Leonard Bernstein
is known for his contributions to the genre of children's songs.
Legendary late musician Leonard Bernstein is among the 21st century's most influential arts and culture icons, in notable part for his enduring contribution to the children's music genre. A prolific composer, conductor, producer, entertainer and teacher, Bernstein was passionate about making and playing music for younger generations; this focused dedication is reflected in his celebrated youth-oriented body of songwork, encompassing diverse compositions from classical music orchestra to Broadway's musical theater.
Young People's Concerts
Bernstein's legendary series of "Young People's Concerts" brought to young generation audiences an unprecedented classical music appreciation.
As Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1958 to 1969, Bernstein conducted a groundbreaking series of "Young People's Concerts," more than 50 in all throughout his acclaimed tenure. Bernstein made these imaginative programs a centerpiece of his NYP legacy, envisioning them as part of his self-described "educational mission" to enlighten new audience generations about classical music. He wrote each Concert's adventurous script, covering and inventively arranging song works of noteworthy composers, historical and modern, to accessibly explore a vast range of orchestral subjects like "Jazz in the Concert Hall" and "The Latin-American Spirit." Bernstein capitalized on the emergent mass media to bring these children's song conductions to their widest intended audience, notably by televising the live Concerts for national prime time broadcast.
Classical Songs for Kids
In 1943, Bernstein wrote and produced the playfully titled "I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs," a set of five relatively short songs for piano and soprano and specifically intended to engage and inspire children. While classical in genre, the score and text of "Five Kid Songs" are related and performed from a conscientiously youthful perspective. Helter-skelter in pace and whimsical in expression, the songs are designed to accommodate and capture a child's fleeting attention span. Over the set's course -- beginning and ending with the aptly named "My Name is Barbara" and "I'm a Person, Too," respectively -- the singer introduces and expresses herself as contemporary to her young listeners. The lyrics invite active participation as "Barbara" explores and celebrates common generational feelings, questions, curiosities and discoveries.
Peter Pan
Families today have the privilege of enjoying Bernstein's original "Peter Pan" songs, now in wide release.
In 1950, Bernstein signed on to compose the music and lyrics for an original Broadway adaptation of arguably the greatest of all children's stories: J.M Barrie's "Peter Pan." Yet, while he contributed extensive new songs and musical background during pre-production, his score's vast majority was, inexplicably, altered or replaced in full soon thereafter. For half a century since, Bernstein's "Peter Pan" lay forgotten in the wake of the story's subsequent several better-known productions. Fortunately for present and future generations, his long-lost adaptation was in 2001 at last rescued, in its complete glory, by The Santa Barbara Theatre (SBT). SBT's faithful recording and theatrical production were acclaimed in critical and popular sentiment alike. Featuring Bernstein's innovative soundtrack -- highlighted by the comically operatic "Captain's Hook's Soliloquoy" and lilting soprano "Dream with Me" -- and a lively children's assemble, this reawakened masterpiece has immediately enthralled young audiences.
West Side Story
Of all Bernstein's rich multitude of song works, the 1957 Broadway musical "West Side Story" is his crowning achievement, universally beloved for generations by devotees of every age. Though in subject deadly serious -- loosely based on "Romeo and Juliet" as expository framework for the 1950s' escalating racial tensions and gang warfare -- and its portrayal uncompromising, "West Side Story" is also a celebration through music of love and of life. It is Bernstein's textured, sophisticated score that accomplishes the implausible feat of rendering the story's wrenching, ambiguous human themes approachable, engaging and indeed enlightening to young audiences. The musical's style seamlessly harmonizes classical and popular strains, integrating big-band jazz and Latin influences together with epically romantic ballads. And Bernstein's songs themselves -- from the rousing "I Want to Live in America" to the giddy "I Feel Pretty" to the love-letter of "Maria" -- are, one after the next, timeless classics, mesmerizing to children then and always.
