The Pin-Up Boy of the Symphony St. Louis and the Rise of Leonard Bernstein

BY KENNETH H. WINN

34 | The Confluence | Fall/Winter 2018/2019 In May 1944 25-year-old publicized story from a New Leonard Bernstein, riding a York high school newspaper, had tidal wave of national publicity, bobbysoxers sighing over him as was invited to serve as a guest the “pin-up boy of the symphony.” conductor of the St. Louis They, however, advised him to get The Pin-Up Boy 3 Symphony Orchestra for its a crew cut. 1944–1945 season. The orchestra For some of Bernstein’s of the Symphony and Bernstein later revealed that elders, it was too much, too they had also struck a deal with fast. Many music critics were St. Louis and the RCA’s Victor Records to make his skeptical, put off by the torrent first classical record, a symphony of praise. “Glamourpuss,” they Rise of Leonard Bernstein of his own composition, entitled called him, the “Wunderkind Jeremiah. Little more than a year of the Western World.”4 They BY KENNETH H. WINN earlier, the New York Philharmonic suspected Bernstein’s performance music director Artur Rodziński Jeremiah was the first of Leonard Bernstein’s was simply a flash-in-the-pan. had hired Bernstein on his 24th symphonies recorded by the St. Louis Symphony The young conductor was riding birthday as an assistant conductor, Orchestra in the spring of 1944. (Image: Washing- a wave of luck rather than a wave a position of honor, but one known ton University Libraries, Gaylord Music Library) of talent. For years his age would, mostly for its menial work. His in effect, serve as his last name, St. Louis invitation and the record as in “Leonard Bernstein, 25, will agreement came in the wake of his . . .” One of the most suspicious brilliant service on May 13, 1943, of his talent was St. Louis Post- as a last-minute stand in for the internationally known Dispatch music columnist Thomas B. Sherman who, conductor Bruno Walter, who was scheduled to substitute upon learning of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s for the vacationing Rodziński. When Walter suddenly invitation to Bernstein, dwelt on Bernstein’s “luck” and fell ill, Bernstein, the orchestra’s water boy, became the good “fortune,” noting that events had proven “favorable.” Philharmonic’s maestro. His electric performance inspired He acknowledged that Bernstein seemed to have the skill the New York Times to run two stories, one of them on the to “take up where his luck left off.” He also conceded front page, and then a highly flattering editorial on the Bernstein was a “gifted” and a “good-looking young following day. His triumph was even sweeter for having man,” if “thoroughly pleased with himself.” Bernstein’s been carried on national radio in that pre-television era.1 unexpected rise, the columnist concluded, had come in “the His spectacular rise had just begun. During the two best traditions of romantic fiction,” but if the young man weeks after his conducting debut he was interviewed by seemed to have taken “both the public and the critics by magazines such as Life, Time, Newsweek, Look, Harper’s storm,” it was still to be seen if it really was a storm or just Bazaar, The New Yorker, and virtually every New York a drizzle.5 newspaper, including the Times, Herald-Tribune, Post,and Now, in the hundredth anniversary of Bernstein’s birth, Daily News. Time compared him to another “boy genius,” things are much clearer. Bernstein went on to become Orson Welles, who had recently released his masterpiece, the most important American conductor of the twentieth Citizen Kane. The miracle year continued into 1944 when century. Within 15 years of his accidental Philharmonic the ballet he scored with choreographer Jerome Robbins, debut he had become, at age 40, the youngest permanent Fancy Free, received warm reviews. (Robbins would later conductor in the New York Philharmonic’s history. Now, serve as his collaborator on the musical West Side Story). more than a quarter of a century after his death, most of Fancy Free soon spun off a successful Broadway musical, his musical interpretations still retain their power. He On the Town. Achievements led to celebrity. He appeared loved music and the adulation of his audiences, and his on the radio as a panelist on the quiz show Information voluminous recordings far outnumber those made by his Please, and newspapers chronicled his comings and goings peers. His prancing, his dancing, and his showmanship on their society pages.2 Topping Bernstein’s rise were his on the podium are still enjoyable to watch, as if every romantic good looks, star-power charm, and flamboyant symphonic note moved him to ecstasy.6 conducting style. He quietly liked his association with But Bernstein was more than a conductor. His Welles, but balked at his bandied comparison to the remarkable work with choreographer Jerome Robbins, from languid crooner, Frank Sinatra. This demur aside, a widely Fancy Free to West Side Story, made him the composer of enduring musicals. His more formal classical works, particularly those he wrote from Jeremiah in 1943 to his (Left) Bernstein rehearsing before the February 11 performance of Jeremiah at Kiel Auditorium. One review the next day noted Ber- Chichester Psalms in 1965, are remarkable compositions. nstein’s “conquests of Broadway and Carnegie Hall.” (Image: St. His best classical work has been absorbed into the canon Louis Mercantile Library Association at the University of Missouri-St. of regularly performed American pieces. He was also an Louis) exceptional educator, demonstrated by his television series of Young People’s Concerts (1958–1972). His educational work also included college lectures. He wrote several well-received books on music that remain in print. He

