“Music... can name the unnameable and convey the unfathomable.” Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, pedagogue, and musical educator. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore all his ground-breaking works with Stretta Music today!
Bernstein studied music at Harvard and conducting with Sergei Koussevitzky at Tanglewood. His international conducting career got off to a quick start, when he jumped-in for Bruno Walter to conduct the New York Philharmonic. In the following years, he not only became music director of the New York Philharmonic, but he was also the first American to be guest conductor for numerous orchestras in Europe and around the world, including Vienna, London, Berlin, Boston, Prague, Israel, and many more.
His last concerts in 1989 and 1990 were of great importance. On Christmas Day 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he conducted one of the most impactful performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. He made a small, yet decisive change to Schiller’s text in the finale, “Ode to Joy”, the chorus and soloists sang “Freedom”, instead of “Joy”, which was a strong political statement. He also conducted the same work in June 1990, at the final concert of the Prague Spring Festival, only six months after the fall of the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia. Both concerts are still considered symbols of new found freedom, and have had a lasting impact on music history to this day.
Leonard Bernstein quickly recognized the power of the new, emerging medium, television. From as early as the 1950s, he brought music education programmes for both young and old to people’s living rooms all around America. His most popular series was the ’Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic’, which enjoyed 53 episodes. Bernstein was also instrumental in popularising modern American classical music, and he regularly performed works by Aaron Copland and many other American composers.
Bernstein was a polystylist who used elements of both classical and popular music, whichever served him best at any particular moment. His compositions often have a tonal basis, a pronounced irregular or off-beat rhythm, and creative, unusual instrumentation. He often uses several languages in his vocal compositions, most commonly English, Latin and Hebrew. He made a huge impact on American musical theatre, and his West Side Story is one of the most successful musicals of all time. Bernstein’s Three Symphonies, Sacred Music by Bernstein and Bernstein’s Chamber Music are also important additions to performance repertoire around the world today.
for: Boy's alto [countertenor], boy's choir [mixed choir], symphony orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 198646
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 466139
for: Voice, big band
Score
Item no.: 805052
for: Voice, piano
Music score, online audio
Item no.: 607210
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 177463
for: Voice, piano [guitar]
Book
Item no.: 145572
for: Soloist (soprano), narrator, mixed choir (SATB), boys' choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 289683
for: 2 soloists (ST), mixed choir (SATB), chamber orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 566241
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 241808
for: 2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba (quintet); latin percussion ad lib.
Score, Parts
Item no.: 611603
for: Trombone, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 216955
for: Tuba, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 198483
From The West Side Story
for: Klarinettenensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1531112
from "West Side Story"
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 730661
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 557620
for: Clarinet, piano
Music score, online playback
Item no.: 580779
for: Piano Trio
Book
Item no.: 191626
for: Studyscore
Study score
Item no.: 371768
for: 2 pianos
Music score
Item no.: 349758
for: Wind Band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 862125
for: Clarinet (B-flat), cello
Ensemble score
Item no.: 902170
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part, playback-CD
Item no.: 631681
for: Flute, Percussion and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 340419
for: Flute, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 218153
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 886576
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 889234
for: Cello, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 167896
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 456951
Eight piano duets from the beloved musical
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 473767
for: Voice, piano
Book
Item no.: 143569
for: Alto saxophone (E-flat)
Music score, online audio
Item no.: 602699
for: Clarinet
Music score
Item no.: 216949
for: Flexible Instrumentation
Score, Parts
Item no.: 223236
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 369891
for: Piano
Single edition
Item no.: 225171
for: Voice, piano [guitar]
Songbook PVG (Piano/Vocal/Guitar)
Item no.: 1209893
after Plato's "Symposium"
for Solo Violin, String Orchestra, Harp and Percussion
Reduction for Violin and Piano by the composer
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 303000
for: Soloist, Mixed Choir [SATB] and Orchestra
Score
Item no.: 898899
for: Jazz ensemble
Score
Item no.: 806850
for: Soprano and Piano
Book
Item no.: 891966
for: Soloists, Mixed Choir [SATB] and Piano
Choir score
Item no.: 578004
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Item no.: 611969
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 475798
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 168332
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 162409
from 'West Side Story'
for piano and vocal
Vocal Range: c'-g''
for: Voice, piano
Single edition
Item no.: 144460
for: Soloists, choir, children's choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 208975
Musical-Querschnitt für gemischten Chor und Begleitung
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 145119