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2009 Leonard Bernstein's and Roger Englander's Educational Mission: Music Appreciation and the 1961-62 Season of Young People's Concerts John Christian MacInnis

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COLLEGE OF MUSIC

LEONARD BERNSTEIN‘S AND ROGER ENGLANDER‘S EDUCATIONAL MISSION:

MUSIC APPRECIATION AND THE 1961-62 SEASON OF YOUNG PEOPLE‘S CONCERTS

By

JOHN CHRISTIAN MACINNIS

A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music

Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2009

Copyright © 2009 John MacInnis All Rights Reserved

The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of John Christian MacInnis defended on March 30, 2009.

______Michael E. Broyles Professor Directing Treatise

______Charles E. Brewer Committee Member

______Frank D. Gunderson Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above named committee members.

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This thesis is dedicated to the glory of God and in memory of Florence Christina Sutherland.

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

II Timothy 1:5

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TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ...... vi List of Figures ...... vii Abstract ...... viii INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1. THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS: ―THE MAN MET THE MOMENT‖ ...... 5 Young People‘s Concerts in America ...... 5 The Young People’s Concerts under Bernstein and Englander ...... 6 Music Appreciation in America ...... 10 Radio and the Arts in America...... 13 Television and the Arts in America ...... 14 2. THE 1961-62 SEASON OF YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS ...... 19 3. ROGER ENGLANDER AND ―THE PHILHARMONIC COHORTS‖ ...... 29 Roger Englander ...... 29 Young People’s Concert Planning and Development ...... 34 Young People’s Concert Production ...... 38 Broadcast Day ...... 39 Young People’s Concert Technology ...... 41 4. YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT IDEALS: ―A CONCERT IS NOT A SHOW‖ ...... 44 Audience Orientation ...... 44 American, Modern, and Popular Music ...... 45 A ―Middle-Brow‖ Approach...... 47 The Music Appreciation Racket ...... 51 Peace and the Power of Music ...... 54 No Gimmicks ...... 55 Enhancing the Performing Arts ...... 57 5. CONCLUSION: ―COMMUNICATION IS WHAT TELEVISION IS ABOUT‖ ...... 62 Technological Mediation ...... 62 Consequent Young People’s Concert Development ...... 65 Lasting Impact ...... 66 APPENDIX ...... 69 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 74

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...... 81

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: 1961-62 YPC Programs and Nielson Ratings ...... 21

Table 2: 1961-62 YPC Planning Meetings and Rehearsals ...... 35

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Bernstein New Yorker Cartoon ...... 10

Figure 2: Leonard Bernstein with Roger Englander Seated ...... 69

Figure 3: YPC Planning Meeting ...... 70

Figure 4: Side View of Leonard Bernstein and NYP on Carnegie Hall Stage ...... 71

Figure 5: Leonard Bernstein and Teleprompters ...... 72

Figure 6: Full Shot of NYP, Cameras, and Lighting on Carnegie Hall Stage ...... 73

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ABSTRACT This thesis is an examination of the 1961-62 season of New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts with special emphasis on contributions made by director/producer Roger Englander in concert with Leonard Bernstein. The Young People’s Concerts are contextualized in the American tradition of orchestral concerts targeting children (especially by the New York Philharmonic), and connections between radio broadcasts of high culture content and early television programming are examined, particularly in light of the dominating media personalities of Walter Damrosch and Arturo Toscanini. Also, the Young People’s Concerts are explained as a new media manifestation of American music appreciation programs and explained in the context of 1960s television. The developmental processes for the 1961-62 Young People’s Concerts is explored with special emphasis placed on the collaborative professional relationships that made these programs a success. The technology for producing and televising the 1961-62 Young People’s Concerts is outlined and explained. In addition, the production ideals of Leonard Bernstein and Roger Englander are clarified along with a discussion of the lasting impact of the Young People’s Concerts on American culture and musicians and how the show evolved after Bernstein and Englander.

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INTRODUCTION I first experienced Leonard Bernstein as a freshman music major watching his 1973 Harvard lectures with a friend. As many young musicians, I was eager to learn about and understand music on new levels. And, beginning with these taped lectures, I knew I had a kindred spirit in Leonard Bernstein. I bought books by and on Bernstein and watched taped performances with him conducting and teaching. Later, I read articles and started taking notes on what I observed in his most popular lectures, the internationally televised New York Philharmonic (NYP) Young People’s Concerts (YPCs). I soon noticed that although these lectures were universally remembered and admired, especially by musicians, they had not received much scholarly engagement. Moreover, it appeared to me that these concerts represented a unique moment in the twentieth century when art music was presented to and embraced by a stunning number of people. Gradually, I realized that it was not just Bernstein who made the lectures a success—the television technology involved enhanced his discussions. Through a generous research grant from Florida State University in 2008, I took my inquiry to the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library Performing Arts Division, and the New York Philharmonic Archive. In studying primary documents, YPC director/producer Roger Englander loomed large. It became readily apparent to me that Englander was instrumental in adapting Bernstein‘s Carnegie Hall lectures to the television medium. I was able to contact Englander through the Leonard Bernstein Office in New York City, and we began corresponding by email and phone. In undertaking this project, my aim is to tell his story along with Bernstein‘s and to provide new insights into understanding their educational legacy. Overview: In a 1977 interview at Carnegie Hall, Leonard Bernstein reflected on his illustrious musical career and proclaimed, ―I am proudest of those fifty odd young people‘s shows— prouder of them than anything else I have done.‖1 Elsewhere Bernstein maintained, ―the Young People‘s Concerts are among the favorite, most highly prized activities of my life.‖2 In other public forums, Bernstein consistently testified to the power of television in presenting what he

1 Peter Rosen, Reflections: Leonard Bernstein (New York: Peter Rosen Productions, 1978), DVD. 2 Humphrey Burton, Leonard Bernstein (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 295. 1

considered great music and engaging audiences everywhere. Bernstein‘s egalitarian views on general access to musical culture were characteristic and self-admittedly rabbinical.3 Hosted by Leonard Bernstein and produced by Roger Englander, the NYP YPCs were televised from 1958 to 1972 and enjoyed widespread recognition. Today the YPCs are remembered as a distinct cultural landmark in the history of twentieth-century media and the arts. But what specific cultural and technical factors contributed to their success? How exactly was Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s vision for audience engagement effected technologically in the YPCs? And does Bernstein justly deserve a lion‘s share of honor for their enduring legacy? By examining the 1961-62 season of YPCs as a case study, this thesis demonstrates how Bernstein and Englander brought music appreciation to its next logical manifestation on television. This thesis shows how the YPCs expanded what others had pioneered, the presentation of commercial art music by a larger-than-life personality. Finally, this thesis demonstrates that the YPCs achieved ideals of audience engagement by way of innovative applications of television technology through the teamwork of Bernstein and Englander, and not just through the efforts of one man. Survey of Literature: Although this thesis will make the case that Roger Englander deserves equal credit, the name Leonard Bernstein is most often associated with the YPCs. The number of books, articles, and scholarly writings on Bernstein is legion. Biographies range from detailed examinations of Bernstein‘s life, such as Humphrey Burton‘s definitive work (1994) to more sensational exposés, such as the book by Joan Peyser (1998). Other Bernstein biographers are cursory and tend to hagiography (e.g., John Briggs, 1990) or focus primarily on personal ties (e.g., Burton Bernstein, 1982). Unfortunately, many biographies do not address Bernstein‘s YPCs much beyond anecdote, (e.g., Michael Freedland, 1987 and William Burton, 1995) or rely solely on Bernstein‘s own published works and not video examples of the YPCs (e.g., Peter Gradenwitz, 1987).

3 Joan Peyser, Bernstein: A Biography (New York, New York: Billboard Books, 1998), 238-40. Bernstein is quoted: ―But it really wasn‘t until 1954 when I got involved with television that I realized the tremendous power of the medium, the power it could have in terms of music…. What I realized about it was…that I could share it with millions of people face to face, eye to eye, nose to nose…. I realized suddenly that my own teaching instinct, which I had inherited from my father…and all my teachers…who taught me how to teach, this old quasi-rabbinical instinct I had for teaching and explaining and verbalizing, found a real paradise in the whole electronic world of television and I was able to do one show after another.‖ 2

By far, the best biographical source for information on the YPCs is by Humphrey Burton. After Bernstein‘s death, Burton was granted exclusive access to all of Bernstein‘s personal and professional effects for the creation of a definitive scholarly biography. Burton is quick to point out his independence in research and that his biography should not be considered ―authorized.‖4 Schuyler Chapin‘s biography (1992) also provides helpful research on the YPC planning processes and addresses some technical concerns.5 Those books that do address the YPCs most directly are normally topical approaches to Bernstein‘s life and work. For example, the recent collection of essays edited by Burton Bernstein and Barbara Haws (Leonard Bernstein: American Original, 2008) includes an essay by Tim Page on ―Leonard Bernstein and Television: Envisioning a Higher Purpose.‖ Sennets and Tuckets (1988), edited by Steven Ledbetter, has a helpful section on Bernstein the ―Television Performer,‖ including essays by Robert Clark, ―Congruent Odysseys: Bernstein and the Art of Television,‖ Humphrey Burton, ―Leonard Bernstein: Video Man,‖ and D. Kern Holoman, ―Talking About Music: The Maestro and the Masses or Reflections of a Child of the Sixties.‖6 In 1985, the Museum of Broadcasting in New York City hosted an exhibit on ―Leonard Bernstein: The Television Work.‖ From this exhibit, a book was compiled by the same title containing an essay by Roger Englander. Englander‘s concise explanation of the YPCs is particularly insightful in that it provides a first-person account of YPC artistic values. In Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, a publication of the Leonard Bernstein Office, New York City, Englander delves into more technical concerns with his essay ―Behind the Scenes: The Young People‘s Concerts in the Making,‖ although this essay focuses almost entirely on the YPCs after the move to Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center. Descriptive essays by other YPC personnel are also printed in additional editions of Prelude, Fugue and Riffs. In 1962, Bernstein published a collection of YPC scripts in book form titled Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts and dedicated it to his ―dearest own Young People;‖ Jamie,

4 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, ix. 5 Schuyler Chapin, Leonard Bernstein: Notes from a Friend (New York: Walker, 1992). Chapin includes many helpful comments from Roger Englander, which are styled as a personal interview but are actually taken from Roger Englander‘s essay, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers: A Look at the Young People‘s Concerts‖ in Bernstein: The Television Work (New York: The Museum of Broadcasting, 1985). 6 The essays by Robert Saudek and Humphrey Burton are reprinted from Bernstein: The Television Work, (New York: The Museum of Broadcasting, 1985). 3

Alexander, and Nina.‖7 This book was eventually translated into German, French, Hungarian, Japanese, and Portuguese and distributed around the world. The scripts contained in this collection have been altered somewhat to accommodate the print medium. Fortunately, all YPC scripts in all their developmental stages are preserved in Washington, D.C., at the Library of Congress, Leonard Bernstein Collection. Some script copies are also collected at the New York Philharmonic Archive, New York City. Obviously, when considering Bernstein‘s YPCs the best sources are the shows themselves in recorded video form. All televised YPC programs are archived at the Paley Center for Media, New York City, and at the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection. Two episodes from the 1961-62 season are also distributed by Kultur in DVD form in a collection of twenty- five selected YPC episodes. It is surprising that the YPCs have not received much in-depth, recent attention by the academic community. To date, the most thorough musicological examination of the YPCs is Sharon Gelleny‘s 1991 master‘s thesis, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts: A Critical Overview.‖ Gelleny‘s degree was in music criticism, so her emphasis is on popular and professional reactions to YPCs. This thesis explains how the different shows were understood and received by the North American public. Although criticism is her focus, Gelleny introduces and contextualizes the YPCs, and her work serves as an excellent starting point for further investigation.8 Brian Rozen‘s 1997 doctoral dissertation in music education, ―The Contributions of Leonard Bernstein to Music Education: An Analysis of His 53 Young People‘s Concerts‖ is a broad survey that identifies and categorizes recurring, significant educational events throughout the series. Rozen‘s focus is primarily pedagogical. He does not consider technological aspects or place the YPCs in the context of American music appreciation. In addition, Rozen lauds Bernstein foremost for the masterful use of television media in the YPCs, while Roger Englander is barely mentioned.

7 Leonard Bernstein, Young People’s Concerts, (Pompton Plains: Amadeus, 2005), iii. This collection was edited by Jack Gottlieb, Bernstein‘s assistant. In the Introduction for the 1992 edition, Gottlieb explains that some of Bernstein‘s original script, trimmed so that the program would fit in its televised slot, was reinstated for the YPC book (xiii). 8 Remarkably, Gelleny‘s thesis is not referenced in any standard sources of information on Leonard Bernstein or the YPCs. 4

Franklin Peynado‘s 1995 MAT thesis, ―Leonard Bernstein: Music Educator,‖ emphasizes Bernstein‘s role as a music educator, chronicles his career, and explains some aspects of Bernstein‘s educational philosophy. James Snowden‘s 1975 doctoral dissertation in music education, ―The Role of the Symphony Orchestra Youth Concert in Music Education‖ examines Bernstein‘s YPCs as one of five case studies where professional orchestras contributed to American music education. Finally, because James Rees‘s 1966 thesis, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Informative Speaking in the 1965-66 Young People‘s Concerts,‖ was submitted for a degree in rhetoric and public address, his concerns are primarily with Bernstein‘s personal delivery and not with YPC’s content or their societal context. Rees‘s work is helpful in that he observed the planning, rehearsing, and recording of the 1965-66 YPC season firsthand. Also, Rees‘s thesis benefitted from interviews with key YPC players while they were engaged in production, e.g. Leonard Bernstein, Roger Englander, Mary Rodgers, Helen Coates, and Jack Gottlieb. There are only a few scholarly articles directly addressing the YPCs. Sharon Gelleny‘s essay, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television: Bridging the Gap between Classical Music and Popular Culture‖ provides a succinct overview of the YPCs with some insights on their cultural significance. This article is primarily a summary of her thesis, mentioned above. Howard Shanet‘s book, Philharmonic: A History of New York’s Orchestra chronicles the YPCs from their earliest days at the NYP. His work serves as an introduction to the YPC’s historical place in New York concert life. In this same vein, the YPCs were always critiqued by writers and critics of the New York Times and other New York periodicals. These coetaneous accounts and assessments provide historical context and period criticisms.