Fall/Winter 2018/2019 | The Confluence | 35 5 Z3 Published Evertj Da in the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATC- H PART FOUR was a pianist of unusual ST. LOUIS, admirers.FRIDAY, FEBR UASomeRY 9, 1945people thought he should conduct PAGES 1 4D Lenny Bernstein AStalent.on He mightN. MA have CmadeAG a STlessHUi and compose'S classical musicLIB more,ER AandTE someD' MANILA Success Has Not memorable career simply as of his highbrow mentors, like Boston’s music Turned His Head a performer. He often played director Serge Koussevitzky, were not shy about piano solos while conducting expressing their displeasure. Feeling the heat, By Arthur W. Hepner T 26, Leonard Bernstein has a wide collection the orchestra from the piano Bernstein said during his 1945 stay in St. Louis, A of friends who can say, with justification "I knew him when." They include fellows bench, just as he did in his “I am probably through with musical comedy. I with whom he traveled in Harvard Yard; music Students at Curtis Institute of Music St. Louis 1945 concerts. For have done that now. I like to do everything once, where he studied 9 conducting or tha all of these skills and his just to see what it feels like.” Others said he could v Berkshire Music-Festival- ; 'Mi-- ' and the musical coteries of achievements, his admirers have been the savior of the popular musical in an both Fifty-sevent- h street and Tin Pan have frequently touted him age in which it was in decline. Instead of being Alley. After his phe- nomenal success as the Renaissance Man of a Renaissance Man, his critics claimed he spread last year, some of 7 them . turned sour Sr-- American music. himself out so thin he could never realize his y?' and said unkind ' LEONARD BERNSTEIN . . ' things about him. -- up'-v- i rr-f-" 0 ;, The blame, however, must be placed on their ratf" r feo ) own heads, for the young conductor and com- His significance as a full musical potential. Bernstein wearied of this poser is concerned, rather than arrogant, over his rapid accomplishments. My own recollections go back almost 10 conductor also lay in its criticism, which dogged his entire career. Writing in years A of and to a series of violent arguments and experiences group Japanese prisoners Filipino collaborationists, caught by the swift involving him; then a Harvard undergraduate. thrsymbolicust of the Yanks into value.Manila, being Untilmarched through the streets tothea stockNewade, York Times he said: “I don’t want to spend There was one warm evening when we added to under guard of American soldiers. the temperature with a passionate debate on our own esthetic doxies his being heterodox, Bernstein’s rise, many my life, asSm Toscaniniil did, studying and restudying Geh. D my being orthodox, as I saw it while walking ougla the distance from Symphony Hall in Boston to Arthur's liberatinq forces that drove into the Philippine capital Saturday night and now are mopping up remnants ot tha Harvard Square. He made good sense and knew Americans felt insecure the same 50Japa nepiecesse garrison. ofI his p music.hoto and others . ot. .the Itser iewoulds are the tir sr. to. De. rboreeceivea irom ins nueraieu ui what he was talking about. y. THEN 1 REMEMBER a spring afternoon about the country’s ability to me to death. I want to conduct. I want to play the when a group of enthusiastic young men and women leaned on an old upright, out-of-tu- ne piano in an apartment overlooking Harvard produce high-caliber classical piano. I want to write for Hollywood. I want to Yard with Bernstein at the keyboard whipping into shape a performance of Marc Blitzstein'3 play-oper- a, "The Cradle Will Rock." Blitzstein, music conductors of the write symphonic music. I want to keep on trying who later sat next to me at the performance, was overcome with emotion at the remarkable taging of his work by a youth. An- quality of Arturo Toscanini, to be, in the full sense of that wonderful word, a other youth in his twenties, Orson Welles, had staged it on Broadway. I recall, also, the music which Bernstein wrote Leopold Stokowski, Serge musician. I also want to teach. I want to write books s an undergraduate for a student performance f Aristophanes' "The Birds." It was simple, fresh, agreeable music and most of us wondered Koussevitzky, or even and poetry. And I think I can still do justice to them whether this lad would get anywhere. The news of his successive triumphs In the last year must have doubtless evoked the same Vladimir Golschmann, the all.’’ What some saw as showmanship, others saw as question in the minds of all his friends: would he lose his uninhibited, earnest, energetic, crea- tive personality? Frenchman who conducted showboatmanship, and thought him vain and self- 10 FOR ALL HIS harvests, Leonard Bernstein is no different from the person he was around Har- the St. Louis Symphony from absorbed. vard Yard. Primarily, he is a sincere and seri- ous musician whose fortune on Broadway with the 1930s to the 1950s. Large There were also people with no interest in music his musical "On the Town" has been only a side jaunt and one which he does not intend to repeat. He finds it difficult to convince others that he does not car cities like St. Louis, New who hated Bernstein for his politics. Bernstein had e to write another musical show, Manila families from their homes to of as "suicide but he means it. He Is not sure whether he will Carrying hastily gathered belongings, race points safety Japanese squads" set off demolition in of United be principally a conductor err a composer; in any charges nearby, the path States troops moving into the city from tho north and east. case, his future will be in the field of serious York, and Boston imported a strong cultural self-consciousness as the Jewish, musical endeavor. But he is not a snob about Because real jazz. Mrtalenteds. Osme nconductorsa wife of the fromPresident of the gaystands outsider.with He imbibed a heady whiff of the leftist Sergio (center), Philippines M- jazz is living and creative when it is based 'on , - jL improvisation. What he abhors, as most serious three of their children at an undisclosed place in the 8islands after they escaped from .v'vffEltv musicians do, are the commercial tunes hacked thEuropee Japanese by bywalkin gthe30 m ileshundreds.across mountainous terrain. Details wepoliticsre withheld of the Depression years. While never a out for the benefit of and composers publishers' at the request ot the War Department. pocketbooks. They still do. LeonardAssociated presr Wlrephotoi from U. S. Armradical,y Signal Corps. he skirted the edges of radicalism and was HE IS REMARKABLY catholic in his tastes. The other day after he arrived in St. Louis and was host at an unusual press conference, we heard Bernstein gave culturally him rumble through passages of a Haydn sym phony, some Debussy and then turn to playing boogie-woog- ie I . if 'r4 and the blues with the same con insecure Americans I , ' r iff viction. We spent the evening listening to some of the jazz homemade in St. Louis and he enjoyed (Left) The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Everyday Magazine noted in it as thoroughly as if he were conducting or com something to crow about. 4. posing a new symphony. W What makes him most appealing as a person, I early 1945 that success had not changed Bernstein much, “for the and apparently as an interpretative and creative r He proved41& not only as mu is and He M sician, exuberance, vitality youth. young conductor and composer is concerned, rather than arrogant, perhaps summed it up most trenchantly when he said: "What's the good of making music, if it good as the European isn't fun?" over his rapid accomplishments.” (Right) Bernstein (left) worked Give him a piano and he will play generously f until fatigue sets in anything from Bach prel imports,ft but better, and with Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) on the ballet Fancy Free, in udes and fugues to excerpts from his "On the . J Town" or "Fancy Free" scores or spontaneous 1 improvisations. He is, as the St. Louis Symphony as his fame rose, he which Bernstein wrote the musical score for Robbins’ ballet. (Im- Orchestra players discovered at his first re- (77m IS hearsal with them, a musician's musician. was routinely invited to ages: Washington University Libraries, Gaylord Music Library; SOME PERSONS have taken Bernstein to task Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library) because of his sharp critical tongue with respect to his contemporaries and elders. But what he conduct concerts with BIG STORE BURNED the thirty-fift- h has to say about them is valid and carefully .::i,,...v.; vr::. SCOUT BIRTHDAY Celebrating anniversary reasoned. He has made a habit of doing things A prewar view of Heacock's, Manila's largest of the Boy Scouts at the St. Louis Coun cautiously, step by step, and each of his achieve orchestrasFRONT-BOUN- D fromYA aroundNKS M theEET CAPTIVES department store, destroyed by fire set by cil offices in the Chemical Building yesterday, Robert Rutishauser of Webster ments has been the outgrowth of years of hard, tha Japanese. The ph is from the Edwin Groves Troop 305 takes a big bite of the cake, of St. Louis Girl work. Yanks of the Third Army's Fourth Division (left), advancing to their comrades in oto birthday gift plugging join F. Guth Co 2615 Washingt boulevard, Scouts. Others, from left, are Col. H. D. McBride, St. Louis Council commis- He is the first to admit that he has had luck thworld,e front lines, developingin the snow at th einside theof a road to witness the of ., on pause searching which furnished fixtures for the store sioner; Mrs. John W. Calhoun of the and Girl Scout at his doorstep. It was luck that brought him Nazi on the to the rear. lighting city county Council and os prisoners way Mitro-poul- Wtn-phol- five Sharon of 69. p0it-Ditc- to play the piano at a party for Dimitri Associated Tms years ago. Taylor University City Troop nj surf Photorpti. some years ago in Boston. Mitropoulos process special relationships was the first to sense his dynamism and send ' him on to a conducting career. with highly esteemed aMyM w J m" w j mil r rni if"" iwmiwi It was luck that eot him the lob, at 25. of Honors St. Louisans assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic-- for Symphony Orchestra. It was luck that Bruno Walter became ill just on the eve of a orchestras such as the Philharmonic-Symphon- y broadcast and cata- pulted young Bernstein to national eminence. Vienna Philharmonic. THIS LUCK bothers him. Because it propelled him into the spotlight before he had time to For all of the praise ponder the emotional responsibilities he must face. Could he be a conductor and at the same time remain "Lenny Bernstein?" He confesses heaped upon him, however, that all conductors, including himself, are ego- maniacs. He doesn't like it and doesn't want to be an egomaniac, even in a mild sense. Probably Bernstein irritated, or his greatest emotional problem is to solve this riddle: how to continue conducting and remain a well-rounde- d personality. disappointed, many people. While here to conduct the next two pair of concerts by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, he will spend most of his time practicing the His failure to settle down to piano and studying. With the St. Louis Sym- phony Orchestra next week, he will record, inci- dentally, his own "Jeremiah" Symphony and one task frustrated erstwhile Ravel's Piano Concerto. What he seeks most is rest; time to sit and think, and to plan ahead. He believes the musician is not an isolated phenomenon from society: he has strong political convictions and for Preside Roosevelt's la ' Arthur R. Schmidt, 24 old, of 647 North stumped nt st John J. Schaefer (right) of 1836 South Eighth street being The Bronze Star is awarded Pvt. John McUonald, bUoA Maj., years Taylor avenue, fall. He wants now to absorb and correlate his Sgt. C Kirkwood, with h serving an antiaircraft battalion, the Bronze c by Ma. Gen. Ira T. Wyche, Seventy-nint- Division Maple avenue, by .MaJ. Gen. Withers A. Burress, commanding receiving experience and events about him with a view to ongratulated Star from Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, Fifteenth his and musical Mean- commander, after being awarded the Bronze Star medal at cere- the Seventh 00th Division on the Western Front. Mc- Army Group commander, personal development. Armys in ceremonies on the Fifth front in The award while, alertly aware of the many problems he monies on the southern flank of the Western Front in France. Donald, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. McDonald, was honored Army Italy. was for Joseph service drive is faces, he is fighting resolutely, and successfully, Schaefer is the son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Schaefer. for wounded. outstanding during the on Rome. He the son of Mr. so Sqt. George evacuating and Mr Schm far, to remain himself Lenny Bernstein. Associated Tress ftioto (torn U. 8. Army Siicl Carpi. AssocUted Fresi riioto flora U. 9. Army. s. Arthur idt. Associated Tress CMko from t". S. Army Signal Corps. - ! i 36 | The Confluence | Fall/Winter 2018/2019 comfortable being among those who embraced it. repaid Copland by becoming perhaps the most By 1943 the FBI had begun a file on him that would important champion of his work.12 At Harvard, total 800 pages. The bureau was, in fact, receiving Bernstein studied with the eminent composer Walter a report on him at the very time he was in St. Louis. Piston and studied conducting with Fritz Reiner at At the height of the Cold War, the State Department the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Later Reiner, as refused to allow him to conduct concerts overseas. the conductor of the Pittsburgh Orchestra, gave the In a groveling affidavit, Bernstein slavishly admitted young Bernstein an early platform for his music. to some past political naiveté, but emphasized his In 1940 Bernstein worked with conductor Serge patriotism. The department relented. Later that same decade, he would play music for President Dwight Eisenhower, and he soon developed strong ties to the Kennedy family. Still, his long-term commitment to social justice for African Americans, already clear when he was a 1930s Harvard student, brought him trouble and eventual embarrassment. He began giving active assistance to African American causes in the 1940s and had strongly supported the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The embarrassment came in January 1970 when he and his politically active wife gave a party as an ACLU fundraiser on behalf of jailed members of the radical Black Panthers. The Panthers preached self-defensive violence against white oppression and stockpiled weapons. While Bernstein later repudiated the Panthers, the party he and his wife gave on their behalf—complete with Puerto Rican maids serving canapes to New York’s “Beautiful People”—made a delicious target. Unbeknownst to the Bernsteins, the flamboyant writer Tom Wolfe had crashed the party and famously satirized the assembled socialites as indulging in “Radical Chic,” words that stuck to Bernstein.11 But all of this is the epilogue to Bernstein’s St. Louis story. It explains why he matters. To understand what happened in St. Louis in 1945 and the impression he made on the city and the city on him, a brief prologue is needed.

Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 25, 1918. His parents obtained private piano lessons for him at age ten. His teachers included Helen Coates, who later served “Radical chic” was coined by Tom Wolfe in his article, for decades as Bernstein’s secretary. Bernstein “That Party at Lenny’s,” about celebrities and others with attended Boston’s elite Latin School and then went high profiles in society embracing radical causes. (Image: to Harvard, where his brilliance and enormous MacMillan) personal magnetism were quickly recognized. One of Bernstein’s greatest skills as a young man was recruiting the assistance of older men who could help Koussevitzky at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s him. But, if he was an opportunist, he was a sincere summer institute “Tanglewood” (then called the one, staying friends with these patrons long after Berkshire Music Festival). Bernstein would wear the he needed their help. In 1937 Aaron Copland was cufflinks Koussevitzky gave him at every concert he already a well-established composer, just reaching ever conducted. Another early patron was Dimitri the peak of his compositional power (Appalachian Mitropolous, whom he met in 1937, and whom he Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man). He was 18 would later succeed as the music director of the New years Bernstein’s senior, but after meeting Bernstein, York Philharmonic. Throughout his career he wore still an undergraduate, at a party in New York City, a medal with Mitropolous’s image under his clothes. the two became lifelong friends. Bernstein later After one performance Bernstein fell off the podium

Fall/Winter 2018/2019 | The Confluence | 37 and jabbed the medal into his chest, severely bruising soon performed the work again with the Boston it. In the audience the young conductor Leonard Symphony Orchestra and then with the New York Slatkin, the future music director of the St. Louis Philharmonic. In May 1944 Jeremiah received the Symphony, had waited—now in vain—to meet his New York Music Critics Circle’s annual award for hero after the show.13 best new American symphony. When the successes of Thus, if unknown to the larger world, by early Fancy Free and On the Town followed, Bernstein was 1943 the 24-year-old Bernstein was well-known a young man very much in demand. and well-liked by a surprisingly large number of Aaron Copland predicted to Bernstein that he influential conductors and composers. The capstone would be the most invited guest conductor of 1945. to his ability to woo older men—and what would And so he was. The nation’s orchestras dutifully lined eventually bring him to St. Louis—came in the form of Artur Rodziński. Rodziński was in his first year as the conductor of the New York Philharmonic when Bruno Walter (1876—1962) was a noted conductor who he hired Bernstein as his assistant. Rodziński was a fled Nazi Germany and ended up in the United States in 1939. He declined to be music director of the New York mercurial figure, prone to paranoia, who sometimes Philharmonic in 1942 due to his age, but he still substituted carried a gun in his back pocket while conducting. for them, which created an opportunity for Bernstein when His relationship with Bernstein soon became fraught Walter fell ill. (Image: Library of Congress) when he became jealous of his assistant conductor’s headline-snatching fame that began to overshadow his own. At one point he even grabbed Bernstein by the throat in a hallway. This jealousy was provoked by the freak circumstance that pushed Bernstein into prominence in 1943. Rodziński had left on vacation and the Philharmonic had invited the eminent international conductor Bruno Walter to lead the orchestra. Not long before the concert Walter fell ill with the flu. On short notice, Bernstein was told that he would have to conduct the orchestra. Ever the diligent student, Bernstein had learned the evening’s concert program well. His performance blasted him from obscurity into fame.14 Bernstein quickly capitalized on his new prominence, revealing he had written a symphony: Symphony No.1, Jeremiah. After his fabled performance with the philharmonic, many orchestras were interested in debuting it. Bernstein was a “hot item,” and his old teacher Fritz Reiner, now the conductor of the Pittsburgh Orchestra, half- coaxed and half-bullied him into taking his baton. The Pittsburgh Symphony debuted Jeremiah on January 28, 1944. The symphony is loosely based on the experience of the biblical Jeremiah. It is composed of three movements: “Prophecy,” in which Jeremiah warns Jerusalem of its ruin if the people do not turn away from idolatry and wickedness; up, hoping to bring the boy wonder to their city. That “Profanation,” which describes the destruction of year Bernstein would lead 14 different orchestras, the temple and the chaos inflicted on the city by including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra twice, Babylon when it fails to heed the prophet’s warning; once at the year’s start and then at its close. The first and “Lamentation,” Jeremiah’s mourning of his two-week residency was set for February. The visit beautiful city’s desolation, with a mezzo-soprano solo was announced four months after Jeremiah’s premier singing excerpts from the “Book of Lamentation” and the day after the announcement of the New York in Hebrew.15 If the work did not receive quite Music Critics Circle’s award.16 the rapturous acclaim of his initial conducting The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), performance, it received positive reviews. Bernstein founded in 1880, is the nation’s second-oldest

38 | The Confluence | Fall/Winter 2018/2019 and Arthur Rubenstein, among others. World War II inadvertently created the openings for St. Louis Symphony guest conductors when the symphony agreed to “loan” Golschmann, part of the year, to the Cleveland Orchestra while its own conductor served in the military.18 Notice of Bernstein’s coming to St. Louis in February 1945 caused great excitement. There had been nothing like it in the city’s classical music life. Skeptics like Thomas Sherman aside, St. Louisans even vaguely interested in classical music were anxious to see Bernstein for themselves. An orchestra press release and the attendant publicity hyped his dramatic 1943 appearance with the New York Philharmonic and 1944 New York Music Critics Circle’s award for Jeremiah.19 St. Louisans would receive large doses of Bernstein even before his arrival. His musical, On the Town, which had opened in New York on December 28, 1944, received a favorable full-page syndicated review in the St. Louis Star-Times, noting: “Leonard Bernstein’s score is unhackneyed without being high-brow. . . .”20 The St. Louis Ballet Theatre, supported by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, presented his and Robbins’ ballet, Fancy Free, in January 1945, only weeks before Bernstein’s arrival. The Star-Times gave it a spacious and friendly review, noting approvingly that its “juke box score tears jazzily along, with an occasional dip into circus music.” The review made much of the fact that the ballet’s musical composer would soon be in the city.21 Predictably, however, Sherman hated the ballet: “Bernstein’s score was rhythmically eccentric and strongly percussive. The melodic material was very slight and rather cheap. It was descriptive only on the surface of things.”22 In early 1945, Bernstein as guest conductor also performed as a piano soloist for the first time in St. Louis. Bernstein’s first public appearance with the (Image: Missouri Historical Society) symphony was scheduled for February 10. Part of being a conductor, at least an American conductor, is symphonic orchestra after the New York an endless round of socializing and promotion, often Philharmonic.17 Over the years it had evolved into with people and at events not of one’s own choosing, a strong second-tier orchestra. RCA Victor Records constantly smiling and being pleasant. Bernstein had begun recording its performances in the 1920s. sometimes complained of obligatory dinners and dull The Paris-born Vladimir Golschmann had become its conversation in St. Louis, as he did elsewhere, but music director in 1931. He and his gregarious wife he was a born socializer and could turn on the charm had found a welcoming place in St. Louis society. when he needed to. The Women’s Association of the If Bernstein was considered a human explosion on St. Louis Symphony Society invited its members stage, Golschmann, with his unusually long baton to have tea with Bernstein and Jennie Tourel, the in hand, was regarded as the essence of conducting mezzo-soprano who accompanied him.23 elegance. Over the years Golschmann had moved the All of that was duty. More important to Bernstein SLSO forward, winning the orchestra greater national was the cultivation of the local press—something recognition. Musicians of international renown at which he excelled. While this was careerist appeared with the orchestra. Guest performers calculation, it was also a genuine pleasure. Bernstein included Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jascha Heifetz, truly enjoyed hanging out with reporters, even as Sergei Prokofiev, Vladimir Horowitz, Isaac Stern, he skillfully turned them into his friends. Positive

Fall/Winter 2018/2019 | The Confluence | 39 newspaper stories inevitably followed, carrying the The SLSO facilitated Bernstein’s seduction of the flattery he craved. He pointedly wanted to be taken press by putting him up in a luxury suite with a piano as a serious musician. No more On the Towns.Itwas at the New Jefferson Hotel, which was originally built strictly serious stuff from now on. But he also did not for the well-to-do guests attending the 1904 World’s want to seem like a stiff. He resisted the conventional Fair. To woo over potential critics, Bernstein eschewed conception of a conductor as an aloof demi-god who the traditional pre-concert press conference and invited inhabited a celestial sphere inaccessible to mere reporters to join him in his rooms. In place of the mortals. Bernstein knew he had been lucky to have traditional question-answer session, Bernstein created success so early, so he worked to demonstrate his a “clubby” atmosphere in which “the young maestro let humility. He knew some reporters suspected he down his long hair.” With the barest feint of reluctance would prove an arrogant prig. How many of them he was persuaded to sit down at the piano, play a bit of were ready to write nice words about a tiresome the Haydn on an upcoming program and some Debussy, poseur half their age? and then move into the “fun” stuff. According to a Star- Times reporter, Bernstein “started having as good a time as everyone else,” playing “exciting renditions of such gut-bucket arias as ‘Joe Turney’s Blues,’ ‘Weeping Willow’s Blues’ and ‘Chip’s Boogie Woogie.’ And these were not polite, pseudo- symphonic versions,” the reporter gushed, but “done in authentic backroom style.” After a while Bernstein declared the raucous playing needed to stop or he would ruin his reputation with the orchestra as a serious conductor. “But everyone,” continued the reporter, “assured him he was among friends.” Max Steindel, the symphony’s first cellist and concertmaster, who was present, told Bernstein if he had “his fiddle” he would play right along with him. Bernstein’s time with the press was well spent. The pre-concert articles could not have been warmer. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat proved even more exuberant that the Post, describing “Lenny Bernstein [as] the hep-long hair who composes like Mozart, conducts like Toscanini, plays piano like Ammons and Johnson and looks a bit like Frank Sinatra.” Bernstein, the article

The Symphony’s Women’s Society hosted a tea just two days before the performance of Jeremiah, in which mem- bers could meet two of the rising stars in classical music, Jennie Tourel and Bernstein. (Images: Missouri Historical Society)

