Leonard Bernstein Discusses Great Works of the Twentieth Century

Music and Words: In addition to being a great conductor and composer, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was a gifted educator. Who knows how many millions of kids were turned on to classical music by his Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic. But he could also speak to adults about the meaning of music and the meaning of life itself. In his Norton Lectures at Harvard in 1973, Bernstein argued persuasively that tonality was the basis of all music, and in this excerpt he also probes deeply into the life-changing elements in the music of the early 20th century, and how this music is related to literature and film.

Paul E Robinson