From his youth in Russia, Sam recalled the klezmers, poor itinerant Jewish musicians who made little money and garnered little respect he feared his son would suffer a similar fate. To Sam, music could be a hobby, but not a profession. He and his father often clashed over his future. But from an early age, Leonard was deeply and emotionally moved by music. Leonard had a sister, Shirley Anne, and a brother, Burton, both of whom were his junior.Īs the first born, Leonard was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps, eventually taking over the Boston-based Samuel Bernstein Hair Company. (Born Louis Bernstein at the behest of his grandmother, Bernstein was referred to as Leonard or Lenny by his entire family he officially changed his name at the Lawrence City Hall upon his eighteenth birthday.) Leonard was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants: Samuel Bernstein, a distributor of beauty products, and mother Jennie, née Resnick. Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Over one hundred years after his birth, he and his work remain revered and loved by America and the rest of the world. From West Side Story to Candide, from his symphonies to his Serenade for Orchestra from his groundbreaking televised Young People’s Concerts to his remarkable run as conductor and guiding force of the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein made his mark, loud and clear. The proof is in the remarkably large and resilient body of work he left behind. In many cases, he was the catalyst and inspiration behind this new and exciting era of American music. He was as comfortable composing for Broadway as he was conducting on a concert stage. By the time of his death in 1990, America had shed its image as a classical music backwater and had contributed many significant works to the world music treasury, through Bernstein’s own compositions as well as the hundreds of recordings featuring Bernstein conducting the great orchestras of the world. He was born over a century ago at a time when our nation still looked longingly toward Europe for its musical inspiration and education. As handsome as a Hollywood star and gifted with an engaging and powerful personality, Bernstein became a music icon, the likes of which have never been matched in American classical music. A conductor, composer, educator, concert pianist, philanthropist, and political activist, Bernstein revolutionized the role of the classical musician. Leonard Bernstein was the greatest and most important classical music figure in American history.
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