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CHAPTER 1 THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS: “THE MAN MET THE MOMENT” Young People’s Concerts in America: Major orchestras across the United States had programmed concerts targeting young people long before Leonard Bernstein. For example, under Theodore Thomas, the New York Philharmonic (NYP) featured concerts specifically targeting children as early as 1883.1 Children‘s concerts were also held in cities outside of New York, e.g. the 1885 ―Young People‘s Popular‖ featuring Amy Beach in Boston, MA.2 The title ―Young People‘s Concert‖ was first employed by the NYP under Walter Damrosch during the 1902-03 season and then under Joseph Stansky in 1914. However, it was under Ernest Schelling that the NYP Young People’s Concerts (YPCs) were truly established as a regular NYP concert series under this name in 1926.3 For many years, the NYP YPCs were not directly under the supervision of the NYP board of directors. Rather, they were overseen by an auxiliary committee consisting of board member‘s wives, female music teachers in the New York City area, and prominent women of New York society. This auxiliary committee promoted the YPCs and NYP in a variety of ways including contacting independent and public schools regarding free rehearsal concerts. Furthermore, members of the auxiliary committee were present at YPCs and attentive to how the concerts were presented and received. For example, the auxiliary committee produced a resolution on 17 February 1959, pointing out that the YPCs were increasingly attended by children under six, an age too young to fully benefit from the program. Their resolution was received by NYP Associate Director, George Judd, Jr., and special notice was made in subscriber renewal letters of the desirable age which should attend the YPCs.4 Clearly, there was an inherited paradigm of engaging and imaginative pedagogy at NYP YPCs. In his autobiography, Walter Damrosch writes,

1 George Upton, Theodore Thomas: A Musical Autobiography (New York: DaCapo Press,1964), 273. 2 Adrienne Block, Amy Beach: Passionate Victorian (New York: Oxford, 1998), 33. 3 Schelling‘s first NYP YPC was featured in 1924, but the YPCs did not begin as an ongoing series until 1926. Schelling continued hosting the shows in New York City until 1939, and they have run continuously with the NYP ever since. In his essay, ―Leonard Bernstein and Television: Envisioning a Higher Purpose,‖ Tim Page points out that beginning in 1930, five YPCs were broadcast on radio each year (97). Under Bernstein‘s tenure, YPC programs bore the NYP concert number, season, and this tribute, ―Founded by Ernest Schelling in 1924.‖ 4 It appears that although the auxiliary committee supervised the YPCs in name, the final word was reserved for the NYP administration. For example, the auxiliary committee‘s 1959 resolution strictly said: ―It was moved and seconded that next season notice be given that children under six will not be admitted to the concerts.‖ Judd‘s reply was respectful in tone but stated that action would be taken in a more gracious way. 5

The faces of the children are aglow with interest and excitement, and when I sit down at the piano after playing an overture with the orchestra and, repeating some melodic phrase from it, ask them, ―Which instrument played this melody?‖ their little voices ring out from all over the hall in high shrill accents, like little pistol shots….5

Under Schelling, the YPCs were designed to promote music appreciation in children through the combination of informative lectures, live orchestra performances, pictures displayed through lantern slides, and notebook assignments which children could create and submit to Schelling for prizes.6 Schelling was able to successfully engage his audiences by varying aural and visual stimulation with the media technology available to him. In many ways, the YPCs under Shelling were definitive for the NYP, and similarities are observed between Shelling and Bernstein. For instance, both men were composers, conductors, and pianists. Both were effective speakers and engaged their audiences ―using clever visual aids, employing striking analogies, and inviting audience comments.‖7 The Young People’s Concerts under Bernstein and Englander: It was in this tradition of innovative audience engagement that Bernstein and Englander took the YPCs on television. Bernstein hosted his first YPC at Carnegie Hall just two weeks after accepting the position of Director of the NYP.8 In 1962, the NYP moved from Carnegie Hall, and consequently all shows after the 1961-62 season were broadcast from the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Through the course of fourteen years and fifty-three YPC programs, Leonard Bernstein became the poster boy for the American music establishment.9 Although Bernstein claimed that televising the YPCs was his idea and a significant factor in his accepting the position with the NYP, the initiative probably came from several directions 10 simultaneously. Chapin places the decision to televise the NYP YPCs squarely with CBS, and

5 Walter Damrosch, My Musical Life (New York: Curtis, 1923), 328; James Rees, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Informative Speaking in the 1965-1966 Young People‘s Concerts,‖ (master‘s thesis, Syracuse University,1966), 21. 6 ―At a Young People‘s Concert, Former Children Reunite,‖ New York Times, 7 January 1996. 7 Rees, 20-21. Rees quotes critic John Erskine who described Schelling‘s lectures as ―a delightful blend of magic-lantern show, lectures and concert, as informal as a birthday party and instructive as a lesson at school, without the drawbacks of either….‖ 8 Brian Rozen, ―The Contributions of Leonard Bernstein to Music Education: An Analysis of His 53 Young People‘s Concerts‖ (PhD diss., University of Rochester, 1997), 53. Bernstein‘s official title in 1957 was ―Principal Conductor and Musical Director of the Young People‘s Concerts.‖ His title was later changed to ―Musical Director of the New York Philharmonic Symphony and Musical Director of the Young People‘s Concerts‖ 9 Sharon Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts: A Critical Overview‖ (master‘s thesis, McMaster University, 1991), iii. 10 Chapin, 57. 6

in an interview published in 1992, Englander‘s account of the YPC’s genesis also suggests a decision beginning with CBS. Englander said, Unbeknownst to me, [Richard Lewine, CBS Vice President] was interviewing me, because the word had come down from William S. Paley that CBS was about to start a Young People‘s concert series with Leonard Bernstein, who had just become co-conductor of the New York Philharmonic.11

In his biography of Bernstein, Humphrey Burton alludes to negotiations in 1958 between CBS and Bernstein on televising the YPCs, but no credit is given to either party for the idea.12 And in a 1985 essay Englander presents a collaborative decision, ―A few days after our talk, I found out that Lewine had actually been interviewing me for a totally different music series that his boss, William S. Paley, had cooked up with Leonard Bernstein.‖13 In her 1999 article, Sharon Gelleny places the initiative with Bernstein: ―It was through his TV network connections that Bernstein secured a deal with CBS chairman William S. Paley to broadcast Young People‘s 14 Concerts as a series of the live Saturday afternoon specials from Carnegie Hall.‖ Additionally, at this time the NYP had been looking to improve the live YPCs. During the 1950s, the NYP had registered a drop in the popularity of the YPCs and they were ―desperately in need of a more updated, refreshed approach and a leader more in tune with contemporary youth.‖15 Gelleny writes, At about the same time, the Philharmonic administration was also concerned with the need to expand all of its youth programs in general. The feeling was that the various youth-oriented activities of the orchestra, including the Public School Concerts, Young People‘s Concerts and the Student Ticket Program, were simply not reaching enough children to be effective…. The Philharmonic Student Ticket Plan was also failing to reach enough students because of the fact that not enough reduced-rate tickets were being made available, and because the concerts often fell on nights not convenient for most students to attend.16

11 Brian Rose, Televising the Performing Arts: A Handbook and Reference Guide to American Cultural Programming (Westport: Greenwood, 1992), 130. 12 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 268. 13 Roger Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers: A Look at the Young People‘s Concerts,‖ In Leonard Bernstein: The Television Work (New York: The Museum of Broadcasting, 1985), 29. 14 Sharon Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television: Bridging the Gap between Classical Music and Popular Culture,‖ Journal of Popular Music Studies 11-12, no. 1(1999): 48-49; Gelleny ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 17-18. 15 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 10. 16 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 10-11. 7

The NYP would have seen an opportunity to televise the YPCs as the perfect occasion to promote the orchestra and bolster its youth program. In fact, Bernstein‘s effect was immediately felt. A public statement released in 1958 informed the populace that the entire 1958-59 season of YPCs was completely sold out.17 And each season continued to be sold out: Secrest writes, ―There was a waiting list of two thousand children to buy tickets to the actual performance, some of them enrolled the day they were born—the Young People‘s Concerts had become as exclusive as Eton.‖18 CBS was the contracted recording company for the NYP. Also, they had televised Bernstein on the popular Omnibus programs throughout the 1950s and knew his communication skills first- hand.19 Bernstein‘s Omnibus debut came about when the producer expressed dissatisfaction with their first choice for lecturer/host. He was hired as a substitute since it was thought he would be ―a photogenic conductor‖ and make ―an impressive presentation.‖20 Chapin writes, From its opening moments it was obvious that a totally new approach to music and television was under way. Bernstein stood on a huge studio floor painted with the score of the first movement [of Beethoven‘s Fifth Symphony] and pointed to the opening four notes with his right shoe. ―Three Gs and an E-flat,‖ he said, looking straight at the camera. ―Baby simple.‖21

By 1958, Bernstein had enjoyed great success with his earlier music presentations on television and appeared to be the best candidate for the job. Abram Chasins put it well, The man met the moment…with his winning and photogenic personality, with his remarkable capacity to discuss all the aspects of the aural experience, to

17 This statement is preserved at the New York Philharmonic Archive along with many other memos related to the YPCs. Although the YPCs under Bernstein were generally sold years in advance of the actual shows, tickets were often donated as an act of charity. For example, a letter dated 17 October 1960 to the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind included eight complimentary tickets for each of the four YPC programs that season. 18 Meryle Secrest, Leonard Bernstein: A Life (New York: Vintage, 1994), 247. 19 Joseph Horowitz, ―Professor Lenny,‖ (1993), http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/bernstein/lbarticle1.html (accessed 1 January 2009). In the 1950s, Omnibus was considered ―television‘s most important cultural showcase….‖ Omnibus was supported by the Ford Foundation and ran from 1952-61. All of Bernstein‘s Omnibus scripts were reprinted in his book, The Joy of Music, in 1959. 20 Franklin Peynado, ―Leonard Bernstein: Music Educator‖ (master‘s thesis, Florida Atlantic University, 1995), 47. In his recollection of Bernstein‘s teaching at Brandeis University, Abram Sachar writes, ―Bernstein‘s course in modern music, offered in 1951, was a tour de force. It was anything but a conventional introduction to music appreciation. Many readers will remember his Omnibus programs on music that came later, and that drew a least in part from his Brandeis experience‖ (A Host At Last, 147). 21 Chapin, 54. Chapin argues that this first appearance of Bernstein on television was the beginning of ―a revolutionary era in music telecasting.‖ 8

elucidate them in terms of both musicological and human experiences, and to illuminate them in dramatic interpretations.22

Similarly, Rees writes: ―His brief, though successful, teaching experience and his growing popularity as a dynamic and attractive personality made him a logical choice for television‘s first music-lectures.‖23 In a word, CBS was eager to produce a program hosted by someone with the growing prestige of Leonard Bernstein: ―Bernstein was a name to be reckoned with.‖ 24 Significantly, Bernstein fulfilled all YPC commitments during his unprecedented sabbatical of the 1964-65 NYP season.25 And even after Bernstein retired from the NYP in 1969, he continued to host the YPCs until 1972. Under Bernstein, the YPCs were eventually translated and syndicated to over forty countries.26 For example, YPC programs were broadcast in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Argentina, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand.27 On the international popularity of the YPCs, Englander states, ―From Hungary it was reported that the Young People Concerts were doing as well as The Flintstones and better than Bonanza.‖28 It should be noted that in addition to television, CBS also broadcast the YPCs in the US over CBS radio.29 At the outset, periodicals in New York City reported the Carnegie Hall YPCs as they always had—as a local concert. In contrast, newspapers across the country published YPC reviews as a national television event. Reviews were diverse, but generally positive. Bernstein was often lauded for elevating music appreciation and enriching the cultural life of America by directly addressing American youths.

22 Abram Chasins quoted in David Ewen, Leonard Bernstein: A Biography for Young People (Philadelphia: Chilton, 1960), 113. 23 Rees, 16-17. 24 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 131. In his Wall Street Journal article, ―In the Fray: Earnest and Gone, Middlebrow Culture Inspired America,‖ Terry Teachout states that CBS was the biggest of the three main commercial television channels in 1958 (26 September 2002). By the late 1950s, television networks generally strove to produce their own programs. William Boddy discusses in his book, Fifties Television: The Industry and its Critics (Urbana: Illinois, 1990), that this was in contrast to the earlier, prevailing model inherited from radio where programs were developed and produced by advertising agencies (168). Instead, advertising agencies now focused on producing commercials. 25 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 343. Bernstein was paid eleven thousand dollars for each show. 26 Though unstated, Chapin is obviously relying on Englander‘s essay in Leonard Bernstein: The Television Work when he estimates an international syndication of ―more than forty countries.‖ Secrest is more conservative and thinks international syndication reached twenty-nine countries. 27 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 12. 28 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 34. 29 Val Adams, ―CBS Lists Bernstein and N.Y. Philharmonic,‖ 15 September 1961. 9

Bernstein was soon hailed as ―America‘s Music Teacher.‖30 The YPCs received over sixty awards including Emmys and Peabodys and entered popular American culture in surprising ways. 31, For example, they were ―parodied on nighttime comedies; cartoons appeared in magazines; and there were references to Beethoven and Bernstein in Peanuts.‖32 Figure 1 is a humorous example of Bernstein caricatured in a 1961 edition of the New Yorker.

Figure 1: Bernstein New Yorker Cartoon33

30 Rozen, ―The Contributions of Leonard Bernstein,‖ 2. 31 Bernstein‘s YPCs received over 50 awards. Englander lists the following: ―Emmys, Peabodys, Edisons, Christophers, Sigma Alpha Iotas, Ohio States, et al‖ (―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 34). Gelleny also lists the following; awards from the Ohio State University Institute for Education by Radio and Television, Saturday Review, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and international recognition from the Prix Jeunesse in Munich and the International Television Festival in Prague (Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 60). 32 Chapin, 59; Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 34. 33 The New Yorker, 9 December 1961, 49. 10

Music Appreciation in America: Ideals for educating youth and imparting to children the knowledge of music as a high and lofty art have had a long history in America. Early in the nineteenth century, as notions of a morally superior musical canon developed from age-old distinctions between high and low culture, American society began to esteem music appreciation as a key addition in any upright and civilized life.34 Although popular music education was present in eighteenth-century America in the form of religious singing schools, it was through the efforts of Lowell Mason and Samuel A. Eliot that music gained an established place in American public education, beginning in Boston in 1838.35 At the turn of the century, American music appreciation generally stressed an understanding of standard notation, facility on an instrument, and the ability to perceive basic musical forms.36 After World War One, music appreciation was aimed more frequently at an interested, but passive middle class. Whereas nineteenth century approaches to music appreciation emphasized notation, twentieth-century teachers used recordings and broadcasts to show that art music ―could be approached as if it were popular.‖37 Teachers of music appreciation began to emphasize public admiration for art music over the individual‘s ability to perform; they wanted their audiences to value a body of supposed ―classics‖ instead of mastering musical facts.38 Generally, great performers were lauded over contemporary composers. For example, Arturo Toscanini was an Italian immigrant to the USA who reached unprecedented public admiration by conducting and championing a select canon of ―great music.‖39

34 Michael Broyles, Music of the Highest Class: Elitism and Populism in Antebellum Boston (New Haven: Yale, 1992), 1. Historically, the idea of discrete high and low cultures was rooted in the cultural differences between the high and low classes (e.g. music, art, literature, dress, etc.). Class discriminations had characterized European life for centuries from the earliest feudal compacts through the Enlightenment and even into early colonies of the New World. Broyles also explains the popularity of nineteenth-century lectures on music, usually religious in tone and subsequently published for broad dissemination (28-29). 35 Broyles, 30. 36 Horowitz ―Professor Lenny,‖ 1993. 37 William Brooks, ―Music in America: An Overview (Part 2),‖ in The Cambridge History of American Music, ed. David Nicholls (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 259. 38 A paradox common to American music studies lies between the egalitarian impulses and elitist aspirations of the American public. While certain music styles and personalities are elevated and considered superior, the appreciation for such is also considered a democratic right. 39 Joseph Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini: A Social History of American Concert Life (Berkeley: California, 1987), 3. Toscanni was even esteemed as ―High Priest of the music appreciation movement in the 30s and 40s.‖ 11