40 | The Confluence | Fall/Winter 2018/2019 said, had given an “uproarious press conference . . . with a rousing suite from Igor Stravinsky’s The that sent the enchanted press from here to there.”24 Firebird.30 As the last notes of The Firebird went The story that appeared in the St. Louis Star-Times down, the audience’s roar went up. The concert was equally enthusiastic, and accompanied by a large received thunderous approval. After the concert an photograph of Bernstein pounding out the “Weeping adrenalized Bernstein penned yet another letter to Willow Blues.”25 Though unsigned, the story was Coates. This one merely said, in large exuberant probably written by William Inge, soon a Pulitzer- script, “Doesn’t this beat them all?”31 prize-winning playwright. Bernstein and Inge rapidly Bernstein’s conducting was not only a popular struck up a friendship and socialized when the young success but a critical one as well. Virtually conductor was in town. Though Inge’s articles were everything met with approval. Harry Burke, the not out of sync with those of other reporters, he would columnist for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, subsequently write the kind of reviews of which confessed that, given the mindless excitement over performers dream.26 In the end, Bernstein largely Bernstein’s golden-boy reputation, he had initially proved successful in being understood on his own toyed with headlines like “‘fakery fails,’” but if he terms. In a fawning profile the Globe-Democrat’s Harry had come to scorn he left to praise. Jeremiah, he Burke wrote that the fair-haired boy of the symphony said, may have been expressed hebraically, but its turned out to be just a “bewildered brunette,” as humanity touched his Irish-American soul.And puzzled by his mysterious luck as anyone else.27 yes, the touted showmanship was there: Bernstein After the press conference ended, Bernstein hit “dances the music. That is true. But he doesn’t do the jazz clubs with friends and probably some of the a dance for the hearers of that music. There isn’t reporters as well. He was very happy. If St. Louisans a gesture but evokes its authentic response from were excited to see Bernstein, Bernstein was very an orchestral choir—and from the hearer. . . . He excited to see them, and he liked the orchestra. Writing possibly forgets himself. But he never forgets, and on February 8 to his personal assistant, Helen Coates, you will not forget the music he conjures from his he began talking about the New Jefferson Hotel: “Such orchestra.”32 Inge wrote in the Star-Times: “The a gay suite, and a fascinating city! The orchestra is Opera House at Kiel Auditorium has witnessed responding ff [fortissimo], and I am having a good few concerts as profoundly stimulating as those time—perhaps too good. Much jazz, so you can see conducted by 26-year-old Leonard Bernstein.” He from the papers. This is a very jazz-conscious town. gave very high praise to Jeremiah. He especially But the ‘Blues Picture’ is good, isn’t it.” He later ends, singled out Jennie Tourel for praise for her emotive “Keep your fingers crossed for the concerts.”28 singing in the symphony’s third movement. After that, “nothing but superlatives can be used for the That first concert was on Saturday evening, rest of the program.” Stravinsky’s Firebird suite, February 10, 1945, with a repeat performance Sunday he said, “was the most dramatic and exotically matinee. As the huge crowd of concertgoers waited colored performance the reviewer ever has for the show to begin, they could flip through their heard.”33 High praise indeed. Probably the greatest programs and discover a handsome and dreamy surprise came from the Post’s Thomas Sherman. photograph of Bernstein floating above a Baldwin Writing under the headline, “Bernstein Brilliant piano, “a magnificently sensitive” instrument that Conducting His Work,” Sherman said, “The focal he found “completely satisfying to me, both as a point of the evening’s concert, in which Bernstein pianist and conductor.” The program’s brief Bernstein and the orchestra had the notable assistance of biography cited his now familiar list of early triumphs, Jennie Tourel, the Russo-French contralto, was the and added yet another wistful studio profile of conductor’s own Jeremiah symphony. Even if this Bernstein staring so soulfully into very high clouds— had been the only number on the program it would or probably a less distant ceiling—that he probably have established Bernstein’s qualifications, both strained his neck posing.29 as a creative and an interpretive artist, beyond any Right before the concert began Bernstein, nervous shadow of a doubt. His direction of the rest of the yet exuberant, wrote Coates a hasty letter, concluding, program made his gifts as a conductor all the more “I’m just off to the first concert. It’s very exciting.” The apparent, though his judgment was sometimes open first half of the first concert would reassure any music to question.” While he also praised Bernstein’s traditionalist. Bernstein conducted a fairly conventional interpretations of Bach and Haydn, if the conductor mix of baroque and romantic works: a C. P. E. Bach had any notable flaw in his conducting, it was concerto, Haydn’s Thirteenth Symphony, and Jennie his mad love of emotional intensity. (This was Tourel singing some short pieces. But if the first half of something Bernstein would be accused of for the concert was fairly conservative, it was the second decades.) Sherman concluded, however, it was half, in which Bernstein conducted his Jeremiah that this obsession with power that made Stravinsky’s most people had come to see. The concert ended Firebird such a good match for him, noting that his

Fall/Winter 2018/2019 | The Confluence | 41 “dynamic and subtly colored performance brought he wished Bernstein had

