“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: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 910358
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 1211493
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 566239
for: Baritone/Bass and Piano
Book
Item no.: 641248
Ten songs from Leonard Bernstein's classic musical
Hal Leonard Instrumental Play Along
for: Trumpet
Music score, online audio
Item no.: 602696
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 289682
Study score
Item no.: 189750
Piano reduction
Item no.: 607772
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Hardcover)
Item no.: 159373
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 433245
for: Piano, organ or electronic keyboard
Book
Item no.: 866075
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 910256
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1212411
for: Symphonic Band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 897721
for: Electric organ
Music score
Item no.: 108416
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 367229
for: Brass ensemble (14 parts), latin percussion
Score, Parts
Item no.: 866479
for: Mixed Choir or 7 Soloists [SSATTBB] a Cappella, Percussion ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 225195
Geistliche Musik
for: counter Tenor and Mixed Choir a Cappella, Percussion ad lib.
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1660009
From The West Side Story
for: 4 horns (quartet)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1531110
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 772109
for: 4 trombones (quartet)
Sheet music
Item no.: 596038
for: Concert band
Sheet music
Item no.: 589316
for: Double Bass, Keyboard
Instrumental Solo & Accompaniment
Item no.: 1561493
for: Recorder), cello
Music score
Item no.: 905671
for: Trombone, piano
Music score, Playback-CD
Item no.: 631655
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 584799
for: String Orchestra, Percussion and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1211516
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 693731
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 648886
for: counter Tenor and Mixed Choir a Cappella, Percussion ad lib.
Piano reduction
Item no.: 198649
for: Mezzo-Soprano, Baritone and Piano [4 Hands]
Book
Item no.: 469226
for: Oboe, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 216948
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 154681
for: Instrumental
CD-ROM
Item no.: 1211896
From The West Side Story
for: 2 Bb Clarinets, Eb Alto Clarinet and Bass Clarinet
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1531111
10 Songs
for: Voice (tenor), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1657482
Großes Potpourri aus dem Musical
for: Concert band
Conductors part (C), Parts
Item no.: 208534
from "West Side Story"
Discovery Band – A Series for Developing Bands
for: Youth concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 465966
for: Viola, Keyboard
Instrumental Solo & Accompaniment
Item no.: 1638662
for Cello solo
Instrumental Solos
for: Cello
Music score, Playback-CD
Item no.: 683172
for: Trumpet, piano
Music score, Playback-CD
Item no.: 631659
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1021962
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 680703
for: Voice (tenor), piano
Music score
Item no.: 641507
10 songs from Leonard Bernstein's classic musical
Hal Leonard Instrumental Play-Along
for: Trombone
Music score, online audio
Item no.: 605713
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 901199
for: Mixed Choir or 7 Soloistssten [SSATTBB] a Cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 225210