In his essay ―Professor Lenny,‖ Horowitz explains the economic benefits for a musical canon.40 By elevating certain composers and performers, NBC/RCA and their employees (e.g. Toscanini and Walter Damrosch) created a market for definitive recordings and record collections. This cult-like, simplistic, and market-driven manifestation of music appreciation was once denigrated by Virgil Thomson as the ―Music Appreciation Racket,‖ and Bernstein made the destruction of the racket a hallmark of his career.41 In Bernstein‘s words, ―It is, in the main, a racket, because it is in the main specious and commercial. It uses every device to sell music…in order to keep the music business humming.‖42 Bernstein‘s motives for music education were, in the main, altruistic and not profit driven.43 With the advent of radio, music education that was aimed at the masses took to the airwaves. For example, from 1928 to 1942, NBC hired Walter Damrosch to host the ―Music Appreciation Hour.‖ As with Schelling, there are parallels between Damrosch and Bernstein. Rees writes, ―Both Damrosch and Bernstein were trail-breakers in mass media music education, the former broadcasting the first talks on music over nationwide radio.‖44 Damrosch became a North American cultural icon, known for a warm, fatherly tone in teaching and for his elevation of European art music traditions. The ―Music Appreciation Hour‖ included lectures on the most famous works of classical music and was broadcast during the school day for use by teachers in schools. Specifically designed textbooks and worksheets were provided by NBC for classroom use to accompany the program. By 1937, the ―Music Appreciation Hour‖ supposedly reached seven million students in seventy thousand schools and an additional three million adults. Gelleny suggests that Bernstein may have ―perceived himself to be Damrosch‘s heir in the field of music appreciation.‖ 45 It is striking that Bernstein, like Damrosch, began many YPCs by stating warmly, ―Hello again, my dear young friends.‖ For example, to begin the program ―What is Impressionism‖ (aired 11/23/1961), Bernstein effused: ―It feels great to be back with all my good young friends in this hall, and all over the country; and I‘d like to say a

40 Horowitz, ―Professor Lenny,‖ 1993. 41 Richard Kostelanetz, Virgil Thomson: A Reader (New York: Routledge, 2002), 38-44. 42 Leonard Bernstein, The Joy of Music (Pompton Plains: Amadeus, 2004), 13-14. 43 Bernstein‘s altruistic vision for the arts in public American life is described in Chapter 4. 44 Rees, 22. 45 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts, 87. 12

specially warm hello to our new friends up North in Canada.‖46 Furthermore, like the school day applications of Damrosch‘s lectures, in 1965, the YPCs were produced on 16mm film and lent to schools for free. Funding for this generous project was provided by the Bell Telephone System.47 Most early attempts at music appreciation neglected modern and American music and placed major emphasis on European traditions. On the conservatism of twentieth-century music appreciation, Larry Starr writes, Post-war Americans certainly craved culture, but it was the established, sanctioned culture of the ―classics.‖ This was the great era of ―music appreciation,‖ in which the appreciation of twentieth-century music played a small role, that of American music a smaller role yet.48

Although many were beginning to question the validity of a musical hierarchy, the cultural divide between high and low art culture was a dominant factor in twentieth-century American music appreciation. Through the innovative work of Leonard Bernstein and the Young People’s Concerts television series, however, this paradigm was challenged and replaced.49 Radio and The Arts in America: In a 1927 speech, NBC president David Sarnoff observed that the potential for media technology to influence and educate was unmatched. With prophetic passion, Sarnoff proclaimed that radio would disseminate ―the supreme music, education and entertainment of the country.‖50 Education and free access to information were viewed as ideal elements in a democratic nation; the best citizens are those individuals who are best informed. Despite these early ideals, radio programming soon degenerated to a state of predominantly ―colloquial fare‖ and censored news.51 As a corrective measure, a 1930s congressional amendment hoped to set aside twenty-five percent of America‘s radio frequencies for nonprofit broadcasting but failed.52 Additionally, the Federal Communications Commission

46 Unless otherwise stated, quotations from specific YPC programs are quoted from the latest manifestation of the program script. All scripts are available online at the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection, (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/bernstein/index.html). 47 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts, 3. 48 Larry Starr, ―Tonal Traditions in Art Music from 1920-1960,‖ in The Cambridge History of American Music, ed. David Nicholls (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 484. 49 Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s ideals for how music should be presented pedagogically and understood by the general public are expounded in Chapter 4. 50 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 151. 51 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 152. 52 The so-called Wagner-Hatfield amendment proposed to alter the Communications Act of 1934 and dedicate twenty-five percent of all radio channels to non-profit organizations. The amendment was defeated in the Senate. 13

(FCC) was created by the US government in 1934 to oversee all use of the radio spectrum in the US, including radio broadcasts and eventually television. The threat of governmental encroachment in the largely free-market media industry spurred the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to strengthen and expand their educational broadcast programs, often through music.53 With the increased presence and attempted popularization of classical music on the airwaves, radio stations began featuring music appreciation programs specifically targeting American children. Despite these well-intended steps, the high culture content of radio lessened with the passing years. Horowitz writes: ―When concert and opera broadcasts diminished in the forties, so did the music appreciation shows: Damrosch‘s went off the air in 1942; by 1950, there were practically no concerts left on commercial network stations.‖54 But, as the cultural content of radio waned, a new and exciting medium was poised to begin a meteoric rise in popularity. Television and the Arts in America: In the 1940s, television ownership was limited to the rich, but, over the next decade, it became much more common in middle-class American homes.55 The commercial television industry had officially begun at the 1939 World‘s Fair in New York, where The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) featured television and then began limited broadcasts that year. It was not until the close of World War II, however, and after new FCC rulings that television was able to expand into a strong market position. For example in 1946 RCA manufactured five thousand television sets, but by 1950 it manufactured seven million TV sets.56 The beginning of classical music on television is officially traced to 20 March 1948, 6:30 EST. 57 On that day, after fierce negotiations between the American Federation of Musicians and

53 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 197. By 1939 there were four main radio shows featuring high culture broadcasts at times most accessible to the American population: the Metropolitan Opera and NBC Symphony on Saturdays and the New York Philharmonic and ―Ford Hour‖ on Sundays. It is estimated that the combined audience for these four cultural programs included over 10 million American families. 54 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 205. 55 Barbara Moore, Marvin Bensman, and Jim Van Dyke, Prime-Time Television: A Concise History (Westport: Praeger, 2006), 40. 56 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 271. 57 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 271-72. Also, in ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ Englander writes: ―Before 1958, there had been very few hour-long orchestral concerts on television‖ (32). 14

NBC, approximately 350,000 Americans tuned in to the smiling face of NBC founder David Sarnoff, who introduced the first television appearance of music media giant Arturo Toscanini.58 Tonight, for the first time in the history of this great science and art of radio, we are televising the great music of Wagner, the great interpretive genius of Toscanini, and the playing of his gifted artists in his orchestra. Never before in the history of the world was this possible. 59

Toscanini conducted ten televised programs from 1948 to his retirement in 1954. By then there were over 20 million television sets in the United States and a viewing audience that encompassed approximately forty-four percent of the population.60 As Toscanini ended his television appearances in 1954, Bernstein made his television debut on the Omnibus program, and there was likely a transfer of authority from Toscanini to Bernstein in the public mind.61 Bernstein soon completely filled Toscanini‘s high-flying role in American culture as the musical expert—America‘s Maestro, but with significant additions.62 Not only did Bernstein greatly increase the number of televised concerts, he also offered ―significant musical pedagogy‖ for the first generation of children growing up on a steady diet of television.63 Furthermore, Bernstein was young, handsome, glib, and American. Bernstein was also American-trained and represented the aspirations of an equally young America that sought to

58 Tim Page, ―Leonard Bernstein and Television: Envisioning a Higher Purpose,‖ in Leonard Bernstein: American Original, ed. Burton Bernstein and Barbara Haws (New York: Harper Collins, 2008), 86. At this time television ownership and broadcasting was concentrated in the New York area, but growing in popularity in other affluent urban areas throughout the USA. Page continues, ―When Toscanini began his historic telecasts with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1948, there were no more than 350,000 sets in the entire country, and more than half of those were in the New York area.‖ 59 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 271. Sarnoff had to word his introduction carefully as CBS had actually beaten NBC to the world record by ninety minutes with a concert by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra begun at 5:00pm, EST. As JoEllen Fisherkeller writes in Growing Up With Television: Everyday Learning Among Young Adolescents (Philadelphia: Temple, 2002), many people had hoped that TV would succeed where radio had failed. And initially, television promised to be a ―people‘s university‖ where citizens could learn to better partake of American democracy and engage with educational topics heretofore reserved for the rich and privileged. But as with radio, there was significant debate over whether television should be overseen by the government or if it should be left to the free market (10). 60 Page, 86. 61 See also, John Briggs, Leonard Bernstein: The Man, His Work, and His World (Cleveland: World, 2007), 228. ―Leonard Bernstein‘s first season with the Philharmonic set the pattern which others have followed. The orchestra‘s playing season steadily lengthened; TV and recording sessions brought added income; subscriptions flourished as they had hardly done since the days of Toscanini.‖ 62 Elsewhere Bernstein was also lauded as ―America‘s Music Teacher‖ (e.g. Rozen, ―The Contributions of Leonard Bernstein to Music Education,‖ 2, 53) 63 Kyle Gann, American Music in the Twentieth Century (New York: Schirmer, 1997), 64. 15

assume cultural leadership from a decimated and slowly recovering Europe.64 In the words of Dimitris Mitropolus, Bernstein‘s predecessor at the NYP: ―Bernstein‘s appointment… was a sign that America was so grown up musically that it could offer such an important post to an American-born and American-trained musician.‖65 The number of programs offering some measure of classical music continued to increase as television sales and viewership skyrocketed in the 1950s, generally regarded as the Golden Age of television.66 At this time, television programming schedules began to reflect normalized American life after the turmoil of the previous decade.67 For example, by the 1950s television was considered a family medium, and TV sets were commonly placed in American living rooms. Programming schedules reflected the perceived typical suburban household schedule, e.g. children‘s shows were programmed in the late afternoon, cooking shows in the mid to late morning, movies and sports were shown in the late evening and on the weekends. Regarding typical 1950s programming, Moore writes, [It was] a largely mythical era when dad put on his necktie and went off to the office (he would continue to wear it at home after work) and mom stayed home, cooking and cleaning in pearls and a pleated dress, with every hair perfectly in place, like Donna Reed.68

By the 1960s, 90% of American homes had a TV set, and televised subject matter developed and began to address a more urban audience—as opposed to just affluent, suburban audiences. This was a time of congressional hearings, social upheaval, and a renewed call by the federal government and American society in general for the media industry to program in favor of societal renewal and the cultural benefit of all Americans.69 The FCC was a major agent to

64 Horowitz writes, ―As TV time capsules, [the YPCs] also explore an incidental topic scarcely apparent when these shows were new: Bernstein himself as the embodiment of America's musical aspirations and disappointments over a period of two decades‖ (―Professor Lenny‖). 65 Peynado, 52. 66 Moore, Bensman, and Van Dyke, 41. By the 1950s television was considered a family medium, and TV sets were commonly placed in American living rooms. Boddy writes: ―The 1950s is generally seen as the formative decade of American television, when the medium moved from its scientific origins to its place as a ubiquitous consumer good, developed its unique program forms and production practices, and discovered its regulatory constraints and commercial potential‖ (1990, 15). Interestingly, most regulations and legislative questions affecting television in the 1950s were rooted in the 1930s and 40s. 67 Page, 87. 68 Moore, Bensman, and Van Dyke, 41. 69 One of the most debated television scandals of the late 1950s was over producers coaching contestants on televised game shows. The industry was forced to compensate for this disgrace even into the 1960s. On the societal and media context for the YPCs, Jack Gottlieb, Bernstein‘s assistant commented: ―The 1960s were a time of great social upheaval, with a moral character quite unlike that of previous decades. Television itself was among the major 16

this end, but also, some broadcasters felt a moral obligation to include cultural content on their stations. Teachout writes, Back in 1958, there were only three networks, and the FCC obliged them to devote a certain amount of time to high culture. Yet even without government oversight, I suspect they would have found time for Bernstein, because they were run by men who believed they had an obligation to offer their customers a not-so-occasional taste for something more elevating than ―The Beverly Hillbillies.‖70

Television had also suffered in the late 1950s from a decrease in program diversity. In search of high ratings, networks had settled on several formulaic program designs that they thought the majority of viewers wanted to see. In 1961, David Davidson, chairman of the Writer‘s Guild of America testified to the FCC: ―Never in history have so many writers been paid so much for writing so badly.‖71 The studios that produced these predictable primetime shows were denigrated as ―assembly line operations‖ and ―sausage factories.‖72 It was in this atmosphere of discontent with television programming that the new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Newton Minow, made a famous speech on 9 May 1961 in which he referred to television as a ―vast wasteland.‖73 Minow continued to run a controversial campaign to enforce previously disregarded FCC regulations and improve television programming standards.74 He stated, One editorialist in the trade press wrote that ―the FCC of the New Frontier is going to be one of the toughest FCCs in the history of broadcast regulation.‖ If he meant that we intend to enforce the law in the public interest, let me make it perfectly clear that he is right—we do.75 factors contributing to the unrest: you only have to recall the funeral of John F. Kennedy and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago‖ (Editors note to Leonard Bernstein, Young People’s Concerts, xv). 70 Teachout, 2002. 71 Boddy, 196. 72 Boddy, 196. 73 Minow‘s address shocked many who assumed that his appointment by President John F. Kennedy would mean business as usual (Boddy, 225). Regarding the 1961-62 television season, Minow‘s language was more appeasing and said that the programming ―signaled significant new hope for the industry‖ (Boddy, 228). 74 The FCC had lost much of its moral authority during the 1950s by consistently ruling in favor of the major networks, despite mounting evidence of underhanded and monopolistic business dealings (Boddy, 123). A 1957 essay asked, ―Who Will Regulate the Regulator?‖ ―The FCC seems to have fallen into such a morass of inconsistency and ad hoc judgments that there now seems to be almost no rule of law in parceling out these fabulously valuable public assets [i.e. airwave bandwidth allocations]‖ (quoted in Boddy, 215). Despite the efforts of Newton Minow, as the twentieth century progressed the FCC lost more and more of its regulatory powers over American media. Contributing factors included free market sentiments and an increased lack of federal funding (Fisherkeller, 11). 75 Newton Minow and Craig Lamay, Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and The First Amendment (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995), 186. 17

Minow continued by affirming a statement from Governor Collins, then president of the National Association of Broadcasters. Broadcasting, to serve the public interest, must have a soul and a conscience, a burning desire to excel, as well as to sell; the urge to build the character, citizenship, and intellectual stature of people, as well as to expand the gross national product…. A much better job can be done, and should be done.76

In direct response to Minow‘s campaign to improve the airways and to increase television program diversity, CBS decided to move Bernstein‘s YPC program to a primetime slot, Saturday evening at 7:30pm. Much like the responses of radio in the 1930s to government pressures, CBS was responding to Minow‘s criticism of ―the culturally unrewarding aspect of television.‖77 The presence of the YPC on primetime television was one way for CBS to promote American cultural life and to show that American broadcasting was not a vast wasteland.78 A 1961 article in the New York Times declared: ―For the current week, at least, the television industry seems determined to make the Federal Communications Commission eat its words about a ‗vast wasteland;‘ moreover, it is succeeding.‖79 In conclusion, it is observed that music appreciation and concerts targeting young people have been a staple of American cultural life and integral to the history of the NYP. Under

76 Minow, 187. 77 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 135. At this time broadcasters were overseen by the FCC, but not directly managed. It was up to the individual companies to show that they had some interest in the common weal and not solely in advertising income. And showing goodwill toward the public was in their favor: In the late 1950s, the major networks were under intense governmental pressures with regards to monopoly and cut-throat business practices. Boddy writes: ―The scrutiny of network practices reached a peak in 1955-57, with concurrent investigations by the Senate Commerce Committee (with two years of hearings producing seven volumes of testimony consuming 3,500 pages); the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee (3,400 pages); a Justice Department suit against NBC in December 1956 concerning its station swap with Westinghouse; a joint Justice Department-FBI probe of ―network practices relating to the sale of network time and shows;‖ and the investigation by the FCC‘s office of Network Study under Roscoe Barrow (122-23). 78 Similar efforts by the other two networks ABC and NBC are described by Rose: ―ABC brought back The Voice of Firestone, a somewhat stodgy variety show featuring classical music, which it had previously canceled. NBC presented a few experimental arts programs , in addition to its regular telecasts of distinguished series like The Bell Telephone Hour and The Hallmark Hall of Fame‖ (Televising the Performing Arts, 7) Overall, Rose considers these efforts ―halfhearted.‖ He continues, ―Whatever glory and prestige [artistic] telecasts…might bring was of little value when compared with the tens of millions of dollars to be reaped from mainstream, Hollywood-based series production.‖ In the related field of classical recordings, Bernstein signed a contract with Columbia Records that (in addition to vast amounts of money) gave him complete freedom over his choice of repertoire. Burton writes ―Giving Bernstein a free hand to choose his own repertoire was a dangerous precedent, but Goddard Lieberson‘s philosophy was that Columbia was making so much money from music in other fields that the company had a duty to take an occasional loss in the classics‖ (Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 315). 79 Jack Gould, ―TV: Bernstein Conducts,‖ New York Times, 2 December 1961. 18

Bernstein and Englander, the NYP YPCs continued a tradition of innovation and audience engagement began by Schelling and Damrosch in previous decades. Most importantly, Bernstein and Englander acted as pioneers by transferring music appreciation to television.

