Leonard Bernstein told the television audience at the start of the first Young People's Concert: "No matter what stories people tell you about what music means, forget them. Stories are not what music means. Music is never about things. Music just is. It's a lot of beautiful notes and sounds put together so well that we get pleasure out of hearing them. So when we ask, 'What does it mean; what does this piece of music mean?' we're asking a hard question. Let's do our best to answer it." During the course of this first program the New York Philharmonic performs portions of Rossini's William Tell Overture, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, and Ravel's La Valse. Air Date : 18th-Jan-1958  Read More

From Carnegie Hall, Bernstein discusses the origins and characteristics of American music. After an extended excerpt from George Gershwin's An American in Paris and a discussion of nationalistic and folk music, excerpts from compositions by American composers Edward MacDowell, William Schuman, Virgil Thomson, and others are performed. In closing Aaron Copland conducts parts of his own Third Symphony. Air Date : 1st-Feb-1958  Read More

After brief introductory remarks, Bernstein conducts the finale of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol and then explains what a composer must know in order to orchestrate music successfully. He compares the flute to the trumpet, and the clarinet to the viola, with examples from Debussy and Gershwin. After asking the audience to sing two notes in a variety of ways, he contrasts the families of instruments that compose an orchestra, using excerpts from Prokofiev, Hindemith, Mozart and others to illustrate, and ends with Ravel's Bolero. Air Date : 8th-Mar-1958  Read More

Using the examples of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, Bernstein demonstrates the techniques of repetition and variation int he development of symphonic music. After conducting part of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, he asks the audience to sing "Frére Jacques," demonstrating the uses of sequence and imitation in symphonic composition. The final movement of Brahm's Second Symphony is then analyzed and played. Air Date : 13th-Dec-1958  Read More

Bernstein conducts Handel's Water Music and cites it as an indisputable example of classical music. "Exact" is the word that best defines classical music, Bernstein says, and he demonstrates with musical illustrations from Bach's Fourth Brandenburg Concerto, Mozart's Concerto No. 21 in C Major and The Marriage of Figaro, and Haydn's Symphony No. 102. The decline of classical music at the end of the eighteenth century is tied to Beethoven's innovations and the Romantic movement, and Bernstein conducts Beethoven's Egmont Overture. Air Date : 24th-Jan-1959  Read More

Using excerpts from Shostakovich, Mahler, Haydn and others Bernstein demonstrates how a "serious" composition can take an unexpected humorous turn. Prokofiev's Classical Symphony is played in its entirety. Air Date : 28th-Feb-1959  Read More

Leonard Bernstein discusses the development of the concerto form from Bach to Bartok. Bernstein conducts examples of early concertos-Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto and Vivaldi's Concerto in C Major. From the classical period, he conducts Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and, finally, the fourth and fifth movements of Bartok's neo-classical Concerto for Orchestra. Air Date : 28th-Mar-1959  Read More

Leonard Bernstein celebrates Mahler's centennial by conducting excerpts from the composer's Fourth Symphony in G and discussing his career as a composer and conductor. Soprano Reri Grist joins the orchestra in a performance of the last movement of the Fourth Symphony. William Lewis sings "Youth" and Helen Raab sings from "The Farewell," both from Mahler's The Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde). Air Date : 7th-Feb-1960  Read More

Daniel Domb; Kenneth Schermerhorn; Barry Finclair; Stefan B. Mengelberg; Alexandra Wager Air Date : 6th-Mar-1960  Read More

New York Pro Musica; Noah Greenberg; Vladimir Ussachevsky; Anita Darian Air Date : 27th-Mar-1960  Read More

The High School of Music & Art Air Date : 24th-Apr-1960  Read More

Air Date : 8th-Jan-1961  Read More

Aaron Copland; William Warfield Air Date : 12th-Feb-1961  Read More

Lynn Harrell; Elyakum Shapirra; Jung-Ja Kim; Russell Stanger; Veronica Tyler; Gregory Millar; Henry Chapin Air Date : 19th-Mar-1961  Read More

Bernstein discusses folk music and its influence on orchestral music, and conducts excerpts from Mozart, Chavez and Ives, and "Songs of the Auvergne" sung by Marni Nixon. Air Date : 9th-Apr-1961  Read More

Bernstein focuses on impressionism in music, discussing the methods and styles of Debussy and Ravel. He conducts three movements from La Mer and the final dance of Daphnis et Chloe. Air Date : 1st-Dec-1961  Read More

Zara Nelsova Air Date : 18th-Jan-1962  Read More

Bernstein sketches a brief history of Stravinsky's musical career, noting changes of style and shifts of direction. The whole of Petrouchka is played and each scene is analyzed. Air Date : 26th-Mar-1962  Read More

Seiji Ozawa; Gary Karr; Maurice Peress; John Canarina; Ruth & Naomi Segal; Paula Robison; Paul Green; Tony Cirone; David Hopper Air Date : 14th-Apr-1962  Read More

John Corigliano, Sr.; Frank Gullino; Joseph Bernstein; William Dembinsky Air Date : 21st-Nov-1962  Read More

Bernstein discusses the different forms melody can take, including tune, theme, motive, melodic line and musical phrase. He illustrates by conducting the orchestra in excerpts from Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Mozart, Hindemith, and Brahms. Air Date : 21st-Dec-1962  Read More

Joan Weiner; Yuri Krasnopolsky; Claudia Hoca; Zoltán Rozsnyai; Pamela Paul; Serge Fournier; André Watts Air Date : 15th-Jan-1963  Read More

Bernstein discusses "the two ingredients that give this music its special Latin flavor: rhythm and color." Excerpts include Bernstein's own Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Air Date : 8th-Mar-1963  Read More

Air Date : 29th-Nov-1963  Read More

Heidi Lehwalder; Amos Eisenberg; Weldon Berry, Jr.; Claudio Abbado; Shulamit Ran (as Shulamith Ran); Pedro Calderon; Stephen E. Kates; Zdeněk Košler Air Date : 23rd-Dec-1963  Read More

Air Date : 23rd-Feb-1964  Read More

Bernstein discusses the blending of jazz and symphonic music, with performances and readings to illustrate. The program ends with Larry Austin's Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists. Air Date : 11th-Mar-1964  Read More

Bernstein describes the three-part sonata form, and exemplifies it by singing the Beatle's "And I Love Her." Veronica Tyler sings Micaela's aria from Bizet's Carmen and Bernstein conducts the Philharmonic in the first movement of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. Air Date : 6th-Nov-1964  Read More

Air Date : 30th-Nov-1964  Read More

Patricia Michaelian; James Boswell IV Air Date : 28th-Jan-1965  Read More

Bernstein celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and comments on Finland, the Finnish language, and Finnish patriotism, as well as Sibelius himself. Works by the composer, including Finlandia and the first movement of his Violin Concerto, with soloist Sergiu Luca, are performed. Air Date : 19th-Feb-1965  Read More