r 34 an enthusiastic ovation from the audience.” ST.stuckLOUIS withPOST-DISPATC- H either conducting 'SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 194? ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATC- H PAGE 7A Queen Esther Ball March 18. Workers Before Bernstein came to St. Louis, Thomas Allianceor piano-playing.will be March COMMUNITY ShermanSCHOOLS RECITAL The annual Esther Vic- 18 ST. CHARLES MAYOR-RESIGN- the Queen at the Jewish Old Folks Home. BERNSTEIN BRILLIAN T npfed term of the iate Sherman suspected that thetory youngBall of the conductorSholom Aleichem wasProceeds will maygo toward havethe pur- been exhausted, Mayor Charles Kansteiner. He branch of the Jewish National chase of land in Palestine. Students of the Communitv was for' a four-vea- r Music Schools Foundation, a War Mayor Adolph Thro of St, terra in April. 1943. a product of mere luck, whose popularity was a but not the audience,Chest agency, will whichpresent a pro- Charles resigned his office yester- A new mayoralty election will (OCT gram of violin. t)iano and cello CONDUCTING HIS WORK day because of ill health. He had be held next April. Until then ill music today at 3 o'clock 1n the been ill for several months. He Floyd Main, Councilman- - from the transitory fad. After the first concerts he wrote a “paid Bernsteinassemnly thehall tributeor the organization became Mayor in October. 1939 to Third Ward, will act as Mayor. SUCCESS EE at 4703A McPherson avenue. meditative column, called “Second Thoughts on of close attentionRanging throughoutfrom 8 to 17 years old, pupils taught on a graded fee Jennie Tourel's Singing at DOUBLE IS THE basis by professional musicians of Symphony Concert Also EAGLE Bernstein.” The St. Louis community had seen a the eveningm St.andLouis broughtwill perform himstandard EW works from Bach to Shostakovich. , Evokes Praise. STAMPS IEADIOMC There is no admission .", " charge. AND FRANKLIN-- - .. LI-'- lot of guest conductors in the absence of Vladimir PROOF!back to the platform many (sixth 0 .S!1' ' "- I . f .i . - ImondayJ r. mar 38 By THOMAS B. SHERMAN- . hi j rui Limine to ouy Golschmann. Conductors usemlm orchestras as their times after each number.” Two new personalities and a EDEABMNG new American symphony were in- Don't Spend Your Life Pin or Earrings that you have m troduced to the Louis at St public TWO instrument in creating and mmolding music. “The Interestingly,GOOD WilliamUSED TRUCK Inge,TIRES & RECAPS last night's concert by the St. FEET FROM HAPPINESS wanted at a great savings. AIHD Louis Symphony Orchestra in Kiel m RECAPPING Auditorium. TIbv successful performances conducted here by too, would haveREPAIRING liked VULCANIZINGall of The first of these was Leonard Sawyer m Arelt-Fiffin- g PROMPT SERVICE Bernstein who at the age of 26 has become three-pla- y OUR COMPLETE STOCK OF Leonard Bernstein were . . . not accidents . . . They that stirring musicSPECIAL mixedDEALER SERVICE a celebrity Shoe with all the and Smart K Either tor heavy truck or paisonaiir car profit prestige ttritt the Merchant tyttem of recap that goes with such a state of COSTUME JEWELRY were the results of knowledge and -temperamentwith rodionie with a quieterpina piece,It the bent butand longest wearing eminence. The Mr. Bern- jj romplett- tubes. heavy tread recap that money can buy. story of . crystal microphone, Neutral New aynthetio rubber. No rationing stein's conquests of Broadway and INCLUDES: expertly applied. . . .” Promotionftf Color Earphone is notand usuallyCord, bat- - he loved the jazzypaperi needed. Ravel Carnegie Hall has already been teries. One model -- no "de thoroughly publicized here and 27 YEARS' EXPERIENCE elsewhere so what concerns us Sti cne Price one Recently expanded facilities to take eare of distinguished for its accuracy, but Zenith'sit is finest.possible, concerto as well.your tire needs. ThePrompt hugeservice to now are the immediate evidences BETTY sj quality customers. Capacity over 2000 tires of his Pins, Bracelets in white 512 talent as conductor and Earrings, in this case, that the expression may have been audience’s reaction,weekly. however, composer which were demon- 11 EASY strated last night. Fine Black in and metal, or ' tAY PLAX The focal of Gabardine St. Lou gold sterling gold P point the evening's 67 Wool, 33 Cotton Tit 11 concert, in which used advisedly. For Bernstein quite;'jp;w;jM;;iipiitiit'BMWiiB;w obviously has fascinated him almost as Bernstein and Sizes 10 AAAA D in it w;a;iiiaiM.B.u!u!au!B!M:a!u!atii!aTut 2710 Washington Blvd. (3) JE. 0m the orchestra had the nntnhle to to on sterling. H, sistance of Jennie Tourel. the magnetism for both orchestra and audience.” While much as the music itself. The Russo-Krenc- h contralto, was the conductor's own "Jeremiah" sym- C. E. Williams Fine Itlnck Gabardine 'FRANKLIN If Says: Sherman said Bernstein needed to learn to keep his FURNITURERavel concerto,CO.! he wrote, phony. Even this had been Enjoy "The- Shoe Wool 67. Cotton 33 25o Off Regular the only number on the program With the Size to to C it would have established Bern- Beautiful Fit" 10AA Marked Prices “natural brio” in check, he appeared to have the “was held together tightly stein's qualifications, both as a Softer, Smoother Materials Ftdaraf Tox Not Includtd 35 ereative and an interpretive artist, Luxury Cushion Heels Arch-Suppo- Also Other makings of a great career. and tossed at the audience beyond any shadow of a doubt. rt Construction Styles His direction of Moulded-to-the-Fo- the rest of the ot Look FOR WOMEN program made his gifts as a con- Kind-to-the-Fo- ot Like most young artists, Bernstein was very with a smack. The audience ductor all the more Feel apparent, No Slip, No Gap, No Pinch $3.00 TO $6.00 though his Judgment was some- Scientific times open to Fitting, Including Remarkable Shoe sensitive about his reviews, and he read each one liked it and insisted on question. Sizes 3 to 11, Values The "Jeremiah" symphony, at AAAAtoEEE first hearing, made an overwhelm- (But Not in Every Style) Bring Ration Book No. 3 upon publication. Two days after the concert he the third movement being ingly strong impression both hv Store Hours: 9 to 5 707 LOCUST ST. reason of its poetic content and its skillful, propulsive and vitalized again wrote Helen Coates. He was walking on repeated,” which Bernstein use of the orchestra. The bold col- and 39 oring clangorous assertiveness " air: “Here are the reviews and they are gorgeous. obligingly did. The young of the first two movements de " ' pended a little more on mere fa- p cility than the final "Lamenta- : Everything seems to have been a huge success conductor was exhilarated tion" which seemed more deeply felt. Certainly it had a closer cor- with everybody. And I had the biggest audience with his whole St. Louis relation between its musical thought and its expression, but in no part of the symphony was there of the season,” as, indeed, he did. “I’m having a experience. On February a parading of effects for their own mm sake. , !V2 The material of the symphony, wonderful time: dinners and parties every night 19, as he prepared to leave, though taken in some instances from the Hebrew was 3 . . Afo. . . liturgy, VA not all the eggs w receive go into a . . . The orchestra is in love with me, and I think he sent a postcard from St. original with the composer. Some Tom-Bo- y Tom-Boy- of the themes were carton. 's candling and 36 strikingly lyri- is one of the grading the Ravel will be terrific.” Louis to his boyhood friend cal but they were all used con- plant most modern, immaculate and. sistently as generative motifs, piv-- cientihc egg rooms in. this area. Eggs are "ing life to the whole of from sources purchased complex approved in this area.. are ed “The Ravel” to which Bernstein referred Mildred Spiegel saying, in rnymm, narmony ana instru- the They A mental and all second time in this candling room Marvelous Buy in This color, making it ? for was Ravel’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, clipped, boastful, but accurate one entity. B4M size, weight, appearance and FRESHNESS . . . Bernstein's control and ener- and only those eggs meeting the rigid standards of Mme. Tourel's lom-Bp- y getic direction, quality are then approved to be placed in which Bernstein intended as the signature piece phrases—“ConductingEARLY AMERICAN beautifully modeled and finely 8 ivCk; RESULT phrased singing and the resilient IJr;BV "I10" Strictly pure, strictly rKLMt ecus far vrviirr - rattl All responsiveness of the orchestra uni iu Klvc VOU for the next set of concerts the following weekend. was wonderful, responsive in view added assurance .Tom-Bo- y especially gratifying of ' -s--- that 10-P- c. " ""' . xggs are tlvt finest -- 40 the complicated and irregular iT!rmym7' 'WW -j- j--- for your table. The piano concerto is strongly jazz-infused,Maple and Livingorchestra,Room audiencesOutfit wild.” meters, all contributed to an ex- citing performance. American In C. P. E. Bach's Concerto for Bernstein planned to conduct theEarly orchestramaple whilegoes modern in this attractive Orchestra as arranged by Max-mili- an living-roo- m ensemble. The 10 include a Steinbere. Bernstein mario pieces large a simultaneously serving as the pianodavenport soloist.and chair Withto match, upholstered Thein a beau-two sets of concerts clean and exhilarating start. durable ine second movement was par- tiful, fabric; Windsor chair, bridge lamp, ticularly affecting by reason of the exception of Beethoven’s Egmontdesk, coffee, thetable, concertsmoker, end table,aremagazine whatrack, the public saw, but its tender and exDressive shading and floor lamp. All pieces finish over hard- - Haydn's G. Major Symphony (No. maple 8) too was mostly modern music. In addition to the between them' Bernstein and was, however, personal, wuuui. , low priceu. uniy too intense, and, in the first and TOdfl-BO- last movements, too breathless; V even Ravel would be Roy Harris’ Third SymphonyTRADE IN YOUR andOLD SUITEthe St.LIBERAL LouisALLOWANCES Symphony but here it was a question EGGS of the conductor's judgment for in was beautifullv Grade "A" Large Shostakovich’s rousing Fifth Symphony, which Orchestra recorded Jeremiah general it and Smaller Aic Cells ... often brilliantly played. The sec and Greater dozfta 37 ond movement, ior instance, was composed the entire second half. Again, the a little over-ric- h, but still im- - V d vims- JOYFUL GRADE . ..LARGE 5 mensely effective in the ... DOZ. 48c :..,...: falls at the ends of the phrases. program was a hit with the critics, but this time the Stravinsky's "Firebird Suitp " which closed the concert, found I ' ' ' . v The St. Louis Post-Dispatch audience simply exploded. Bernstein once again in his ele- ' " ..s.VJV mis' j , i " j ment. A dvnamic and subtlv col Everyday Magazine noted in ored performance brought an en- The Post’s Sherman found the concert thusiastic ovation from the audi early 1945 that successIff had not ence. MAYROSE PICKLE AND PIMENTO INFANT'S CRIB not much can he LOAF Unfortunately BAKED-MAC-CHEE- exhilarating to the point of exhausting. Still, he PLAIN SE changed Bernstein much,with “for the said here of Mme. Tourel's sensi- " LOAF Large size, drop ner- - side. tive and consistently affectinrr OLD-FASHION- gave the evening his ever-guarded approval. “The young conductor and composer formance of three songs by Rtra-dell- a, LOAF 6-P- c. Poster Dupsrc and Tschaikowsky. RING OR LONG LIVER SAUSAGE program enabled the conductor to demonstrate is concerned, rather$95 than ar- One can only make amends for such offhand treatment bv navinc rogant, over his rapid accom- that she proved herself a superb once again that he has tremendous drivingTWIN force.”BED OUTFIT artist wnii a voice or rounded. I compelling quality, except for a plishments.” (Image: Washington V. few lniirflf- nniat? en1 uri JX The Ravel was good, “the chief novelty of the H 1" " 1ULV0S O.HU Willi tUUi- - University Libraries, Gaylord grasp of all the music l3 MAYROSE COTTAGE evening,” though, while Bernstein did both well, (O)Music3U Library) Iprehensive will be repeated this CHEESE JS. 2Q. I SOVIET PAPER URGES GERMANY lULI! I out- ROILAWAY BEDS BE STRIPPED OF BALTIC LANDS There's real sleeping comfort in this twin bed Wmhmqoii Roman Beasrty in choice of or Includes two With Felt Mlitresses MOSCOW, Feb. 10 (AP). The fit maple mahogany. Yer-mashe- authoritative Soviet writer I. v. 2-- beds that are really good looking, two enameled coil writing in Red Fleet, or- APPLES 25' and two comfortable mattresses. A gan of the Soviet .navy, said today springs buy. $250 the Germans must be shorn of ICEBERG LETTUCE their hold on the coast of the J2c Baltic, the outlet of which he de- tefifl FANCY SLICING TOMATOES. 42 | The Confluence | Fall/Winter 2018/2019 clared had belonged to the Rus- &2?c sian people since ancient times. III NEW CROP He wrote: CABBAGE.. 5c "The German invaders have no M WASHBURN WHOLE 9x12 tTT fl iTTi rsTTTT i"Pl iTTt Tl FRINGED iTi si Ti right on the Baltic Sea. The Ger- tl il fTTTTrTfTl GREEM mans on the southern and west- PEAS.. bag 13e WASHBURN SEAMLESS ern shores of the Baltic have only GREEN or YELLOW a short history. Pomerania, Meck- SPLIT lenburg and Holstein entered the PEAS .. &15e Prussian kingdom and the Ger- TOM-BO- T man empire only in modern times. Salad "Baltin Liberation Begun." RALSTON CEREAL Dressing ft' 19 "The knot on the Baltic will be ... HOLSUM untied by Soviet arms. The liber- '21e SU195 ation of the enslaved Baltic POST T0ASTIES Peanut Crunch '.Vl mi iiinini"""'" peoples has begun. The libera- BONUS CHOCOLATE IRONING SET tion of Norway soon will com- POST BRAN '130 mence. Lith- FLAKES SYKUP.. "laV" Unusually good Estonia, Latvia and 9 SUNBRIT1 10 28e Includes Iron- and uania have been liberated and IORDEN looking h -- GRAPENUTS ing board and well wearing have tied their fat with Pu. MISER 5e clothes- sian people. The land belonging 13c HEM0 ab;59c pad,, rugs. Come to the Polish pins and 50 $095 early as quant- people land by the GRAPENUTS FLAKES... CAMPBELL TOMATO feet of ity is limited. sea is being returned to Poland. BORAXO n3e i? 10c ' Denmark soon will be freed." soup 3""25e KELLOGG PEP PEVELY - --J FILIPINOrHERECElEBRATE BORAX ync TOM-BO- Y MILK THE LIBERATION OF MANILA JWIETHIART COFFEE... . 4r,35e NO INTEREST OR CARRYING CHARGES fC t 2Be SUNSHINE KRI$Py About 25 members of the Fili- F0LGER pino COlonv of St. Ixinis nnd nn COFFEE R CRACKERS Open Every 'Til 9 to 200 Miles L p'kl8e Night Delivery Up equal number of guests celebrated 33c BMUttmtUILUii...l "'"""'111!!' Illt'lllll -- ' -- -" ' t and dance last night at Hotel De-Sot- o. "I mi i'l. i""r'""""'"''l Mayor Aloys P. Kaufmann was a speaker on the program, in honor of Filipinos in service. fume. FRanUm Other guests who spoke included w Mr A 3700: SIM Col. Richard E. Anderson, com- FURNITURE COMPANY manding officer of Jefferson Bar- Tir racks; Col. Neal Creighton, com- ELEVENTH and FRANKLIN 1 manding officer of Scott Field; Col. F. F. Christine, executive of- ficer of Scott Field, and Presiding Judge Edward M. Ruddy of the Circuit Court.