19

CHAPTER 2 THE 1961-62 SEASON OF YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS: The 1961-62 season of YPCs serves as an excellent case study in understanding the series as a whole, technologically, philosophically, and with regards to personnel. At this point, Bernstein was riding the crest of many and diverse successes. His Broadway hit, West Side Story, was just released worldwide in video format to rave reviews and awards.1 Bernstein had enjoyed three productive and prosperous years with the NYP. During the summer of 1961, Bernstein even traveled to Japan with the NYP and hosted musical events for American and Japanese television. On 28 February 1962, Bernstein‘s youngest child, Nina was born.2 Also in 1962, Bernstein released a collection of YPC scripts in book form which was hailed ―an unparalleled publishing project.‖3 Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts on television are among the phenomena of our age. Millions of us have wanted to relive them – to hear again the great music and the flashing insights that have transformed our old habit of ―lazy listening‖ into a richly active adventure in the joy of music.4

By this season, Bernstein had hosted fifteen YPCs and appeared on many other televised programs including the Omnibus program ten times, Lincoln Presents four times, Ford Presents eight times, as well as other television concert events.5 The 1961-62 season was one of transition and development for the NYP. This was the last season before they moved their base of operations from Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center.6 Also, at this time Bernstein had just signed an unprecedented seven-year contract as NYP Music Director.7

1 Domestically, West Side Story was the second highest grossing film of 1961. It won ten Academy Awards from eleven nominated categories including ―Best Picture.‖ The accompanying soundtrack made more money than any other movie album before it. 2 At the beginning of the 1961-62 season, Bernstein‘s oldest child, Jamie was nine and Alexander was six. Another significant family event was the seventieth birthday of Bernstein‘s father, Samuel on 7 January 1962. 3 ―Announcing An Unparalleled Publishing Project,‖ New York Times, 1 July 1962. 4 ―Announcing An Unparalleled Publishing Project,‖ New York Times, 1 July 1962. 5 During this season, Bernstein received a lot of press attention, especially for his public disagreement with Canadian pianist Glenn Gould over an interpretation of Brahms‘ D minor Piano Concerto. Interestingly, one of the dual pianists who performed in the Young Performers YPC during this season played on Gould‘s famous Steinway, CD 318 piano. 6 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 330. Bernstein conducted the inaugural concert at the newly constructed arts complex on 9/23/1962, and the event was declared ―the most glorious premiere in the city‘s history.‖ 7 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 320. 19

Much like his sabbatical of the 1964-65 NYP season which did not affect his YPC commitments, Bernstein took a four-month break from the regular subscription concerts, but performed all contracted YPCs. It was this season that the YPCs began international syndication with shows now available in Canada. For the 1961-62 season, the show received an Emmy award for ―Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Children‘s Programming‖ and an award from the Television Producers Guild. In 1961 Bernstein was made a member in the Institute of Arts and Letters, an honor afforded the most prominent creative artists.8 Finally, for this season, CBS programmers moved the YPCs from Saturday mornings to 7:30 p.m. primetime slots.9 In order to move the YPCs to primetime, significant corporate sponsorship was necessary. The YPCs were first sponsored by the Shell Oil Company followed by the Bell System, the Polaroid Corporation, and the Kitchens of Sara Lee.10 These corporations desired association with the positive educational and artistic efforts that the YPCs represented. For example, Shell Oil only used one commercial during the hour-long broadcast, and even this was educational in tone.11 Shell‘s commercial consisted of an educational discussion by Dr. Lee DuBridge, then president of California Institute of Technology.12 Regarding the pursuit of corporate ―prestige‖ through television advertising, Boddy writes that some companies ―pursued corporate image advertising aimed at a smaller audience of higher-income groups.‖13 Although cultural and educational ―minority programming‖ was useful to the networks, the competition for high ratings

8 Bernstein constantly struggled with guilt over not composing more, and so during the summer of 1962, he spent three weeks at the MacDowell Colony working on his third symphony. 9 Englander called the move to primetime in response to Minow‘s speech a ―miracle‖ and ―an honor‖ (Englander ―No Balloons of Tap Dancers,‖ 34; Rose, Televising the Performing Arts,‖ 7). 10 Englander ―No Balloons of Tap Dancers,‖ 34. C.f. Val Adams, ―CBS May Extend Bernstein Series,‖ 6 July 1962. In appreciation for their patronage, Shell was generally provided several seats in Carnegie hall for the YPCs. And, at least for the 1961-62 season, Bernstein met with the President of Shell Oil for lunch on 31 October 1961 thus solidifying the relationship between the NYP and Shell Oil. 11 Shell was recognized at the program‘s opening: ―Shell Oil takes you to the home of the world‘s greatest musical events—Carnegie Hall in New York City…‖ At the program‘s end a voiceover proclaimed, ―From Carnegie Hall…another in the New York Philharmonic Young People‘s Concerts under the musical direction of Leonard Bernstein has been presented by Shell Oil Company …sign of a better future for you.‖ The concluding voiceover also informed the audience that this was just the first of four YPC broadcasts this season, and when the next concert would be televised. Shell‘s position as the sole television sponsor was a holdover from the mid 1950s. Originally, primetime television programs were mostly funded by a single sponsor, e.g. during the 1955-56 television season, seventy-five programs had a single sponsor and ten had multiple sponsors. By the 1961-62 season, these numbers had shifted to twenty-six vs. forty-seven. By the 1964-65 season, the change was almost complete: twelve single sponsor primetime shows vs. fifty-seven with multiple sponsors (Boddy, 159). 12 Chan Turner, ―Bernstein‘s Hour Excellent,‖ Times Union, 14 April 1962. 13 Boddy, 162. 20

and increased advertising revenue sometimes made the decision to schedule such television events difficult.14 According to the 1961-62 Nielsen National Television Index (NTI), the YPCs were popular primetime viewing almost immediately:

Table 1: 1961-62 YPC Programs and Nielson Ratings15 YPC Program: Tape Tape Air Date: Approximate Broadcast Nielson Nielson Date: Time: Air Time: Time: Points:16 Share:17 What Is Impressionism? 10/14/61 12-1 p.m. 11/23/61 - 60 min. 7:30 p.m. Thursday The Road To Paris 11/11/61 12-1 p.m. 1/18/62 - 60 min. 7:30 p.m. 8 12 Wednesday (Unknown, Probably a 1/21/62 - 60 min. 7:30 p.m. 9 15 Rebroadcast) Sunday Happy Birthday, Igor 3/24/62 12-1 p.m. 3/26/62 - 60 min. 7:30 p.m. 9 17 Stravinsky Monday Young Performers #3 4/7/62 12-1 p.m. 4/14/62 - 60 min. 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Additionally, Bernstein‘s datebook lists other YPC television broadcasts this season: ―What is Impressionism‖ (12/1/61 at 7:30 p.m.), ―Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky‖ (3/26/62 at 7:30 p.m.), ―Young Performers #3‖ (4/13/62 at 7:30 p.m.). Throughout their run on primetime, each YPC was viewed by four million viewers on average.18 Some programs were more popular than others, for example, ―Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals‖ (aired 11/29/65) had an estimated television audience of 6.5 million viewers.19 These numbers are impressive, but do not prove an overwhelming television patronage. Gelleny writes,

14 As a result of an emphasis on ratings by the networks, television program diversity declined throughout the 1950s and outraged many critics (Boddy, 187). 15 The Nielsen ratings printed in this chart come from Robert Bailey, An Examination of Prime Time Network Television Special Programs, 1948 to 1966 (New York: Arno, 1979), 279-280. Unfortunately, Nielsen ratings are not available for all YPCs during the 1961-62 season, but the displayed numbers do provide an adequate sense for primetime YPC viewership at this time. The episode from 1/21/62 is listed generically as ―Young People‘s Concert.‖ 16 The Nielsen Ratings were developed and used from televisions earliest days. Although data collection methods have evolved, the primary purpose of Nielsen ratings is to gauge audience size and composition. Nielsen Rating Points designate the percentage of household viewership out of all households in the United States. 17 The Nielsen Share designates the percentage of televisions tuned into a particular program from all television sets in the USA. 18 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 51. 19 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television,‖ 56. 21

In 1965, for instance, top-ten weekly programs such as Bonanza or Batman could respectively attract audiences of over 17 million and 12 million. Moreover, many of the hour-long prime-time music specials during the 1960s, which provide perhaps a closer point of comparison, also boasted higher ratings, since popular entertainers such as Perry Como or Frank Sinatra could routinely draw in audiences of 10 million.20

Eventually, the YPCs were moved from evening primetime slots to Sunday afternoons, but they took many dedicated fans with them.21 Bernstein claimed that he aimed most shows at the typical thirteen-year-old adolescent, and, overall, the YPCs were marketed to children, but they also enjoyed substa ntial popularity among adults. 22 In fact, after the first YPC season, a survey found that sixty-six percent of viewers were adults.23 In 1964, CBS stated that eleven percent of YPC viewers were children, six percent were teenagers, and eighty-three percent were adults (thirty-seven percent men and forty-six percent women).24 According to many people involved in YPC production, fan mail was primarily from adult viewers.25 In a 1961 edition of Variety Magazine, Landry wrote: ―While his concerts are presumably aimed at the youngsters, his contagion and enthusiasm are picked up by adults as well. He provides lessons that can be profitable to all age groups, and gives music appreciation one of its most valuable boosts.‖26 Even YPC performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center were well attended by adults, albeit not in the same proportions listed above. Gelleny argues that the concerts evolved from primarily targeting children to programs aimed at adults and ―a more general television audience.‖27 Another interpretation is that the show simply grew up with the original juvenile audience. It may also have been that Bernstein unconsciously developed YPC content in more

20 Gelleny ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 51. 21 Chapin, 59. 22 Rees, 28. Also, Gelleny writes: ―A youthful image was also propagated by other means, including much of the early publicity surrounding the Young People‘s Concerts. Contemporary magazines such as Time and Newsweek, for instance, pictured Bernstein signing autographs for an eager group of children. The corresponding articles proceeded to discuss the series from the perspective of a new, ―up-beat‖ music show for the younger crowd, although some hints were dropped that parents might also find it interesting.‖ (―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 53) C.f. ―Lennies Kindergarten,‖ Time, 17 March 1958; and ―So the Young May Feel,‖ Newsweek, 2 March 1959. 23 Adams, ―CBS May Extend Bernstein Series,‖ 6 July 1962. 24 Val Adams, ―Young People‘s Concerts are for Young in Heart,‖ 30 August 1964. 25 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 135. 26 Robert Landry, ―Young People‘s Concert,‖ Variety, 12 April 1961, 27, quoted in Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 59. 27 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 55. 22

complex ways as his daughter Jamie grew.28 Whatever the case, the YPCs were loved and appreciated by all segments of its audience. The YPCs had promised to be a democratizing force, to benefit children across America and not just those who happened to live in New York City and could afford tickets. With the increased primetime audience beginning with the 1961- 62 season, the YPCs now clearly presented music appreciation to a much more diverse audience. An educational focus distinguished the YPCs from typical primetime programming. Although classical music and other artistic performances were televised on popular variety programs, primetime viewers were not usually challenged to follow any significant lines of reasoning, engage with new philosophical or historical questions, or to stretch themselves beyond their typical musical preferences. As Gelleny explains, ―it was a testament to Bernstein‘s popular drawing power that he was not only able to attract four million viewers, but also keep them from switching the dial.‖29 Overall, the YPCs can be divided into three categories; 1) programs exploring the fundamentals of music, 2) programs celebrating composers and their works, and 3) programs featuring young performers.30 The 1961-62 season provides an excellent survey of all three YPC types. Each program opened with a camera sequence produced by Roger Englander that showed excited children running up the stairs to Carnegie Hall and a voiceover by Dan MacDonald. When the NYP moved to Lincoln Center in 1962, the opening remained essentially the same, just at the new location. The first YPC of the 1961-62 season was ―What is Impressionism?‖ Here Bernstein focused on describing a major stylistic period while highlighting key composers, particularly Debussy and Ravel, defining concepts, and characteristic styles. Gelleny notes that this type of program was technically oriented. It was from this first type of concert that Bernstein tended to give his longest and most technically-oriented talks, which were frequently illustrated by numerous music examples…. Despite the fact that his talks were generally longer, such programs generally represented some of Bernstein‘s best and most original commentary for the series, since he was able to give free reign to his pedagogical instincts.31

28 Gelleny, Leonard Bernstein on Television,‖ 57. C.f. Secrest, 247. 29 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 53. 30 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television‖, 49. 31 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 29. 23

As was his custom, Bernstein titled the program interrogatively. In explaining musical impressionism, Bernstein drew connections with impressionistic artwork and painters such as Monet, Degas, and Renoir. While he explained, an enlarged impressionistic painting was held by Bernstein for the audience in Carnegie Hall to see while another was displayed on camera for the television audience. Bernstein also connected the French exploitation of innovative chords to jazz music in America. Throughout the musical portions of this program, the cameras featured diverse and engaging shots with rapid-fire speed and clear-cut accuracy. In every instance, camera transitions devised by Roger Englander showed the home viewer clearly what is happening in the musical score. Englander was even honored by name in the press: Some note should be made of the expert camera work that goes into these productions. Roger Englander, the director, moved his cameras into the Carnegie Hall audience at periodic intervals to capture beguiling close-ups of the faces of children, absorbed in concentration. It is just one small technical aspect that makes the concerts even more memorable for the viewer.32

And since Englander‘s cameras were distributed throughout the hall, the home viewer saw the show from every perspective—even from within the orchestra. Another benefit the home audience enjoyed was seeing Bernstein up-close, and thus sensing a more personal connection to the man and music. A fourth portion of the Impressionist program was not televised due to the constraints of time. Bernstein‘s script ended after a selection from Ravel‘s Daphnis and Chloe, but the Carnegie Hall audience was treated to Debussy‘s Saxophone Rhapsody conducted by Seiji Osawa, one of Bernstein‘s assistant conductors. The second YPC program, ―The Road to Paris‖ described French music and its impact on the American music scene. Bernstein explained, Take George Gershwin, for instance, the most popular and famous composer America has ever produced. He was always visiting Paris—not necessarily to study, but because he liked it, because it attracted him like a magnet. And his music shows it, even in the title of this piece of his we‘re going to play—An American in Paris.

