“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: Treble Choir [SSA] and Piano [CD or Instruments]
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 166215
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 680698
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Book
Item no.: 348906
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 225174
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 471091
Highlights from the american musical
Discovery Plus Band Series – A Series for Developing Bands
for: Youth concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 261401
for: Boy's alto [countertenor], boy's choir [mixed choir], symphony orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 579005
for: Mixed Choir or 7 Soloistssten [SSATTBB] a Cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 225210
for: Tenor, 2-Part Treble Voices [SS], Piano and Bongo
Choir score
Item no.: 146680
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 179103
From The West Side Story
for: Soprano, 3 Alto, 2 Tenor and Bariton Saxophone
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1531109
for: 5 brass winds; rhythm group (piano, guitar, drums) ad lib.
Score (C), Parts
Item no.: 597303
for: Brass band
Sheet music
Item no.: 595822
for: Wind Band
Score
Item no.: 1211580
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 862398
for: Jazz ensemble
Score
Item no.: 1204474
for: Mixed choir (SABar), piano [keyboard]
Choir score
Item no.: 664367
for: Trombone
Music score
Item no.: 154347
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 197468
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 609875
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 162198
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 471568
for: Mixed choir (SAB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 809746
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 895202
From "West Side Story"
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 791888
for: school orchestra
Piano conductor, orchestral parts
Item no.: 580995
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 465963
uit west-side story
for: PSATB
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1211468
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1212194
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 1212165
for: Voice, Speakers and Piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 894453
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Set of parts
Item no.: 1011881
for: Soprano and Piano
Book
Item no.: 462501
with piano accompaniment for rehearsal only
for: Male choir (TTBB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 686029
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 148265
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 907321
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1211849
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1132509
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1211574
TV, Film, Musical und Show
for: Women's choir (SSA), piano
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1212070
Somewhere
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir part Soprano
Item no.: 649412
From "West Side Story"
for: Violin, piano
Music score
Item no.: 791957
for: Male choir
OTHER
Item no.: 1341405
for: Symphonic Band
Score
Item no.: 167898
for: Choir
Choir score
Item no.: 1212345
for: Voice, piano [guitar]
Book
Item no.: 1211736
for: Brass band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1143517
Somewhere
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir part Bass
Item no.: 649414