f for RCA’s an eloquent Victor Records. testimonial” Leonard to Bernstein’s Bernstein had control. “It was begun the also evidence symphony that that a rapport was to become had been Jeremiah in established 1939, during which was to a period in have its effect which Aaron at the public Copland was performance.”44 tutoring him in When the composition. recording of The music lay Jeremiah was fallow, and complete, he completed the orchestra it only after members all extensive stood and rewriting, and French-born conductor Vladimir Golschmann (1893—1972) served beat their as music director for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1931 adding what until 1958. Bernstein got second-billing in this notice of forthcoming instruments in became the first performances. (Images: Library of Congress; Missouri Historical Society) tribute to his movement in late 1942. Copland’s influence is obvious, especially in the second movement.41 Bernstein initially had doubts about recording Jeremiah with the SLSO. Just before the first St. Louis concert performance, he wrote Coates that SLSO was “not the ideal orchestra for the Jeremiah records, but it will do, I guess,” but, he added hopefully, “They certainly play with vigor.”42 Days later the orchestra recorded his Jeremiah over a three-day session and Bernstein quickly lost all qualms. Bernstein was right in believing that he had won over the orchestra, though things began on a peculiar note. Vladimir Golschmann, like most European conductors, employed a minimalist style. At his initial orchestral rehearsal Bernstein began with a dramatic downbeat that left the startled musicians simply staring at him in mute incomprehension.43 As a young guest conductor Bernstein had already been subjected to hazing by conducting. Bernstein was so touched, he said, “I orchestra members. Players challenged visiting just stood on the podium and cried.”45 conductors by talking loudly while others played, There was only one fly in the recording deliberately hitting wrong notes, “accidently” ointment. When it came time to make the album, missing entrances. Still, the Post reporter Sherman, RCA replaced Jennie Tourel as soloist with the who attended the recording sessions, lauded better-known mezzo-soprano Nan Merriman. But Bernstein as great teacher with a total mastery over while Merriman was a highly talented singer, the scores he conducted. Nowhere was this clearer, she was not Tourel’s equal, as both the Post- he said, than in teaching the orchestra his Jeremiah, Dispatch and the Star-Times were soon to point a tricky piece of music that none of the orchestra out.46 Despite this change, the whole session had members had ever heard: “That the rehearsals gone well and left everyone pleased. RCA Victor came off without loss of temper on either side was Red Seal released Jeremiah in early December

Fall/Winter 2018/2019 | The Confluence | 43 1945 as three 78 rpm albums ($3.68)47 and promoted celebrated his earlier St. Louis appearances. Over it extensively with full page ads in national the past year the newspapers and the orchestra’s publications, such as Life magazine.48 promoters had updated his resume with new Despite the demurs about the loss of Tourel, the accolades and achievements: the Junior Chamber of album received largely positive reviews. The St. Commerce, for example, named him one of the ten Louis music critics took a natural interest and were outstanding young men of 1944, along with Nelson generally enthusiastic for the recording, but they Rockefeller, the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter- thought it lacking compared to the live performance American Affairs, and Time-Life war correspondent they had heard only months before. This was John Hersey, who would soon pen the classic work, partly excused because a mass-produced record Hiroshima (1946). Bernstein had also followed simply could not have the sound quality of a live Leopold Stokowski as the conductor of the New York performance. At least that was what Thomas Sherman City Symphony Orchestra (not to be confused with thought.49 An unsigned review in the Star-Times, the Philharmonic).59 after some similar minor fault-finding, concluded, Upon his return to St. Louis, Bernstein was “the recording is, in every way, excellent.”50 The New restless. A few days before the first concert, he again York Times was equally flattering: “The Jeremiah complained of loneliness and the poignancy of the Symphony is . . . a surprisingly substantial work. It is scene. He wrote to his friend David Oppenheim: “Let concise, direct, dramatic and eloquent.”51 me hear from you in this bleak, foggy place, where, Today the 1945 recording seems like a period of all things, a charming southern thunderstorm is piece: good, but an old-fashioned monaural disc. It now raging. The streets are very dark and full of sold reasonably well. Victor Records later reissued it lonely faces. The hotel is very bright and full of under its Camden label in 1956.52 In 1993 St. Louis lonely faces.”60 By the concert dates he had cheered Symphony music director Leonard Slatkin chose up. In the first pair of concerts, on November 30 and to reissue the 1945 recording again with a group of December 1, he conducted music by Beethoven, later Bernstein compositions collective known as Carlos Chavez, Copland, and a Schumann symphony. Songfest.53 The 1945 recording, as well as Slatkin’s, For his second pair, December 8–9, he conducted received kind words from national publications Claude Debussy’s La Mer, over which he nervously upon its reissuance.54 During 2017 and 2018, 74 fretted; music by Brahms; and he played as piano performances of Jeremiah have been played or are soloist on Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto.61 scheduled to be played across the world.55 In reviewing the first pair of concerts, Thomas In early September 1945, before Jeremiah’s Sherman seemingly took pleasure that the audience release, Bernstein paid a second visit to St. Louis, size was down from the previous February, and the again staying at a suite in the New Jefferson Hotel. program more difficult. Perhaps without the carnival The purpose of the trip was not performing, but atmosphere he could enjoy the music. After dutifully business. This time he disliked his stay and was noting his qualms, he concluded “that the concert often lonely and bored. A dedicated social animal, was a success by every standard and in a way that he disparaged to Aaron Copland his company proved once again Mr. Bernstein’s exceptional and the want of late-night revelry: “Too many quality.”62 Bernstein’s friend William Inge proved people & dinners & dullards here. Nice—but even more effusive: “The word ‘brilliant’ gets a lot of what happens after midnight.”56 A few days later tossing around in describing musical performances, he begged Copland to come pay him a visit. He but it appears so apt to Leonard Bernstein’s did show a spark of enthusiasm, happily noting conducting of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra that “The St. Louis Jazz Society is taking me on a yesterday afternoon that it can’t be avoided.”63 tour of old Southern jazz haunts tonight!”57 What For the second pair of concerts, Globe-Democrat all of the business entailed is not clear from his columnist Harry Burke, who had written a flattering correspondence, but shortly after he left, it was profile of Bernstein earlier in the year, could not announced that would return again as SLSO’s guest help but gently fault the conductor for “put[ting] conductor in late November and early December.58 too much energy in Debussy’s dreamy La Mer,” Bernstein was enthusiastically welcomed back but called it valid–“youth must have its ‘assertive to St. Louis, and the audiences were large, but the fling.’” He thought Bernstein’s work as the soloist on mania occasioned by his first visit was gone. There Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto was magnificent. were no long newspaper profiles or queries about (Bernstein “modestly” called it “immaculate.”)64 bobbysoxers. The ads, of course, still heralded him This essay began with Thomas Sherman’s as the young genius of modern classical music, and skepticism, quite Harry Burke’s opposite. Let us

44 | The Confluence | Fall/Winter 2018/2019 end with his approval. Sherman never lost his head was, in fact, a thoroughly satisfying and effective over Bernstein, but by December 1945, he had concert and one in which the concentration bestowed become a firm convert. After offering his usual upon the young conductor by the audience was commentary on each piece, he praised Bernstein’s almost as great as that of the musicians.”65 complex methodology. He appreciated the young Let us give Bernstein, himself, the final word. conductor’s approach to Brahms, and he noted how A sweet and generous correspondent to others, Bernstein showed the Brandenburg Concerto could Bernstein had an unusual talent for complimenting be expressive without being dry. But he reserved himself without seeming offensive. After receiving his highest praise for Bernstein’s interpretation of one of these letters about his St. Louis experience, Debussy’s La Mer: “Every detail was observed in Aaron Copland said that “St. Louis seems to have the performance. Every graduation of dynamics was accorded the familiar L.B. triumph.” Two weeks later captured, the color combinations were right, the Bernstein was still basking in his golden time in the rhythmic as well as the dynamic accents were all in city, writing David Oppenheim, “St. Louis was a joy. place, the whole thing was on a grand scale . . . It What a La Mer!”66