In this program, Bernstein made much of Gershwin‘s international exploits and especially his compositions incorporating jazz. Here and throughout the YPCs, Bernstein challenged notions of

32 C. J. Skreen, ―Bernstein Concert Is Memorable TV Outing,‖ Seattle Times, Jan 19, 1962. 24

a musical hierarchy and a perceived cultural divide between high and low art which many had inherited in the 1960s. Another composer influenced by Paris was Ernest Bloch. In Bloch‘s Schelomo, Bernstein relates the music to both Christian and Jewish religious traditions and points out the name means peace. He then dedicates the song to the cause of world peace. While describing the music and pointing out salient features, Bernstein made specific use of his orchestra. Instead of reducing orchestral examples and playing each on the piano as he talked, Bernstein had the NYP play them and presented the music as his audience would hear it. Bernstein understood that it is better to say ―you will hear ______‖ and then have the audience experience the sound as they will actually hear it. Furthermore, by using the orchestral instruments to perform each musical example, Bernstein gave his audience one more opportunity to see and hear all the instruments of the orchestra in action. Bernstein‘s emphasis on French music and French styles in these first two programs is notable considering he programmed a series of concerts with the NYP that same season entitled ―The Gallic Approach.‖ It may be that Bernstein was reliving or celebrating his own road to Paris. He had visited France during the 1940s and befriended French pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger via Aaron Copland. Significantly, Boulanger was in New York in 1962 at Bernstein‘s invitation to be the first female conductor of the NYP. Boulanger even joined Bernstein at the hospital the night his daughter Nina was born. 33 ―The Road to Paris‖ was a success due to the combined powers of Bernstein‘s expressive conducting and Englander‘s sophisticated camera work. Both elements communicated the electricity of the music and contributed to the series‘ ―universal‖ appeal, such as in Manuel De Falla‘s colorful work, Three Cornered Hat.34 One critic noted, The conductor‘s opening youth lecture last November covered French impressionism, a turn-of-the-century movement led by such composers as Debussy and Ravel. Last night‘s hour attempted to show the influence of the impressionistic techniques on three later composers from three different cultural backgrounds…. [Bernstein] perspired profusely and his hair flew around him as if he was in a rage. Theatrical conducting appeals to many listeners because the conductor reflects the music.35

33 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 127. 34 Jose. ―Young People‘s Concerts with Leonard Bernstein, N.Y. Philharmonic.‖ Variety, 13 December 1961. ―This particular Young People‘s Concert was unusual inasmuch as it was telecast via tape on primetime, which made it available to both adults and youngsters. Who would get more out of a concert of this caliber is difficult to assess, but its appeal was universal.‖ 35 Charles Staff, ―Genius and Ham Combine for Good Hour of Music,‖ Indianapolis Times, 19 January 1962. 25

The third YPC program was ―Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky.‖36 Here Bernstein described a modern composer at work in America. Bernstein enjoyed celebrating specific composers in programs intended to coincide with their birthdays.37 In this type of program, he offered his own opinions on the composer‘s life and music, and Bernstein had nothing but praise for Stravinsky.38 Later, during the YPC ―The Sound of an Orchestra‖ (aired 12/14/1965) Bernstein declared that ―Stravinsky is the greatest living composer today.‖ Throughout the YPCs, Bernstein proved repeatedly his allegiance to modern music and especially those works and composers within the realms of tonality.39 Bernstein had no doubt that younger members of his audience would be able to understand Stravinsky‘s music. We‘re going to play Petrouchka, not only because it‘s exciting music, but especially because it is so close to young people and to children. Stravinsky himself has said that his music is loved and understood best by children. I don‘t know if this is strictly true, but it‘s certainly true of his Petrouchka….

It may be that Bernstein was flattering his hearers in order to gain a more receptive audience. Either way, Bernstein heightened the anticipation for this music by describing it with typical childhood references (e.g. toys, puppets, and an alternate ―doll world‖), breaking the music and narration into short digestible sections, and alluding to a ―surprise ending.‖ While Bernstein described the three puppets in Petrouchka, Englander displayed pictures of each for the television audience.40 And, as always, Englander provided rapid-fire camera shots that followed Bernstein‘s narration as it unfolded and caught even the smallest musical details.41 This fresh approach and effective presentation of twentieth-century music was lauded by the media. In Louisville, KY William Mootz wrote,

36 It may be that Bernstein‘s championing of Stravinsky was another tip of the hat to Nadia Boulanger this season. Boulanger was a longtime associate of and collaborator with Stravinsky. 37 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 30. For example, Bernstein ―hosted‖ birthday party YPCs for Aaron Copland (aired 2/12/1960) and Dmitri Shostakovich (aired 1/5/1966). 38 Bernstein was invited to the Kennedy White House for a dinner party celebrating Stravinsky‘s eightieth birthday. Burton writes, ―When Stravinsky had departed, the Bernsteins were among the small group invited to the family quarters. Bernstein was so excited he sat himself down in President Kennedy‘s favorite rocking chair, oblivious to Felicia‘s asides in Spanish urging him to make way for the President‖ (Leonard Bernstein, 320). 39 Bernstein did note that Stravinsky was versed in twelve-tone composition, but did not include any of his atonal works as musical examples on this YPC program. 40 Englander also introduced the title and composer by superimposing the text over a picture of Bernstein conducting the orchestra. 41 For example, at 15:18 Englander captures two subtle strikes on the triangle. 26

Bernstein opened the program with a brief survey of Stravinsky‘s life, illustrating with musical examples the three principal styles that have dominated his career…. The conductor then turned his orchestra loose with an exciting performance of ―Petrouchka.‖ Before each of the suite‘s four scenes, he outlined the story of the ballet. His narration must have added interest for those unfamiliar with one of the most original and vital scores of the 20th Century.42

And in Cincinnati, Ohio Mary Wood enthused: ―Opening with a few words and some musical excerpts to illustrate the many facets of Stravinsky‘s musical genius, Bernstein devoted the rest of the hour to Stravinsky‘s delightful, imaginative ballet score, Petrouchka.‖43 The fourth and final YPC program of the 1961-62 season was ―Young Performers No. 3.‖ This type of program had the benefit of providing both a significant performance outlet for talented young musicians and an opportunity for youthful members of Bernstein‘s audience to see other young people performing. Usually these programs did not contain significant commentary by Bernstein. Text displayed on screen for home viewers announced each title and young artist, thus each home audience member was afforded another privilege enjoyed by the Carnegie Hall viewer who held a program in hand. As with most YPCs, this program was advertised in the New York Times. For example, one advertisement displayed a large photograph of Bernstein holding a baton and read: ―New York Philharmonic Young People‘s Concert with Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Bernstein introduces some of the country‘s most gifted young musicians in this third annual concert entitled ‗Young Performers.‘ 7:30-8:30 Tonight CBS 2.‖44 ―Young Performers‖ concerts began with the third season of YPCs, and there were nine altogether under Bernstein. They were usually included every season and involved a rigorous audition process and much paperwork. An audition date would be announced in major New York newspapers, and Helen Coates, Bernstein‘s secretary (and one time piano teacher) would prescreen all applicants. Bernstein himself would oversee the callbacks. His personal notes on each young musician are extant and housed in the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress. Since auditions were held in New York City, many young performers were from the New England area. The New York Philharmonic then petitioned the city government for a permit to

42 William Mootz, ―Bernstein Salutes Career of Stravinsky,‖ Courier Journal, 27 March 1962. 43 Mary Wood, ―Bernstein, Stravinsky Boons to TV,‖ Post & Times Star, 27 March 1962. 44 New York Times, 13 April 1962. 27

hire each young musician. Each young artist received complimentary YPC tickets and an honorarium ranging from $75.00 to $100.00 depending on their age and experience. When these Young People’s Concerts programs were syndicated internationally and eventually released in video form, each young performer received royalties for their performance. Many notable twentieth-century musicians had their start on the Young People’s Concerts, e.g. André Watts (―Young Performers No. 4,‖ aired 01/15/63) and Seiji Ozawa (―Young Performers No. 3‖). At this time, Ozawa was one of Bernstein‘s assistant conductors and it is notable that he afforded this young musician an opportunity to perform in such a public venue. Bernstein had received his own big break in 1943 when as a NYP assistant conductor he substituted in place of Bruno Walter.45 The success of the 1961-62 season is confirmed by contractual talks for eight NYP shows to be televised by CBS during the 1962-63 season—and all to be broadcast in primetime slots. Four were to be the usual YPCs and the others programs consisted of NYP concerts conducted by Bernstein.46 This was an improvement of one, since there were seven Bernstein/NYP programs originally slotted for the 1961-62 season.47 In conclusion, the 1961-62 season was pivotal for Leonard Bernstein and the NYP. Looking forward, the YPCs this season were cause for excitement with the addition of significant corporate sponsorship and the possibilities of an expanded, primetime audience. Looking back, these programs were typical for Bernstein and Englander in style and content and the culmination of NYP music appreciation concerts intended for young people. In a way, this season was the end of an era and marked a historic moment before the NYP moved from Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center.

45 It may be that this generous act by Bernstein was spurred by Bruno Walter‘s recent death during this particular YPC season on 17 February 1962. 46 Adams, ―CBS May Extend Bernstein Series,‖ 6 July 1962. 47 Adams, ―CBS Lists Bernstein and N.Y. Philharmonic,‖ 15 September 1961. 28

CHAPTER 3 ROGER ENGLANDER AND “THE PHILHARMONIC COHORTS” Roger Englander: Roger Englander was integral to all YPC accomplishments, but is yet to be recognized widely for his significant role in YPC production. There is also a scarcity of biographical information on his life and career. Englander was born in Cleveland, Ohio on 23 November 1926. His education was augmented with piano lessons and participation in his school music program. Englander still remembers a high school music director who allowed him opportunities to conduct the band and orchestra. His director‘s example and these early leadership experiences were the principle reasons he considered a career in music.1 Englander did pursue music at the University of Chicago in the mid-1940s, but in a broad, liberal arts program. At that time, the University of Chicago did not stipulate that students attend classes. The only requirement was to pass cumulative, comprehensive exams at the end of term. This allowed Englander to embrace the cultural life of Chicago by taking ushering jobs for the Chicago Opera Company and the Chicago Symphony. Eventually, Englander was hired as an assistant to the General Manager of the Chicago Opera Company, Faust Cleva. While in Chicago, Englander encountered many important musicians: ―I met Gian Carlo Menotti, who staged his opera Amelia Goes to the Ball there. I also was an assistant to the conductors Bruno Walter and Erich Leinsdorf.‖2 In classes, Englander interacted with twentieth- century luminaries like Aaron Copland, Arnold Schoenberg, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.3 While at the University of Chicago, Englander wrote for the campus newspaper and joined the Renaissance Society of Chicago. 4 Englander recalls that the latter was his ―first entrepreneurial job.‖5 The Renaissance Society sponsored art exhibits with paintings by Chicago students and more established regional artists. Englander started a branch for the group at the university and expanded the series to include dance. Englander gained firsthand experience by producing many programs—including Ruth Page‘s ballet, Billy Sunday.6

1 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 21 November 2008. 2 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 120. 3 Roger Englander, Opera: What’s All The Screaming About? (New York: Walker, 1983), 12. 4 The Renaissance Society of Chicago is still in existence (see: www.renaissancesociety.org). 5 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 119. 6 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 119. 29

The artistic series also included a program on ―the role of the composer.‖7 During the previous summer of 1946, Englander had spent time at Tanglewood and met Leonard Bernstein.8 As it happened, Bernstein was in Chicago and made an appearance at Englander‘s series. Englander recalled the evening: He did a lecture/demonstration at the piano, with excerpts from Fancy Free and other ballets he had written, and it was a sensation. Afterwards, we went back to a fraternity house and he was at the piano until three or four the next morning with a bunch of students who came along. He was great at that.9

Another notable personality that Englander met during these Chicago days was Tennessee Williams, and through this connection, Englander produced three of Williams‘ unpublished plays. Beulah Zachary, the main producer for an experimental television station in Chicago (WBKB) attended, and Englander was asked to produce these plays for television in 1945.10 Thus Englander was part of television production at the very beginning of this new medium.11 At this time, television was in its early stages, and generally any individual with excitement for the medium could make their mark. Englander recollects, ―That was my first brush with television, but still I wasn‘t very serious about it.‖ 12 At that time, he was confused as to what he wanted to do, and how to involve all his many interests in one profession. After significant conversations with Erich Leinsdorf from the Chicago Opera Company, Englander purposed to enter the field of opera stage direction, but several events led him elsewhere. Upon graduation from Chicago, Englander moved to Philadelphia. He knew that New York City was probably the best place to begin an artistic career of any sort, but he wanted ―to sneak up on it.‖13 He worked as a door attendant and volunteered at a local television station. Englander remembered that in 1948, television was so new that they were happy to get volunteers for ideas or whatever. They were putting on a lot of innovative programs at the time. The first thing I did was a series called Musicomedy Theater. We wrote

7 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 120. 8 During that summer at Tanglewood, Bernstein and Englander had discussed a collaborative effort which would have been Bernstein‘s first opera (Chapin, 57). 9 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 120. 10 Although these plays were rehearsed and prepared for television airing, the program was cut due to content some found ―daring‖ (Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 121). 11 At this time, television was in its developmental stages, and anyone with interest and excitement for the medium could make their mark. 12 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 121. 13 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 122. 30

original scripts, and plugged in current hit songs, so it was like making your own musical comedy for a half hour each week.

Successes with these programs and with a televised production of Menotti‘s opera, The Medium made Englander one of the first professionals with any significant qualifications in merging music and television technology. Englander‘s career progressed well from there. We got terrific notices, especially from Variety. Our productions were the first operas ever to be done on network television. Menotti, who was teaching at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia a few days a week, called me up and wanted to have lunch. There he asked me if I knew anyone who would like to be his assistant to stage all the revivals of his operas and act as his secretary and handle his correspondence. I was trying to make suggestions, and finally he said… ―What about you? I can only offer you a hundred dollars a week.‖14

Englander accepted this generous offer and worked with Menotti for a year before moving to New York City where he became involved in NBC‘s first attempts at opera broadcasting. He worked in production and gained even more insight and experience at televising artistic content, especially the importance of exact timing.15 Englander was soon offered a job with ABC as an associate director. As a staff director, he handled a wide variety of programs like game shows, news, and sports. In 1953, Englander was hired as a director at the local CBS station in New York. Because of his musical background, Englander was soon involved with CBS‘s artistically oriented Omnibus program. Despite all these commitments, Englander still found time to produce a series of live children‘s concerts on the side. The concerts were themed and included personal touches intended to engage the young audience with the music being performed. Englander continued to work with CBS through the 1950s and was eventually tapped to work with Leonard Bernstein in televising the YPCs. It was an ideal match. In addition to their previous positive working relationship, Bernstein had proved his prowess at conducting music for television, and Englander had established himself as an artistically-minded television producer. Englander remembers,

14 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 123. 15 For example, Englander recalls one particular incident: ―I had sort of timed the opera to fill an hour slot. But I had mistimed it, and I was in the control room for this live production, when all of a sudden we were getting near the end of the opera, and it was only 52 minutes, instead of 58 minutes. I didn‘t know what to do. So I quickly ran off to the floor and told Peter Herman Adler, who was conducting, to repeat the overture. Which we did, maybe twice, to fill the hour slot. It wasn‘t that horrendous because television was kind of sloppy in those days‖ (Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 125). 31

I sensed that our reassociation would be a happy one. Yet I had no inkling, in the revolving-door world of television, that the few experimental Young People‘s Concerts Lewine had asked me to produce would turn into eighteen years of the most rewarding experience of my professional life.16

For the YPCs, Englander assembled his own staff who met often and decided how best to televise each program. Bernstein was adamant that each script remain his own, but left all other details to Englander. ―Essentially we were given Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, and Leonard Bernstein at a piano, talking and conducting. That‘s it.‖17 Since the delicate art of televising music and choreographing intricate camera angles was relatively new, Englander had to develop his own method for calling the shots. Because he could read music, Englander simply penciled in each camera change on a copy of the musical score. Thus, Englander was able to plan each shot based on musical content and engage the audience viewing from home in unique ways.18 Solos were singled out and major themes were clearly traced as they moved from section to section throughout the orchestra. Englander found such control engaging and rewarding. Strangely enough, in college, I had hoped to become a conductor. I had gotten the taste of that power and control in high school, where I did a lot of conducting the band and orchestra. So I really felt, rationalizing, of course, that I was now conducting (or cueing) the conductor.19

The YPCs garnered a lot of attention across the USA propelling Bernstein and Englander into the national spotlight. But, Englander‘s recognition came primarily from the professional world of directors and producers. For example, Englander was nominated for an Emmy Award six times and was awarded one in 1965 for the Young People’s Concert, ―What is Sonata Form‖ (aired 11/6/64). These initial successes with the YPCs emboldened Englander to strike out on his own as a freelance director in 1960. As an entrepreneur, Englander was able to choose the jobs that interested and challenged him most. He was no longer beholden to the whims and needs of any one station. Englander particularly favored musical theatre.

