Heads *up* - Lenny BERNSTEIN on TCM tonight 8 PM ET - Young People's Concert

[UTUSN]

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http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1415285%7C0/Leonard-Bernstein-Centennial-7-20-7-22.html

LEONARD BERNSTEIN CENTENNIAL - 7/20-7/22

.... Our tribute begins with a night of films showcasing Bernstein's scores, and succeeding nights are devoted to his televised appearances with the New York Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts and the series Omnibus. ....

Young People's Concerts, a tradition of the New York Philharmonic since 1924, were the longest-running series of family concerts of classical music in the world. Bernstein arranged for the concerts to be televised on CBS-TV upon his arrival as the Philharmonic's music director in 1958. The shows were syndicated in more than 40 countries. Bernstein continued the concerts even after he left as the orchestra's conductor in 1969; they ran through March 1972. These are the Young People's Concerts screening on TCM: What Does Music Mean? (1958), Humor in Music (1959), What Is a Mode? (1966) and A Toast to Vienna in 3/4 Time (1967).

The award-winning series Omnibus was created in 1952 by the Ford Foundation in an effort to "raise the level of American taste." It ran at various times on CBS, ABC and NBC-TV through 1961 and had a brief revival in 1981. The show offered programming devoted to the arts, science and the humanities, with interviews and performances of notable performers and artists from various fields.

Bernstein gave his first televised music lectures on the show, including his well-remembered analysis of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (1954), in which he employs some of the composer's discarded sketches to show what the music might have been like if they were left in. The other Omnibus programs in our series include The World of Jazz (1955), The Art of Conducting (1955), The American Musical Comedy (1956), Introduction to Modern Music (1957), The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1957) and What Makes Opera Grand? (1958).

That final selection was another favorite of viewers of the series, illustrating the powerful effect of an opera's music. Among the demonstrations is one in which actor Hans Conried delivers dramatic readings in English as Marcello in La Boheme, followed by a singer who performs the same lines in the original Italian complete with musical scoring.

by Roger Fristoe


https://arago.si.edu/category_2041487.html
Leonard Bernstein Issue
The Postal Service issued a 34-cent Leonard Bernstein commemorative stamp in New York, New York, on July 10, 2001. The stamp, designed by Howard Paine of Delaplane, Virginia, was based on a photograph by Don Hunstein. ....

Sterling Sommer printed 55 million stamps in the offset process with microprinting "USPS."
Reference: Postal Bulletin (May 31, 2001).

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[elleng]

1. THANKS for the reminder, UTU!

[yallerdawg]

2. Hey! Don't miss...

Frank Zappa: Does Humor Belong in Music? on TCM (9:15, 8:15 CT), right in there with the Bernstein shows!

A s I remember it:

Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a muffin.

He died in the middle of the night as a result of his stuffin.'

I am certain Leonard Bernstein would approve.

[UTUSN]

3. I'm sure, too!1 I still remember from back in the day his analysis of Beatles' compositions!1

[Paladin]

4. I'll be watching, for sure.

Leonard Bernstein remains a genuine American treasure.

[UTUSN]

5. It's 2 episodes: What Does Music Mean and Humor in Music. Live, no TelePrompter. Haha opening with

William Tell Overture, NO baton. Kids crawling on seats. He asks what the WmTell is about and they yell, "Cowboys!1"

[elleng]

7. THANKS!

Will listen on my own!

[elleng]

6. DARN, DirecTV out, due to STORM!!!

Plze take notes!!!

[UTUSN]

8. Actually, it looks like all of them are on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=young+people%27s+concerts+bernstein

And many of the kids look bored and sort of mocking. Lenny moaning with the music, sounds like me!1

[elleng]

9. HOPE so (utube,)

as missed a lot with storm vs directv.

[nolabear]

10. I don't think they look that way.

I don’t see them as mocking at all. Bored? They just look quietly attentive. I remember watching those concerts at 10 or 11 and loving them. And the fact he speaks to them as though they have the ability to rub two thoughts together is wonderful.

[UTUSN]

11. I'm on #4 (Vienna) now, and the format is eased up, been fun seeing the progression of it all

[nolabear]

13. I was struck by the complete absence of women in the orchestra.

I knew, but man it’s shocking to see. We forget how hard we’ve had to fight for the little bits we have now.

[UTUSN]

14. Yea, the intro alerted to the changes in diversity & tech over the span of episodes

Lenny went from wound-up wunderkind to world wide slayer of von Karajan. & my previous comments weren't supposed to be critical of him or the kids: I seldom actually watch the t.v., am on the laptop with the t.v. as background, happened to look up and saw a kid making faces, and the early black and white episode was a bit stiffly pedantic, but I wouldn't be putting Lenny down.

[Paladin]

15. First two shows (1958 and 1959): 100% white male orchestra.

Third show (1966): I spotted one black musician in the strings section; the rest of the orchestra: white male. Like you say, no females whatsoever.

Nice to see some progress has been made, especially in these trying times.

[nolabear]

16. I didn't know til recently that now auditions are typically blind.

I don’t know if all major orchestras do it but many have the musician sit behind a screen so nothing but the quality of the playing is judged. That’s pretty remarkable.

[rdmtimp]

17. It's pretty much standard among US orchestras, from major on down

I trained as a classical musician (timpani/percussion) and took quite a few in my day (the biggest one I ever took was for the timpani job in Philadelphia in 1988).

In the early rounds when the screen is up, you're known by only a number. You can't speak to the committee (a proctor is there if you have questions). Most (though not all) will bring the screen down for the final round (the Metropolitan Opera orchestra is one that keeps the screen up all the way).

[nolabear]

18. Thanks for the insight!

[elleng]

12. Sorry it's over!

Gotta catch the first couple on youtube.