tell the story of two sisters, Eileen and Ruth, who left their hometown in Ohio to escape the small-town mentality and gossipy neighbors. However, as they reflect on their past, they begin to wonder if leaving their cozy life at home was the right decision. The song is a nostalgic tribute to the state of Ohio and the small-town life that the sisters left behind.
The lyrics showcase the sisters' frustration with their mundane lives in Ohio, from the lack of exciting events to the dull dating scene. They paint a picture of a place where everyone knows everyone's business and where nothing exciting ever happens. The lyrics "Why did I wander to find what lies yonder, When life was so cozy at home?" perfectly encapsulate the sisters' sentiment of feeling lost and uncertain about leaving their familiar and comfortable life behind.
Overall, Ohio is a touching reflection on the simple joys of small-town life and the bittersweet nature of moving away. The song reminds us that sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side and that home is where the heart is.
Line by Line Meaning
Why, oh why, oh why, oh --
Questioning why they ever left Ohio with a hint of regret.
Why did I ever leave ohio?
Expressing regret for leaving the comfortable and familiar surroundings of home.
Why did I wander to find what lies yonder
Wondering why they ventured away from the known to pursue unknown possibilities.
When life was so cozy at home?
Reflecting on how peaceful and comfortable life used to be in Ohio.
Wondring while I wander,
Continuing to question why they left Ohio while roaming.
Maybe wed better go
Suggesting that they should consider returning to Ohio.
Now listen, eileen,
Asking Eileen to pay attention to what Ruth has to say next.
Ohio was stifling.
Ohio felt suffocating and uninviting to Ruth and Eileen.
We just couldnt wait to get out of the place,
Highlighting the eagerness and excitement they felt to leave Ohio behind.
With mom saying -- ruth, what no date for this evening?
Jokingly mocking Ruth's mother's constant nagging and questioning.
And pop with, eileen, do be home, dear, by ten.
Mocking Eileen's father's strict curfew for her.
Ugh!
Exclaiming frustration and disgust over their teenage frustrations.
The gossipy neighbors
Referring to nosy neighbors who spread rumors and talk about others in the town.
And everyone yapping whos going with whom --
Making fun of everyone in the town talking about each other's love lives and social circles.
And dating those drips that Ive known since Im four.
Being sarcastic about being stuck with the same people they grew up with to date and socialize with.
Cousin maude with her lectures on sin --
Mocking Cousin Maude's tendency to lecture about morals and ethics.
What A bore!
Expressing irritation and annoyance with Maude's lectures.
Jerry black!
Mentioning an uninteresting person from Ohio.
Cousin min!
Mentioning another uninteresting person from Ohio.
Ezra nye!
Mentioning yet another uninteresting person from Ohio.
Hannah finn!
Mentioning yet another uninteresting person from Ohio.
Hopeless!
Describing the lack of interesting or exciting people in Ohio.
Babbity!
Mentioning yet another uninteresting person from Ohio.
Stuffy!
Describing the conservative and suffocating nature of Ohio.
Provincial!
Expressing the small-town, narrow-minded views of Ohio.
Thank heavens were free!
Expressing joy and relief over being able to leave the small-minded environment of Ohio behind.
Maybe wed better go home.
Finishing off the song by suggesting again that they should consider returning to Ohio.
Contributed by Christian G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@tonywoodward1994
Most underrated song and musical ever!!
@anthonyhenrysmith
the vocal blend is gorgeous!!!!
@51698emmy
I played Ruth in my schools production of Wonderful Town and this was the hardest song I've ever had to sing. So much respect for her nailing this
@swarze
Just curious, but what did you find hard about it? It's pretty straightforward.
@flyinghow
This is flawlessly beautiful. Brava!
@marleneandreaunda
me encanto, bello concierto
@msubiras
Excellent performance!
@bandfan217
Love this, I was born in Ohio!
@Wayminem
oh my god it's so damned good :D
@mapromediorojo3b
donde puedo encontrar este concierto? lo he buscado por todos lados!