16 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30. 17 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 131. 18 In fact, Englander was one of the first television directors to involve an actual musical score in his direction (Rose, Television and the Performing Arts, 102). 19 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts 132. 32

Musical theatre is my love, so I‘ve staged a lot of them. I staged musicals at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, every summer in the 1960s. I did the first production of The Music Man ever to be done outside New York City, with a cast of 150. And in Iowa! In a town similar to Meredith Wilson‘s hometown. This was followed by Brigadoon, Where‘s Charley?, Carousel, and all kinds of musicals. I did this for four summers. These were the best years of my life.20

As can be expected, Englander focused on producing televised musical events and was able to work with important figures in the music world. Englander produced a documentary on the history of the NYP that included interviews with Leopold Stokowski. He produced The Bell Telephone Hour and worked with Eileen Farrell, Isaac Stern, and Rosemary Clooney. At other times, he worked with Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, and even produced the famous 1968 broadcast of Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall.21 It is not surprising that Bernstein chose Englander to produce the musical segments in his famous 1973 Harvard Lectures, The Unanswered Question.22 After Bernstein‘s retirement from the YPCs in 1973, Englander stayed on as producer and worked with the new host, Michael Tilson Thomas, but left shortly thereafter.23 In 1976, Englander became the producer/director for CBS‘s Camera Three, a Sunday morning program dedicated to all forms of the arts.24 Here he oversaw classical music programs, dramatized lives of the great composers, musicals, ballets, as well as innovative presentations of experimental music. In 1980, he became head of music programming at CBSCable. Since his retirement in 1982, Englander has taken on various projects. For example, he has worked with Broadway productions, performances for Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel‘s

20 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 146. 21 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 140. In Englander‘s words: ―I had known Horowitz since I worked with Menotti in the late 1940s. In fact, I met him through Samuel Barber, who was commissioned to write a piano sonata for Horowitz. Horowitz would come up to Mt. Kisco and wonder when the third movement would be completed. I remember sitting in the cottage I was staying in behind the Menotti and Barber house in Mt. Kisco, and Horowitz would play the piano for me for two or three hours. So I had known him a long time, and I always thought that to put him on television would be incredible and necessary.‖ Englander‘s ―quiet, disciplined, musically responsive‖ camera techniques were able to please Horowitz, and, in the end, he produced ―one of the cultural highlights of the decade‖ (Rose, Television and the Performing Arts, 105; Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 116). 22 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 147. 23 According to Englander, ―Only one time did I do anything just for the money – only one time. That came about because my agent at the time was the packager for Candid Camera, and I was asked to produce and direct it, which I did for a couple of months. Part of the job was to go out during the day with a film crew to various places, like a shoe store in the Bronx, and do these terrible, terrible things to our fellow humans and watch them make fools of themselves. I hated it, but did it only because I was getting big bucks…‖ (Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 144). 24 Rose Televising the Performing Arts, 118. 33

Foundation for Humanity, and oversaw the large ceremony/concert hosted at the Kennedy Center in memory of Holocaust survivors. Englander has also lectured at schools such as New York University where he started the Musical Theater program and the University of Chicago which honored him with a professional achievement citation in 1980. Today, Englander lives in New Port, Rhode Island. Young People’s Concert Planning and Development: Each season, Englander was always sure to bind Bernstein contractually to providing a script at least one month before the program was to air. But to help develop the script, Englander‘s team would meet with Bernstein and his assistant Jack Gottlieb at Bernstein‘s apartment, sometimes months before the show ―and make suggestions, and laugh a lot. They were wonderful times—great fun.‖25 Englander outlined these early meetings: Our staff was small, but boisterous and creative. Mary Rodgers, with her experience in writing children‘s books, would suggest ways to clarify and simplify the text; young John Corigliano would advance musicological arguments befitting a budding composer; Ann Blumenthal, stopwatch in hand, would time Bernstein‘s script-reading and piano snippets, miraculously allowing for the badinage of crosstalk and peppery asides; Jack Gottlieb would meticulously catalog the musical examples for the orchestra‘s cue sheet; and Candy Finkler would document the word changes in the script, and insist that we maintain some level of decorum. At subsequent meetings, as the deadline approached, the tone became more serious, the rewrites less voluminous, the changes less catastrophic; but the search for the exact word, the most illuminating phrase, continued right up until we went on the air.26

At this time, Bernstein‘s apartment was at the Osborne, conveniently across the street from Carnegie Hall.27 The number of conferences depended on the difficulty of each program‘s topic and ranged from three to seven.28 Conferences could last around two hours, and generally began after noon.29 Based on Bernstein‘s personal datebook, conferences and rehearsals for the 1961- 62 YPC season included the following:

25 Rose Televising the Performing Arts, 133. 26 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 32. 27 See also, Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 20-21. 28 Rees, 40. 29 Rees, 40. 34

Table 2: 1961-62 YPC Planning Meetings and Rehearsals30 Date/Time: Bernstein’s Notation: Friday, 6 October 1961 2 [p.m.] - Roger here (Mary R.) Tuesday, 10 October 1961 8:30 [p.m.] Roger, etc. here Friday, 13 October 1961 YPC Reh at 10 11 Saturday, 14 October 1961 YPC #1 – Taping: Debussy Sunday, 29 October 1961 12 – Roger Englander? Wednesday, 1 November 12:30 – 524 W. 57 St – meet in the lobby – See 1961 Impressionism tape Viewing room B Tuesday, 7 November 1961 1 – Roger, etc. at Osborne [entry crossed out] Wednesday, 8 November (Home) 2 – Roger + Co. 1961 Friday, 10 November 1961 YPC #2 Reh. At 11:30 Saturday, 11 November 1961 YPC #2 - Taping Nationalistic Music via Paris 1. American in Paris 2. Schelomo 3. 3-Cornered Hat Friday, 5 January 1962 4 – Roger Englander at Osborne Saturday, 3 February 1962 11-1:30 Kids Auditions [presumably for the Young Performers Program] Tuesday, 20 March 1962 9:30 Meeting for YP TV Wednesday, 21 March 1962 2 – YP Reh – Petrouchka Friday, 23 March 1962 11-1 Reh for Petrouchka Saturday, 24 March 1962 YP – TV – 3 – Stravinsky (Petrouchka) Monday, 26 March 1962 7:30 YP – TV – 3 on air Monday, 2 April 1962 9 – YP – TV meeting Wednesday, 4 April 1962 2 – Reh (YPC) Young Performers Saturday, 7 April 1962 YPC #4 – Young Performers 12:00 YP. Concert

The pace of meetings and rehearsals appears to be well organized and manageable for the 1961- 62 YPC season. In contrast, for the fourth YPC program of the 1960-61 season Bernstein wrote ―Day in Bed! Write YP script‖ on Tuesday, 4 April 1961. He then met with Englander on 5 April, rehearsed the NYP on 7 April, and then taped the program on 8 April. Another interesting entry in Bernstein‘s datebook is a note for Tuesday, 17 October 1961 which reads, ―7:30 Rodgers [sic.] Party for Mary [Rodgers] (Sardi East) (Take Shirley - o.k.)… Black tie.‖ The fact that Bernstein would take time from his breakneck schedule and consider attending Englander‘s event speaks to their amicable working relationship.31

30 In this table, Bernstein‘s exact notations are transcribed. Strikethrough text represents changes Bernstein made in his datebook. Text in brackets are editorial. 31 It may also be that this party was actually hosted by Mary‘s father, Richard Rodgers and that Bernstein had not misspelled Roger Englander‘s name. 35

Traditionally, NYP YPCs were unified in tone and organization, with one central theme.32 Apparently, deciding actual program topics was not a problem, since Bernstein made good use of literature drawn from the orchestra‘s regular repertoire.33 For example, in addition to hosting two YPC programs addressing French music, Bernstein themed the regular 1961-62 NYP season ―The Gallic Approach.‖ In a specific instance of recycling literature, the NYP performed Ernest Bloch‘s Schelomo in November 1961 and again in the YPC program ―The Road to Paris‖ on 18 January 1962. Cellist Zara Nelsova was the soloist in each program. Englander states explicitly: ―Bernstein usually planned the subjects and the programs so that they would contain music that he was also rehearsing for the Philharmonic‘s regular subscription series.‖34 Englander recalls that Bernstein wrote every word of the script but ―he left the visual side of the productions completely to us.‖35 Although Bernstein‘s dialogue had a loose, extemporaneous quality in each program, he actually wrote out exactly what he wanted to say with pencil and paper.36 According to Rees, Bernstein agonized over each program and focused his efforts with this guiding question: ―Will the kids get it?‖37 Regarding Bernstein‘s audience focus while developing each script, Rees writes, Bernstein keeps one factor in mind above all others—his audience. When asked to what extent the audience influences his speech preparation, his answer was an unequivocal ―100 percent.‖ …During the conference stage which follows construction, this audience-oriented attitude is coupled with a practical necessity—a concern with timing. The imposition of a rigid time limit by the exigencies of network television programming strongly influences what may be presented to the primary audience in the hall.

Remarkably, Bernstein engaged others with word choices in his script right through the final rehearsal.38 For the most part, Bernstein was faithful to the script, but he did adlib on occasion. Mary Rodgers and John Corigliano, Jr. served as Englander‘s assistants and were recognized in the YPC credits at the end of each televised program. Rodgers was the daughter of Richard Rodgers, and, along with her sister Linda, had worked with Englander previously on a

32 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 10. 33 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 28. 34 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 32. 35 Chapin, 60; Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 32. 36 Secrest, 245. In Bernstein‘s words: ―A type writer is too noisy. I love the silence of a pencil and paper. I‘m too self-conscious to dictate. I find myself mumbling when I write, because it is to be spoken, not read. Sometimes I realize that my voice has been going on for an hour.‖ 37 Rees, 40. 38 Rees, 57-58. See also, Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 21. 36

live children‘s program in NY.39 Also, the Rodgers sisters and Englander had collaborated on a musical, Three to Make Music along with Mary Martin.40 Mary Rodgers recorded some of her experiences working at theses YPC planning meetings in the article, ―Oh God, we all had such a good time!‖41 Englander‘s other assistant was John Corigliano, Jr., son of the NYP concert master, John Corigliano. Corigliano Jr. and Englander were introduced by CBS conductor, André Kostelanetz. Some of Corigliano Jr.‘s reminiscences are recorded by Secrest. [Bernstein] did the entire script. You couldn‘t suggest anything to him. He‘d have to change it. It‘s an ego thing. He wanted to make it his own. Not always better, but it was his…And yet… he‘s brilliant. The man‘s a genius. We‘d make suggestions in an incomplete way, so that he could add his own flourishes. I don‘t mean this as a criticism. The results were the best ever.‖42

In his introduction to the 1992 edition of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, Jack Gottlieb states that Rodgers and Corigliano, Jr. have ―gone [on] to achieve wider recognition in the music field: Mary Rodgers, as a musical theater writer; and John Corigliano, as one of the leading American composers of the current generation.‖43 Corigliano also helped Englander in producing the famous Horowitz broadcast and eventually went on to serve as Composer-in- residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1987-90). He has received numerous awards and currently serves on the faculty of Lehman College and The Julliard School. Ann Blumenthal was another CBS personality that Englander chose to assist him in producing the YPCs. Her duties included timing the script during planning sessions. After working with Englander, she eventually joined PBS as a producer of artistic programming. Candy Finkler kept track of script changes during planning sessions and compiled one-paragraph synopses describing each program for advertising/promotional purposes. She described her YPC contributions: I still see, in my mind‘s eye exactly – that first orchestra rehearsal in Carnegie Hall…. We never got a complete dress rehearsal on that show, which was very nervous-making because, among other things, it was my job to bring the show out on time. In those now legendary days of live television, there was no

39 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 129. 40 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 28 January 2009. 41 Mary Rodgers, ―Oh God, we all had such a good time!‖ Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, Fall 1993, http://www.leonardbernstein.com (accessed 9 July 2008). 42 Secrest, 245. 43 Bernstein, Young People’s Concerts, 339, FN#2. 37

editing and the network tended to be humorless about a show running three seconds late. Over the years my job evolved.44

Jack Gottlieb remembers that working on the YPC scripts was as ―exciting and fun-filled as the concerts themselves.‖ Gottlieb describes all individuals involved as Bernstein‘s team: ―There was a lot of easygoing give-and-take, with Bernstein welcoming the banter and commentary of his production team. But it must be emphatically stated that every word ultimately was his own.‖45 In creating cue sheets for the NYP musicians, Gottlieb included the last line spoken by Bernstein and the exact musical bars that were to be played.46 For example, the cue sheet for the YPC ―What is Impressionism‖ gives Bernstein‘s words, ―…and as you listen, see if you don‘t get the impression – the suggestion – of the absolute stillness of the ocean just before dawn‖ and then cues the orchestra to play ―Debussy: La Mer, opening three bars (vlas. do not enter).‖ For particularly fast musical sequences, Gottlieb notated ―FAST‖ in the cue sheet margin. A view of the orchestra at 8:58 on the YPCs DVD recording of ―What is Impressionism‖ clearly shows the orchestra cue sheet placed on top of the Debussy score in the NYP violin section. Young People’s Concert Production: Although planning each YPC was fun, the actual shooting required absolute focus. Since each YPC was broadcast without editing, every detail had to be planned down to the second. Rehearsal time was at a premium, and the budget only allowed for one run-through the day of the broadcast. Englander says that he always employed a ―music coordinator‖ when filming the YPCs.47 Initially, John McClure, a producer at Columbia Records served in this capacity. When he was replaced at Columbia by Tom Shepard, Shepard assisted Englander. Both men accepted the position beyond their normal responsibilities at Columbia. McClure and Shepard supervised the audio recording along with the recording engineer and ensured clean and clear sound standards for the music. These men were ideally suited for the job since they had already worked with Bernstein on his many recording projects at CBS Records. Regarding Shepard‘s YPC work