Fall/Winter 2018/2019 | The Confluence | 45 ENDNOTES 1 See Olin Downes, “Bernstein Shows Mastery of begin with Peter Gutmann’s “Leonard Bernstein: A Score; Youthful Conductor Carries Out an Exacting Total Embrace of Music,” http://www.classicalnotes. Program in Sudden Emergency,” and the unsigned net/features/bernstein.html. Diligent researchers article, “Young Aide Leads Philharmonic, Steps in will find much more biographical work elsewhere, When Bruno Walter is Ill,” both New York Times, including in the notes that follow. November 15, 1943; Editorial, “A Story Old and 2 Magazines like Life, Look, and Time had a national Ever New,” New York Times, November 16, 1943. readership. Even if St. Louisans missed some of the Bernstein’s rise from obscurity is probably the most New York press, it was hard to miss Bernstein, even in chronicled aspect of his career. The biographical small ways. The readers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch narrative that follows is a distillation of the many were reminded that the conductor/composer Leonard secondary works and primary sources about his Bernstein would be the guest expert on KSD’s sudden fame. If something is unique to a source, syndicated show, Information Please, the following I have so noted it. The volume of writing about night at 8:30. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 28, 1944. Bernstein is prodigious and generally of high caliber. By the time he arrived in St. Louis, the newspaper and Bernstein never wrote his autobiography, but he promotional efforts had reached a saturation point. inadvertently came close. He was a remarkable 3 Unsigned article, “Bernstein to Be Guest Conductor life-long letter saver, as were many of his friends. with Symphony,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 21, This makes his collected letters very biographically 1944. Unsigned article, “Symphony Conductor Get illuminating. See Nigel Simeone, ed., The Leonard Hep, Beats Out Blues and Boogie-Woogie,” St. Louis Bernstein Letters (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Globe-Democrat, February 6, 1945; Unsigned article, Press, 2013). Bernstein gave the whole of his archives “‘Pin-Up Boy of Symphony’ Has a Passion of Jazz to the Library of Congress, which has placed much Music,” St. Louis Star-Times, February 6, 1945. of it online: https://www.loc.gov/collections/leonard- 4 Donal Henahan, “Leonard Bernstein, 72. Music’s bernstein/about-this-collection/. Initially restricted, Monarch, Dies,” New York Times, October 15, 1990. the collection is now open to all researchers. The https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ restriction was meant to benefit Humphrey Burton, learning/general/onthisday/bday/0825.html Rather a long-time associate of Bernstein’s who wrote a than a standard obituary, this is a remarkable piece of detailed and responsibly objective biography, Leonard long-form journalism, offering both a useful summary Bernstein (New York: Doubleday, 1994). Cultural and a reflective evaluation of the conductor’s career. history biographer Meryle Secrest, who was denied 5 Thomas B. Sherman, “Guest Conductors,” St. Louis access, nonetheless produced a biography that is well Post-Dispatch, November 12, 1944. written, has its own unique sources, and is worth 6 It was not only Sherman who had been skeptical. reading: Leonard Bernstein: A Life (New York: A. A. Bernstein’s father, Sam, had fought his son’s Knopf, 1994). A shorter, more manageable biography, becoming a musician at every step: “How could I which sometimes relies heavily on other published know my son was going to grow up to be Leonard biographies, is Allen Shawn, Leonard Bernstein: Bernstein?” he said later. As quoted in Burton, An American Musician (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Leonard Bernstein, 122. Much of his exuberant University Press, 2014). Joan Peyser, an early conducting was captured on film, leaving him with a biographer who had Bernstein’s support, never shied permanent visual legacy, much of it available on the away from some unflattering judgments in Bernstein: internet. A Biography (New York: William Morrow, 1987). 7 Henahan, “Leonard Bernstein, 72.” See also Bernstein Bernstein’s younger brother, Burton, a staff writer and Haws, eds., Leonard Bernstein. for the New Yorker, put together an appreciative 8 St. Louis did not have an American-born conductor anthology of original essays by well-known historians, until Leonard Slatkin became the music director in musicians, and composers. See Burton Bernstein 1979. The second was David Robertson, 2005–2018. and Barbara B. Haws, eds, Leonard Bernstein: In between were Dutchman Hans Vonk, and Robertson American Original. How a Modern Renaissance Man is to be followed by the Frenchman Stéphane Denève, Transformed Music and the World during His New who officially takes up the directorship in 2019. York Philharmonic Years, 1943–1976 (New York: https://www.slso.org/en/musicians/conductors/past- Collins, 2008). Jonathan Cott’s slim volume has its music-directors/; http://www.stephanedeneve.com/ flaky moments, but it contains interesting material: about-stephane/ Dinner with Lenny: The Last Long Interview with 9 Quoted in Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 138–39; Harry Leonard Bernstein (New York: Oxford University R. Burke, “More About Bernstein, the ‘White-Haired Press, 2013). The elaborate official Bernstein website Boy of Symphonists,’ the Bewildered Brunette,” St. also contains useful biographical information: https:// Louis Globe-Democrat, February 15, 1945. leonardbernstein.com/at100. Readers who want a 10 They similarly questioned his relations with his quick guide to the music he conducted or wrote might orchestra members. Even as the music director

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97804 Magazine.indd 46 12/12/18 2:39 PM of the New York Philharmonic in the 1960s, he 16 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 139–40; St. Louis Post- democratically put up with disagreements and back Dispatch, May 21, 1944, p. 56. talk from musicians that amazed Seiji Ozawa, who 17 The New York Philharmonic was founded in 1842, the served as his assistant conductor. Haruki Murakami, St. Louis Symphony in 1880, the Boston Symphony in Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa 1881, the Chicago Symphony in 1891, the Cincinnati (Vintage, 2017), 29–30. Later in life he was criticized Symphony in 1895, and the Pittsburgh Symphony in for publically dressing down performers when he 1895 (though the last later disbanded for 16 years); disliked their playing. Some musicians grumbled the rest of the major urban symphony orchestras were about his unorthodox musical interpretations, claiming founded in the twentieth century. that when they were supposed playing Beethoven 18 Andre Kostelanetz followed Bernstein as guest they were really playing Bernstein. Although he could conductor in 1945.The Golschmann years are covered still charm when he wanted to, by the last decade in Katherine Gladney Wells, Symphony and Song. The of his life he had become the imperious maestro, a St. Louis Symphony Orchestra: The First Hundred too long over-scheduled man who had lost patience Years: 1880–1980 (Taftsville, Vt.: The Countrymen with ordinary courtesies and inevitable obstacles, Press, 1980), 55–79; see also the 1927 Victrola ad, often acting imperious and entitled. Henahan, noting SLSO recordings and the discography up to “Leonard Bernstein, 72”; Charlie Harmon, On the 1980, 217–21, and Richard Edward Mueller, “The Road and Off with Leonard Bernstein. My Years St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, 1931 to 1958,” Ph.D. with the Exasperating Genius (Watertown, Mass.: Diss., Saint Louis University, 1976. Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc., 2018). 19 The young and seemingly vigorous Bernstein, 11 Barry Seldes is illuminating about Bernstein’s political had received a “4F” deferment from the military, activities. See Leonard Bernstein: The Political Side but he carefully noted in programs his pleasure of an American Musician (Berkley: University of in playing “boogie-woogie” music for the troops, California Press, 2009). See especially 21, 32–33, citing a performance at Fort Dix. While chronic 114–16. Bernstein confessed to some political naiveté, asthma plagued Bernstein, it is very rare to find a but he noted he had never voted for a political non-conducting photograph that does not show him candidate who was not a Democrat or a Republican. smoking. It would kill him in the end. Unsigned The lengthy affidavit is reprinted in its entirety in article, “Bernstein to Be Guest Conductor,” St. Louis Simone, Bernstein Letters, 299–309. Tom Wolfe, Globe-Democrat, May 21, 1944. Unsigned article, Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers (New “Four Guest Conductors Signed for Next Season.” St. York: Picador, 2009, rpt.). For Bernstein’s comments Louis Post-Dispatch, May 21, 1944. on the party and Wolfe’s book, see Cott, Dinner with 20 “And his songs. are fun,” the reporter said. “‘Come Lenny, 85–86. Wolfe reflected on the party for Secrest, Up to My Place,’ ‘I Get Carried Away, and ‘You’ve Bernstein, 321–23. Wolfe said that he personally had Got Me,’ with the help of very amusing lyrics, are all no particular interest in the Black Panthers, but rather show-stoppers; and there are pleasant romantic tunes an interest in the Beautiful People’s interest in the like ‘Lucky to Be Me.’” Louis Kronenberser, “Along Black Panthers. Broadway,” St. Louis Star-Times, December 30, 12 Howard Pollack, Aaron Copland: The Life and Work 1944; Unsigned article, “Ballet in Jazz and Jive,” St. of an Uncommon Man (New York: Henry Holt and Louis Post-Dispatch, December 10, 1944. The article Company, 1999), 193–94. includes a full page of rehearsal photographs. 13 Leonard Slatkin, Conducting Business: Unveiling the 21 Unsigned article, “Jive Music Accents ‘Fancy Free’ Mystery Behind the Maestro (Milwaukee: Amadeus Ballet,” St. Louis Star-Times, January 3, 1945. Press, 2012), 141–42. 22 Thomas B. Sherman, “Toumanova Exciting in Ballet 14 Burton Bernstein provides an interesting perspective Dances,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 6, 1945. inside the family point of view of these events in 23 St. Louis Symphony Program, 65th Season, 1944– Family Matters: Sam, Jennie, and the Kids (Lincoln, 1945, 420; Saint Louis Symphony Society Records, Neb.: An Authors Guild Backinprint.com Edition, 1897–1983, Missouri Historical Society Archives, 2000, 2nd ed. rev.; Originally, Summit Books, 1982), Box 17A. 143–51. 24 Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson were African 15 An English translation was provided in program for American musicians famed in the 1940s for their concertgoers. For more on the connection between Boogie-Woogie piano virtuosity. the music and the biblical text, see Secrest, Bernstein, 25 Arthur W. Hepner, “Success Has Not Turned His 105–7; A King James biblical translation of the text Head,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 9, 1945, maybe found at: https://perryjgreenbaum.blogspot. part 4, p. 1; “Symphony Conductor Get Hep,” p. 3B; com/2017/11/leonard-bernsteins-symphony-no-1. “‘Pin-Up Boy.’” html. One, of course, need not know Hebrew (or King 26 Many of Inge’s plays would become staples of the James’s English) to appreciate the singing. 1950s and later movies: Bus Stop, Picnic, Splendor

