“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: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1211551
for: Mixed Choir and Piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1212145
for: Voice and Piano or Guitar
Book
Item no.: 1211499
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Book
Item no.: 148268
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1211897
for: Wind Band
Score
Item no.: 1211895
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 906830
for: Male choir
OTHER
Item no.: 1341406
for: Wind Band
Score
Item no.: 900313
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Book
Item no.: 1211876
for: Wind Band
Score
Item no.: 1211842
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1212296
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1212243
for: Concert band
Set of parts
Item no.: 1212084
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1211877
for: Wind Band
Score
Item no.: 1212321
for: Horn
Music score
Item no.: 216953
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 145959
for: Voice, piano [guitar]
Book
Item no.: 1212262
for: Saxophone ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1132311
from Wonderful Town
for: Mixed Choir [SAB] and Piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1211994
Somewhere
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir part Tenor
Item no.: 348847
Book
Item no.: 1212252
Book
Item no.: 1212005
for: Symphonic orchestra
Book
Item no.: 905107
for: Voice, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 900091
for: Wind Band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 395409
for: Voice and Piano or Guitar
Book
Item no.: 1211573
for: Instrumental
CD-ROM
Item no.: 268936
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 888311
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1211534
Something's coming / Tonight
for: Mixed Choir [SAB] and Piano, CD or Instruments
Choir score
Item no.: 1212272
Book
Item no.: 1212183
for: Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 1211742
for: men's Choir or Soloists [TTBarB] a Cappella, Percussion ad libitum
Choir score
Item no.: 893111
for: Women's Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 1212294
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1212088
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 900443
Something's coming / Tonight
for: Choir and Piano, CD or Instruments
Set of parts
Item no.: 1212163
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 431867
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1211977
for: Vocal, Piano and Cello
Book
Item no.: 1211489
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1211951
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 1212051
for: Women's choir (SSA), piano
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1212010
for: Male choir (TTBB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1211498