44 Elizabeth (Candy ) Finkler, ―Cutlets and Addburgers,‖ Prelude Fugue and Riffs, Fall 1993, http://www.leonardbernstein.com (accessed 9 July 2008). 45 Bernstein, Young People’s Concerts, xiii-xiv. 46 All of Gottlieb‘s musical cue sheets are housed at the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress. 47 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 28 January 2009. 38

when the concerts moved to Lincoln Center, Englander wrote that he was a ―musically trained specialist in recording and sound balancing. Tom approached his job with the ears of an artist, which complemented Larry‘s [the recording engineer] ‗technical ear‘ in obtaining the proper balance for this large orchestra.‖48 Dan MacDonald was another CBS personality who handled voiceovers for the YPCs. MacDonald worked as a staff announcer at CBS, and was chosen for his experience in this capacity and his ―pleasant voice.‖49 Ted Miller served as the technical director and was in charge of taking Englander‘s camera cues and switching between the different shots exactly when necessary.50 During the 1961-62 season of YPCs Englander employed two production assistants; Lewie Lloyd for ―Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky‖ and ―Young Performers #3‖ and Anthony Wolff for ―What is Impressionism‖ and ―The Road to Paris.‖ Both were on staff at CBS and had worked with Englander on other shows. Englander remembers: ―They were very bright and they were interested in music.‖51 Basically they took care of small organizational details and helped Englander as gofers. Englander recalls that even as assistants, they had to be union members and registered with the Directors Guild of America. Serving in this minor capacity was generally a first career step in television production in the 1960s.52 Although technical and staff demands were great at first, as the show developed after moving from Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center; it became more complex and involved more people and expensive equipment. Gelleny posits that the total number of YPC personnel eventually rose to 220 including all support staff and musicians.53 Englander‘s estimation was that the YPCs eventually involved more than a million dollars‘ worth of television equipment.54 Broadcast Day: YPC performance days involved a breakneck schedule. Generally technicians arrived and began assembling their equipment at 12:15 a.m. An early morning breakfast was provided

48 Roger Englander, ―Behind the Scenes: The Young People‘s Concerts in the Making,‖ Prelude Fugue and Riffs, Fall 1993, http://www.leonardbernstein.com (accessed 18 January 2008). 49 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 28 January 2009. 50 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 139. 51 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 28 January 2009. 52 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 28 January 2009. 53 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 24. 54 Englander, ―Behind the Scenes.‖ 39

for them at 5:00 a.m.55 According to Carlos Moseley, former managing director, president, and chairman of the NYP, The concerts themselves, on Saturdays, were preceded earlier in the day by a dress rehearsal which in reality was itself a concert with tickets sold to an audience of 2600 people, and these often fell on the same day as the regular Saturday evening subscription concert (with different programs, or course). Those triple-header days were tough for the Orchestra but must have been physical nightmares for Bernstein. He, who was a late into-the-night worker – taping of illustrations at the piano on camera, make-up sessions, reworking scripts under pressure as TV time requirements dictated. It sometimes meant that Bernstein did not go to bed at all the night before.56

Moseley then lists the people who worked with Bernstein. In addition to Englander‘s list above, he includes Helen Coates and the New York Philharmonic—―the Philharmonic cohorts.‖57 Initially, each YPC was broadcast live at noon on Saturday, but by the third season they were prerecorded and broadcast at a later date.58 Of the two ticketed YPC showings at Carnegie Hall, Englander and his staff used the first as an opportunity to check the program timing and perfect all camera sequences. Since it was the second concert that was recorded and broadcast, there was only one chance for all parties involved to get the show right. Englander‘s task was made doubly difficult since there was never time for postproduction editing. At Carnegie Hall, Englander based himself in a room backstage large enough to accommodate about twenty men as well as their audio and visual equipment. There he had several screens and oversaw all matters related to camera movement and shot sequencing. Near him were those in charge of audio monitored sound levels. Englander was one of the first directors to use the musical score to organize his use of cameras. Typically, he would pencil the camera number he wanted right in the score. For practice, Englander took the scores home and drilled himself, calling each camera shot while the music played on a record. In early YPC programs, Englander explained these shots to Bernstein, but eventually Bernstein just said, ―Do it.‖59 Englander approached these decisions

55 A memo from Carlos Moseley to Roger Englander dated 28 March 1961 requested that all catering be cleared up by 7 a.m. for the arriving musicians. 56 Carlos Moseley, ―The Fabled Music Lessons that Captured Them All,‖ Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, Fall 1993, http://www.leonardbernstein.com (accessed 9 July 2008). 57 As Bernstein‘s personal secretary, Helen Coates‘s involvement in developing and executing each YPC program is unquestioned. 58 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 5. 59 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 132. 40

philosophically. He said: ―As in all temporal forms, the individual shots were important only in context: changing the image at the correct musical moment was more important than the content of the picture itself.‖60 During each performance, Englander had a score reader who kept his place in the music as each piece progressed. This way, Englander was able to direct his camera operators, watch all the monitors, and select specific camera angles and framing, and not lose his place in the music. ―We worked out a pretty solid system. We had the same crew, even though the shows were several months apart.‖61 Interestingly, Englander‘s prowess with television production led Bernstein to begin choosing music ―that was possibly more photogenic.‖62 Young People’s Concert Technology: Each YPC involved an impressive number of cameras spread throughout Carnegie Hall. Englander usually employed six or seven cameras and positioned them on the stage, backstage, up in the balcony, one in the film projection booth, and one hidden stage center. He even had seats reserved for cameras on the main floor of Carnegie Hall.63 Initially the show was taped and broadcast in black and white, but by 1966 it was televised in color.64 At several points throughout the YPCs the viewer can spot cameras moving on stage. Their four manually changed lenses and bulky exteriors no doubt were a distraction to the musicians and audience. For example, a letter forwarded from Carnegie Hall to the NYP complained about the camera movement. While Mr. Bernstein was his usual charming and instructive self, I did feel that the television program was running the entire affair as opposed to Carnegie Hall… And in addition, one of the television cameras was moving around the stage constantly, taking different views of the orchestra, and in many instances the television camera itself and its operator blocked the view of a portion of the audience in order to get these pictures.65

60 Chapin, 61. 61 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 133. Englander goes on to explain that many of the camera operators and technical hands had to be taught basic musical information in order for them to do their jobs. ―We had to teach the camera men what a viola looked like and what a flute looked like.‖ 62 Rose Televising the Performing Arts, 133. 63 Englander, ―Behind The Scenes.‖ Englander estimated that the number of cameras he used for the YPCs was ―twice as many as on most major studio broadcasts.‖ 64 Page, 99. 65 Letter from William Minot to Carnegie Hall, 4 November 1960, archived at the New York Philharmonic Archive, New York City. 41

A camera hidden stage center was important for shots featuring Bernstein as he conducted. Initially, this camera was awkwardly hidden by a gray curtain, but for the 1961-62 season a hole was cut into the back wall so that the camera could capture Bernstein but remain hidden from view. Englander remembers that it took some convincing for Carnegie Hall to agree, but the result was a neater stage and more space. The project cost $500.00 and was paid for by CBS. The YPCs were one of the first shows to employ a teleprompter, beginning with the 1961- 62 season. Initially, Bernstein read from his notes on a music stand near the piano on stage, but took to the teleprompter with ―uncanny skill.‖66 Although Bernstein was faithful to his script, almost word for word, he conscientiously kept eye-contact with his audience in Carnegie Hall as well as the cameras in front of him. The 1961-62 season of YPCs preceded the advent of wireless audio systems, and so all the audio had to be accomplished through extensive wiring. By the time the YPCs were at Lincoln Center there were twenty-three microphones overhead and on stage.67 Even Bernstein‘s lapel microphone was connected to a long wire that followed him about the stage. In order to avoid any mishaps, Englander placed an audio assistant on the front row who guided Bernstein‘s wire as be moved. This assistant is seen clearly in the opening minutes of YPC, ―The Road to Paris.‖ Another interesting visual aspect of the YPCs was the use of subtitles which appeared onscreen as each piece and performer was introduced and musical terms were explained by Bernstein. A humorous instance involving subtitles was presented on YPC, ―The Sound of an Orchestra‖ (aired 12/14/1965). To express the difference between an orchestra interpreting music in wildly romantic ways, the title ―Largo from Haydn‘s Symphony No. 88‖ was displayed in curvy, outrageous wording for the incorrect performance example and printed perfectly straight and normal for the correct performance. At this time, subtitles were accomplished by focusing a backstage camera on a black card with white lettering and then superimposing that image over a shot of Bernstein conducting, for example. Finally, the impressive array of lighting used for each YPC was accomplished through an extensive network of scaffolding. In addition, there were prearranged lighted areas in the

66 Rees, 57-58. 67 Englander, ―Behind The Scenes.‖ 42

audience for the audience shots, or ―Russian roulette‖ shots as they were called by Englander.68 In several instances, this scaffolding is seen clearly in YPC ―The Road to Paris.‖ In conclusion, it is obvious that the skill of Roger Englander and his staff was integral to all YPC successes. In concert with Bernstein‘s charisma and informative script, Englander‘s calculated camera work expounded Bernstein‘s words and translated the concert hall experience to millions of viewers across North America. Additionally, Englander‘s staff are justly credited for handling the many details associated with television production while under the stress of a trying schedule. As much as memorable personalities, success and praise are due those who served with devotion behind the scenes.

68 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 30 June 2008. 43

CHAPTER 4 YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT IDEALS: “A CONCERT IS NOT A SHOW” Audience Orientation: A major philosophical issue raised by televising the YPCs was how Bernstein and Englander should regard their audiences, i.e. those seated in Carnegie Hall and those in the living rooms of America. Should they gear the show toward one audience over the other or address both simultaneously? In a 1958 interview for TV Guide, Bernstein mused, You know, I‘ve been told that doing four children‘s concerts is a pipe. But putting them on TV means I have to do four TV shows. The concerts originate from the stage at Carnegie Hall. I have to keep in mind that there are 3000 children in the auditorium and perhaps 3,000,000 watching at home. Do I play to the auditorium or to the cameras?1

Overall, Bernstein and Englander tried not to discriminate and strove to grant equal attention to both audiences. For them, ideally, the children in Carnegie Hall should have the same experiences as home viewers, and those at home should in no way be disadvantaged to their New York counterparts. A notable example involved the large paintings used by Bernstein in the program ―What is Impressionism?‖ Englander wrote that ―they were large enough to be seen in the farthest reaches of the balcony, not just picked up by an offstage camera for the home audience.‖2 Despite their good intentions, however, Bernstein was more in tune with his physical Carnegie Hall audience, and Englander was focused on the broader television audience. Rees writes, The television audience is of little concern to [Bernstein] at the moment of delivery, since he likens the relationship between cameras and concert to the telecasting of a sports event: the speech is merely reported by television, not designed for the televiewers.3

1 Bob Stahl, ―Musician with a Cause,‖ TV Guide, 18 January 1958, 19. 2 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30. C.f. Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 76. 3 Rees, 27-28. Rees‘s assertion that Bernstein was more focused on his Carnegie Hall audience is contradicted by Anthony Tommasini who writes: ―Bernstein conceived the programs primarily as television shows, not as concerts that happened to be on television. He knew that hearing music on television would never match hearing it live. But he was convinced that with the right teacher, television could be the greatest tool for musical education…. It‘s easy to make fun of Bernstein‘s lifelong compulsion to teach, as Tom Wolfe did when he called him the Village Explainer. But has anyone ever been better suited to the job?‖ In this context, Tommasini is arguing in favor or an increased presence of music appreciation on public television. In all, Rees‘s account should be trusted because his assessment is based upon interviews with Bernstein as he was engaged in producing the YPCs. 44

Englander too considered his work to be ―a reportage of an event.‖4 But, in contrast, his intentions were egalitarian; he desired that ―some four million viewers…could share the same experience with the three thousand people in the hall.‖5 Despite Englander‘s and Bernstein‘s efforts, in many ways the television audience was privileged above the Carnegie Hall viewers. Home viewers enjoyed perspectives from every corner of Carnegie Hall and even onstage among the musicians. They could see instruments close up as they were played. They clearly saw Bernstein‘s face as he made his explanations. Most significantly, they had the advantage of seeing the concert through the seasoned eyes of Roger Englander.6 Page writes, For those of us who were raised in rural surroundings, far from concert halls and subscription series, watching and listening to Bernstein take us through music four times a year, whether Beethoven, Strauss, Gershwin—and even, on several occasions, the Beatles—was like a passport into another world.7

On the other hand, the Carnegie Hall viewer had the benefit of a live concert experience and of seeing Leonard Bernstein and the NYP in person. Page continues: ―I can remember the keen sense of envy I felt for those lucky children – far away in glamorous New York, listening to Leonard Bernstein tell them about music.‖8 Furthermore, the Carnegie Hall viewer could engage with Bernstein better than the home viewer. For example, in YPC ―What Makes Music Symphonic?‖ (aired 12/13/1958), Bernstein initiated a musical round between the balcony and main floor audiences. American, Modern, and Popular Music: A reoccurring theme in Bernstein‘s YPCs was American music. Bernstein conscientiously used his YPC platform to advocate for American composers, especially those of the twentieth century. On the YPCs and in regular NYP subscription concerts, Bernstein sought

4 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30. 5 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30. C.f. Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 6. 6 Boddy writes: ―Alone of the mass media, [television] removes from an audience‘s consciousness the factors of time and distance…. Live television…bridges the gap instantly and unites the individual at home with the event afar. The viewer has a chance to be in two places at once. Physically, he may be at his own hearthside but intellectually, and above all, emotionally, he is at the cameraman‘s side‖ (80). 7 Page, 87. Englander also recounts the appreciation of viewers from rural areas: ―We received hundreds of letters from viewers about the Bernstein YPCs. People from the sticks, who had never seen an orchestra, would write in. I remember one from a mother who said her son never knew an orchestra had real people making music. He just thought it was sounds from a LP record‖ (Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 168). 8 Page, 98. 45

to promulgate among his hearers a conscious appreciation for America‘s unique musical heritage.9 Bernstein often wrote YPC programs specifically dedicated to American composers. For example, before the so-called Ives revival of the 1970s, Bernstein dedicated a YPC program to ―Charles Ives: American Pioneer‖ (aired 02/23/67), and on ―Second Hurricane‖ (aired 04/24/60), Bernstein conducted Aaron Copland‘s opera. Copland was highlighted less than a year later in ―Aaron Copland‘s Birthday Party‖ (aired 02/12/61) and again in ―A Copland Celebration‖ (12/27/70). Most likely, Copland received special attention by Bernstein due to their longstanding friendship. In fact, Copland received more attention from Bernstein on the YPCs than any other composer—eight different YPCs in total.10 Beyond the personal ties between Copland and Bernstein, Copland‘s music was a smart program choice due to its tonality, noble themes, and overt American nationalism. Bernstein was also willing to offer more avant-garde music, and to program composers whose significance might have been lost on the broader American public. For example, Stravinsky, Hindemith, and Shostakovich each received his own program highlighting their life and works.11 In his winsome presentations of Western concert music, Bernstein engaged his audience with many references to American popular music and culture. Bernstein often alluded to American musical icons like Elvis (c.f. ―What Makes Music Symphonic?‖) and popular dance rhythms like the Bossa Nova which were enjoyed by 1960s youths (―The Latin American Spirit,‖ aired 03/08/63).12 By drawing connections between popular music and traditional Western classics, Bernstein heightened the power of his musical explanations. Such pedagogical asides should also be regarded as Bernstein‘s attempt to promote all things American to his audiences