Fall/Winter 2018/2019 | The Confluence | 47 in the Grass, and Come Back Little Sheba, written he intended to write. But Bernstein said he could during a stint as a Washington University professor. not plan to specify because the most important thing For a biographical sketch of William Inge and his life was being fully in the present. Burke takes all of in St. Louis, see Lorin Cuoco and William R. Gass, Bernstein’s monumental aspiration at face value. eds., Literary St. Louis: A Guide (St. Louis: Missouri 33 William Inge, “Bernstein Brilliant in Two Concerts.” Historical Society Press, 2000), 203–7. Bernstein St. Louis Star-Times, February 12, 1945. loved drinking and carousing. During his stays in St. 34 Thomas B. Sherman, “Bernstein Brilliant Conducting Louis he made a friend of Dr. Bertram Slaff, a young, His Work,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 11, and poorly paid, medical intern, who earned $32.50 1945. a month. Even before the meal, Slaff began fretting 35 Thomas B. Sherman, “Second Thoughts on over the expense of a costly restaurant. His secret Bernstein,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 18, consternation deepened when Bernstein unexpectedly 1945. appeared with his friend Inge. Sensitively, Bernstein 36 Bernstein to Coates, February 12, 1945, Bernstein correctly intuited the pinch of such an extravagance Papers. for Slaff and paid for all, telling him he had to spend 37 St. Louis Symphony Program, 65th Season, p. 467. his On the Town royalties on something. Slaff to 38 Thomas B. Sherman, “20th Century Music at Bernstein Secrest, July 11, 1991, in Secrest, Bernstein, 154. Concert: Symphony Program Proves to Be More 27 Burke, “More About Bernstein.” Bernstein was a very Exciting Than Exalting,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, self-confident young-man-in-hurry, but his humility February 18, 1945. was not all fake. While he knew he was both charmed 39 William Inge, “Bernstein Applauded on Modern and charming, he was considerate to others. See also Works,” St. Louis Star-Times, February 19, 1945. Murakami, Absolutely on Music, 29–30. 40 Leonard Bernstein to Mildred Spiegel, February 19, 28 Leonard Bernstein to Helen Coates, February 8, 1945, 1945, in Simeone, ed., Bernstein Letters, 583. Bernstein Papers, Library of Congress. 41 Curiously, Copland warned him of the perils of being 29 Baldwin ad, St. Louis Symphony Program, 65th pigeon-holed as a Jewish composer, like Ernest Season, p. 466; Bernstein biography, 410. Not nearly Bloch, and admonished for his addiction to musical as much fuss had been made over his supporting emotionalism. He was soon compared to Bloch, mezzo-soprano, Jennie Tourel. Her program biography foreshadowing Bernstein’s later obsession with Gustav mostly strung together positive quotes about her Mahler. On Copland’s tutoring and the writing of singing and left it at that. Tourel was born into a Jeremiah, see Secrest, Bernstein, 139; Pollack, Aaron Jewish Belarus family in 1900. The family fled Russia Copland, 194, 522. following the Revolution, eventually settling in Paris. 42 Bernstein to Coates, February 8, 1945, Bernstein There she won fame as an operatic singer, but just Papers. ahead of the 1940 Nazi occupation, she immigrated 43 Henahan, “Leonard Bernstein, 72.” to the United States. She rebuilt her career, singing 44 Sherman, “Second Thoughts on Bernstein.” with Arturo Toscanini and Leopold Stokowski, among 45 As quoted in Secrest, Bernstein, 137–38. others. In 1943 she included some of his “Kids 46 Biographer Joan Peyser even wondered if Bernstein’s Songs,” I Hate Music, into her well-received New jealous fiancé Felicia Montealegre torpedoed Tourel’s York City Town Hall debut. Bernstein subsequently inclusion on the album. Peyser, Bernstein 440–41. invited her to sing the mezzo-soprano role at the This seems unlikely because Bernstein would continue Pittsburgh Symphony debut of Jeremiah, and she his professional relationship with Tourel for decades continued to do so at its live performances thereafter. until her death. A more likely explanation is that Nan Her professional relationship with Bernstein would Merriman already had a Victor Records contract. last decades. St. Louis Symphony Program, 65th Tourel might also have had a conflict, as she recorded Season, p. 447; on Tourel’s background, see https:// an album for another label a couple of weeks later. searchworks.stanford.edu/view/5506600; Peyser, On Nan Merriman, see https://sites.google.com/ Bernstein,118–19. site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/ 30 St. Louis Symphony Program, 65th Season. p. 427. classic/nan-merriman; http://www.latimes.com/local/ 31 Bernstein to Coates, two letters dated February 10, obituaries/la-me-passings-20120802-story.html. 1945, Bernstein Papers. 47 See the ad in St. Louis Star-Times, December 13, 32 Harry R. Burke, “Bernstein Impressive as Conductor,” 1945. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 11, 1945. 48 Life Magazine, vol. 29, no. 19, May 13, 1946, p. 28. Four days later Burke obtained a special interview 49 Thomas B. Sherman, “Off the Records,” St. Louis with Bernstein and published a highly flattering Post-Dispatch, January 6, 1946. profile of the young conductor. Burke, “More About 50 Unsigned review, “Record Album,” St. Louis Star- Bernstein.” The article notably begins by Bernstein’s Times, January 3, 1946, p. 16. dismissing his success with an “aw-shucks, it was just 51 Mark A. Schubart, “Records: Bernstein’s ‘Jeremiah,’” luck.” Bernstein then outlines an insanely ambitious New York Times, January 6, 1946. catalogue of all the books, poetry, and serious music 52 RCA’s Camden reissue of Bernstein and the St.

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97804 Magazine.indd 48 12/12/18 2:39 PM Louis Symphony’s Jeremiah is readily available 59 Associated Press, “Nelson Rockefeller Named U.S. on the internet. The YouTube recording includes Young Man,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 17, period pictures, some with people mentioned in 1945; Unsigned article, “Leonard Bernstein Guest the essay. First movement: https://www.youtube. Conductor with Symphony,” St. Louis Globe- com/watch?v=SQJxlCaTt8Y; Second movement: Democrat, November 25, 1945; Unsigned Article, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQvBc7jq55g; “Bernstein on Podium Friday and Saturday,” St. Third movement: https://www.youtube.com/ Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1945; St. Louis watch?v=RQvBc7jq55g. Symphony Program, 66th Season, 1945–1946, 223; 53 Bernstein recorded Jeremiah later in life with both Saint Louis Symphony Society Records, 1897–1983, the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Symphonic Missouri Historical Society Archives, Box 17A. Orchestra, but it was not the same as the original 60 Leonard Bernstein to David Oppenheim, postmark recording. Recording methods have obviously November 27, 1945, Simeone, ed., Bernstein Letters, improved over the years, but he never regarded his 189–90. music, or anybody else’s, as sacrosanct. Jennie Tourel 61 St. Louis Symphony Program, 66th Season, pp. got her opportunity to sing the mezzo-soprano part 223, 267; Bernstein to Coates, December 1, 1945, with the NYPO. As he aged, Bernstein was both proud Bernstein Papers. of his symphony and somewhat embarrassed by it as 62 Thomas B. Sherman, “Leonard Bernstein Concert a juvenilia. Both views have merit. Other symphonic Success,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 1, 1945. orchestras have recorded it since 1945. 63 William Inge, “Leonard Bernstein Brilliant as 54 See, for example, Joseph McLellan, “Classical Conductor of Symphony,” St. Louis Star-Times, Recordings,” Washington Post, June 27, 1993; Peter December 1, 1945. G. Davis, “West Side Glory,” New York, vol. 26, no. 64 Harry R. Burke, “Bernstein Wins Ovation in 27, July 12, 1993, 56–57. Appearance with Symphony,” St. Louis Globe- 55 https://leonardbernstein.com/search?page=4&s=event Democrat, December 9, 1945; Leonard Bernstein to &q=Jeremiah David Oppenheim, postmarked December 18, 1945. 56 Leonard Bernstein to Aaron Copland, dated Saturday Simeone, ed., Bernstein Letters, 192. [September 1, 1945], Simeone, ed., Bernstein Letters, 65 Thomas B. Sherman, “Bernstein Conducts in Fine 179. Performance,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 9, 57 Leonard Bernstein to Aaron Copland, [undated, 1945. September 1945], Simeone, ed., Bernstein Letters, 66 Aaron Copland to Leonard Bernstein, Tuesday 179–80. [December 4, 1945], Simeone, ed., Bernstein Letters, 58 Unsigned article, “Golschmann Sets First Eleven 190; Leonard Bernstein to David Oppenheim, Concert Pairs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September postmarked December 18, 1945, Simeone, ed., 30, 1945. Bernstein Letters, 192.

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