Leonard Bernstein was a charismatic and versatile musician-a brilliant conductor who attained international superstar status, and a gifted composer of Broadway musicals (West Side Story), symphonies (Age of Anxiety), choral works (Chichester Psalms), film scores (On the Waterfront), and much more. Bernstein was also an enthusiastic letter writer, and this book is the first to present a wide-ranging selection of his correspondence. The letters have...

Leonard Bernstein earned glory as a composer, conductor, and pianist (classical and jazz), but nothing gave him more pleasure than the joy of teaching. He presented the unique blend of spoken words and music. He is an intensely interactive teacher, getting his audience to sing, springing a quiz full of trick questions. He can take the most abstruse subject and present them to a young audience with clarity, without condescension, and with a clear sense...