9 Shanet writes: ―Performances of American compositions rose from the usual 4 or 5 per cent that had been typical of the early 1950s to about 15 per cent of all performances in the 1960s. For Bernstein‘s own concerts the proportion of American works was even higher—close to 30 percent…‖ (Howard Shanet, Philharmonic: A History of New York’s Orchestra (New York: Doubleday, 1975), 347). 10 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 36. 11 Aaron Copeland, What to Listen for in Music (New York: Signet, 2002). Bernstein inherited his inclusive approach to music appreciation from Aaron Copland. Copland‘s famous music lectures at the New School of New York became his bestselling book, What to Listen for in Music. There he writes: ―I have often observed that the mark of a real music lover was an imperious desire to become familiar with every manifestation of the art, ancient and modern. Real loves of music are unwilling to have their musical enjoyment confined to the overworked period of the three B‘s‖ (Copland, xxxi). 12 When Bernstein mentioned Bosa Nova Englander captured girls smiling to each other in the audience. He had planned this shot beforehand because he knew it would get a reaction. 46

as well as the acceptability of all music.13 Bernstein taught his audiences that ―all music is one,‖ and that art music is just one musical path among many. On the YPC program, ―What is Classical Music?‖ (aired 1/24/1959) Bernstein asserted, What is Classical Music? People use this word to describe music that isn‘t jazz or popular songs or folk music, just because there isn‘t any other word that seems to describe it better. All the other words that are used are just as wrong, like, ―good‖ music. You‘ve all heard people say ―I just love good music,‖ meaning that they love Handel instead of Spike Jones. Well, you know what they mean. But after all, isn‘t there such a thing as good jazz or a good popular song? You can‘t use the word ―good‖ to describe the difference—there‘s good Handel, there‘s good Spike Jones.‖

Additionally, in an interview with Edith Efron, Bernstein stated, One of the things that‘s wrong with the way taste is formed in kids…is this idea that certain areas of music are in good taste and others are in bad taste… The only way to develop taste in a child is to give him the idea that no kind of music is in bad taste—that there is only good art and bad art…that there is good Beethoven and dull Beethoven…that there is good rock ‗n‘ roll and bad rock ‗n‘ roll.14

A “Middle-Brow” Approach: At the same time that Bernstein was employing mass culture technology for his music appreciation efforts, Dwight MacDonald, an American writer/thinker, wrote vociferously against middlebrow or midcult elements in American culture. MacDonald claimed that Up to about 1750, art and thought were pretty much the exclusive province of an educated minority. Now that the masses – that is, everybody – are getting into the act and making the scene, the problem of vulgarization has become acute. I see only two logical solutions: (a) an attempt to integrate the masses into high culture; or (b) a contrary attempt to define two cultures, one for the masses and the other for the classes. I am for the latter.15

For MacDonald, mass culture was a parody of high culture and resulted in ―degrading the serious rather than elevating the frivolous.‖16 Efforts like the YPCs hosted by Bernstein that blended high culture with popular elements and addressed a broad audience were anathema to MacDonald. But with the perspective of history, it is obvious that the YPCs did not breed complacency, but rather were received by Americans as something to aspire to.

13 Horowitz, ―Professor Lenny.‖ 14 Edith Efron, ―Bernstein Conducts an Interview,‖ TV Guide, 30 December 1962. 15 Dwight MacDonald, Against the American Grain, (New York: Random House, 1962), ix-x. 16 MacDonald, Against the American Grain, 13. 47

In his discussion on the appeal of ―mass-media fare,‖ Lang described how most programmers for radio and television envisioned a continuum with lowbrow and highbrow at either end and upon which they tried to find a happy medium of programming for mass appeal.17 The varying abilities of programs to attract and hold large-size audiences are pretty much estimated from the format, the particular subject matter, and general ―tone‖ of a program. Format, subject matter, and tone are adapted to the presumed tastes of the age, educational or occupational makeup of audiences available at any given time or in given areas.18

Although Lang suggests a stereotypical mindset by television programmers, under Bernstein and Englander, the YPCs transcended essentialist divides in culture and tapped into elements of taste that ran the gamut of low and highbrow. In tone, format, and subject matter Bernstein and Englander attracted a sizable audience for educational ends—not just show ratings. Furthermore, their aim was at an audience most likely to accept and integrate a broad cultural exposure. In November 1966, Bernstein specified, ―the Young People‘s Concerts are a dream come true, especially since the sharing is done with young people – that is, people who are eager, unprejudiced, curious, open, and enthusiastic.‖19 Although Bernstein characterized his teaching approach as ―middle-brow,‖ paradoxically, he indulged in the elitist trappings of New York high-society concert life. 20 He acted the part of a suave, knowledgeable music celebrity, but he taught in a style designed to confront the middlebrow on his own level, without stooping, and to escort him gently, along the path of least resistance, to increased understanding. Bernstein most often proceeds by stating at the outset the entrenched misconceptions or unfounded assumptions of his putative audience, grownups or youngsters alike, and going on to refute them, using cozy metaphors and analogies along with musical examples and technical explanation carefully gauged not to overtax.21

Bernstein showed to all that the pursuit of excellence was compatible with American democracy.22 He believed that ―the public is not a great beast but an intelligent organism, more

17 Kurt Lang, ―Mass Appeal and Minority Tastes,‖ in Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America, ed. Bernard Rosenberg and David White (Glencoe: Free Press, 1957), 379. 18 Lang, ―Mass Appeal and Minority Tastes,‖ 380. 19 Leonard Bernstein, ―To Our Readers,‖ Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, Fall 1993, http://www.leonardbernstein.com (accessed 8 June 2008). 20 Rees, 25. 21 Robert S. Clark, ―Congruent Odysseys: Bernstein and the Art of Television,‖ In Leonard Bernstein: The Television Work, ed. Steven Ledbetter (Boston: Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1988), 19. 22 Jeremy McCarter, ―The Original Culture Warrior,‖ Newsweek, 27 October 2008. 48

often than not longing for insight and knowledge.‖23 Significantly, Bernstein even directed his books on music at a lay audience. Bernstein‘s egalitarian, middlebrow efforts were aimed primarily in two directions. Not only did he teach middle and low-income viewers the value and place of art music in society, but he also taught high-income/minded families the value and place of folk, pop, and modern American music. In both regards, Bernstein distinguished himself from the way music appreciation was generally taught at that time. Gelleny writes, Bernstein attacked cultural myths that portrayed classical music as a sanctified artistic product of the elite class that would be of little interest or enjoyment to members of lower social classes. Such myths had been propagated on contemporary television, for instance, by the stiff, formal presentation style of NBC‘s Voice of Firestone and Festival of Music, which conveyed a message that classical music was a boring product for society‘s ―highbrows.‖24

Bernstein sought to demystify the science of music and make it the birthright of every American child. He was convinced that ―all children have a natural musical gift and that musical training ought to be an integral part of education instead of being considered a luxury.‖25 Television, like radio, provided the perfect opportunity for Bernstein to effect theses ideals as a ―musical propagandist.‖26 Since by the 1960s most American homes had a television, it provided a portal through which all Americans could take part in the rich cultural life of New York City—or anywhere else. Money, family standing, or geographical placement were no longer bars from living an enriched and artistically aware life. It was then left to Bernstein to remove ―preexisting cultural barriers between mainstream American‘s and the subject of Classical music.‖27 Consistently, Bernstein engaged his viewers with everyday language and expressions. For example, in the program ―The Road to Paris,‖ Bernstein spoke of ―woosey‖ impressions, in

23 McCarter, 2008. Also, Teachout writes, ―The Young People‘s Concerts are more than just a nostalgic memory. They are a window on the lost world of American middle-class cultural aspiration. It is a world I know well. Born in 1956, I grew up in the Age of the Middlebrow, that earnest, self-improving fellow who watched TV documentaries and read the Book of the Month. Alas, I lived hundreds of miles from the nearest concert hall or museum—but thanks to Leonard Bernstein, Ed Sullivan and Time and Life magazines, I already knew a little something about people like Copland, Jackson Pollock and Jerome Robbins, and what little I knew made me want to know much more‖ (2002). 24 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television,‖ 51. 25 Secrest, 247. 26 Bernstein was dubbed a ―musical propagandist‖ by George Sokolsky in ―Bernstein In Tune With Young Talent,‖ Journal American, 24 April 1962. 27 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 2. 49

―Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky‖ he mentioned some ―hocus pocus‖ and ―spooky music,‖ and in ―What is Impressionism?‖ he spoke of great composers who sometimes ―seem to go in pairs like ham and eggs.‖ Overall, Bernstein‘s tone in YPC programs of the 1961-62 season was more conservative than in other seasons: His use of colloquial speech was less pronounced. Other years he was not beyond describing Hector Berlioz‘ Symphonie Fantastique as ―the first psychedelic symphony in history‖ (―Berlioz Takes A Trip,‖ aired 3/30/69) or referring to ―juicy fruit music‖ in ―The Sound of an Orchestra.‖28 It may be that the initial pressures of a prime time viewing audience and high stakes corporate sponsorship gave him pause. Bernstein was a keen observer of how children and adolescents talked. When young viewers visited him in his dressing room seeking autographs after a concert, he paid careful attention to their vocabulary and expressions so that he could incorporate everyday language into future YPC scripts.29 It is a tribute to Bernstein‘s communication ideals that, almost universally, he is remembered as a knowledgeable teacher who never talked down to his audience.30 A testimonial to Bernstein‘s effectiveness in both democratizing and demystifying art music in America was penned by Mrs. Frederick C. on 1 February 1958. I want to say that after thirty years of enjoying music I, myself, now feel I know a bit more about why music is so enjoyable and I have grown to appreciate modern American music – something a classically trained person sometimes struggles with…. I want to thank you, so very much for all that you are giving the American people – I am so thankful that there are people like you who will open your mind to the medium of television – and hope that we will be able to see more and more of you and your orchestra in the future.31

28 In his article, ―The Demonstrator: Leonard Bernstein,‖ Leonard Marcus writes, ―In Bernstein we are faced with a solidly trained, highly perceptive, and thoroughly dedicated musician whose great passion to impart the distillation of his knowledge and insights is matched only by his talent for communicating it both verbally and musically. If he sometimes breaches the prefabricated walls of taste to make a point, it is because he is more concerned with musical ideas than he is with etiquette‖ (High Fidelity and Musical America 13, May 1963, 99). See also, Rees, 26. 29 Rees, 31. 30 Bernstein‘s communication skills were put to good use in venues other than the YPCs and television. Bernstein also recast the Thursday Evening Preview Concert, formerly a formal concert, into an opportunity to interact with his audience and explain the music they were hearing. Eventually, CBS aired one of these Thursday concerts once a month on a Sunday afternoon (Secrest, 259). 31 The Leonard Bernstein Office. ―Mrs. Frederick C. to Bernstein, 2/1/58,‖ http://www.leonardbernstein.com (accessed 10 January 2008). 50

The Music Appreciation Racket: Bernstein‘s approach to music education was in some respects a response to the ―music appreciation racket.‖32 In a 1957 article for the Atlantic Monthly, Bernstein wrote, The racket operates in two styles… Type A is the birds-bees-and rivulets variety, which invokes anything at all under the sun as long as it is extramusical. It turns every note or phrase or chord into a cloud or crag or Cossack. It tells homey tales about the great composers, either spurious or irrelevant. It abounds in anecdotes, quotes from famous performers, indulges itself in bad jokes and unutterable puns, teases the hearer, and tells us nothing about music. Type B is concerned with analysis – a laudably serious endeavor – but is as dull as Type A is coy. It is the ―now comes the theme upside down in the second oboe‖ variety. A guaranteed soporific. What it does, ultimately, is to supply you with a road map of themes, a kind of Baedeker to the bare geography of a composition; but again, it tells us nothing about the music except those superficial geographical facts.33

At least in purpose, Bernstein avoided expounding any literary-narrative meaning in music. His only exception was with programmatic music where the composer clearly indicated that the music had a topical/narrative basis. For example, on the program ―What is Impressionism?‖ while explaining Debussy‘s La Mer, Bernstein said, As you listen, see if you don‘t get the impression—the suggestion—of the absolute stillness of the ocean just before dawn, then the first spooky rays of light, then you‘ll hear the first faint cries of the sea birds, now the waters beginning to stir and rock as the first breeze comes up….

Gelleny asserts that those instances where Bernstein simply narrated the music in story form were actually his weakest moments pedagogically, e.g. during the Petrouchka portion of ―Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky.‖34 Jack Gottlieb, Bernstein assistant wrote, Although he did feature program music (i.e., music with a story) in various concerts, one senses that he did so with reluctance—his main mission being to inculcate purely musical values, as opposed to extramusical ideas, into budding minds…. Bernstein talks about the ―Music Appreciation Racket‖ and of his desire to find a ―happy medium‖ between that racket and ―purely technical discussion.‖ If ever anyone did find that happy medium, it must have been he.35

32 Bernstein, The Joy of Music, 13-14. 33 Leonard Bernstein, ―Speaking of Music,‖ Atlantic Monthly 200 (December 1957), 105, quoted in Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s,‖ 92-93. 34 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 69. 35 Bernstein, Young People’s Concerts, xvi. 51

Typically, Bernstein did lean toward a more technical and analytical approach to the music he was explaining and made good use of the orchestra on stage to this end.36 For example, in ―The Road to Paris‖ Bernstein dissects the Impressionistic and Hebraic elements of Ernest Bloch‘s Schelomo as well as highlighting technical aspects such as instances of bitonality. You see, even the orchestration is again impressionistic and French. Now listen to how these same misty sounds combine with the Oriental flavor of this Hebrew melody…. We can even find our well-known friend bitonality over and over again in the piece….

Bernstein‘s strongest moments of audience engagement and communicative power occurred when he explained the music in detail using his own unique perspective.37 And this approach worked well with the television medium because of the skilled camera operators and Englander‘s oversight. At home, the television viewer could assimilate all the details presented by Bernstein and then see them played out in real-time as the entire composition was performed. Gelleny posits that this was one means whereby Bernstein maintained the attention of his television audience and insured the YPCs as ―a viable product for commercial television.‖38 In his first recorded interview regarding the YPCs, Bernstein stated that he wanted to teach on a higher level than had been the music appreciation norm.39 With this aim, it is remarkable that he did not succumb to gaudy showmanship. For example, Bernstein didn‘t use visual aids in the YPCs as much as he did with the Omnibus programs.40 He relied more upon his rhetorical skills and instant examples played by the orchestra or that he himself performed on the piano. Secrest records Bernstein once saying, When you know that you‘re reaching children without compromise or the assistance of acrobats, marching bands, slides, and movies, but that you are getting them with hard talk, a piano, and an orchestra, it gives you a gratification that is enormous.41

36 Bernstein claimed that the presence of an orchestra on stage was a hindrance in that he felt an obligation to use it for YPC musical selections. Bernstein stated that he wanted to deal with Native American music on the YPCs, but felt he could not for this reason (Rees, 36). 37 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 94. 38 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 68. 39 Stahl, 18-19. 40 Rees, 129. 41 Secrest, 249. 52

Typically, Bernstein began and ended each show with music so that his audience could ―hear the piece with new ears.‖42 Bartram writes: ―By beginning and ending the program with music, Bernstein gave members of the audience the opportunity to assess their own learning and to understand the importance of listening in the learning process.‖43 For Bernstein, an ideal pedagogical model was the Socratic method. Generally, YPC programs were introduced in the form of a question, e.g. ―What is Impressionism?‖ By stating the purpose for that day‘s concert interrogatively, Bernstein engaged his audience as if he and they were working together to solve a problem or mystery. And by answering the main, unifying question in stages, he was able to move his students topically from general to specific and from easy to harder examples.44 In regards to pedagogical models, Rozen writes: ―Bernstein inferred that his pedagogical skill as a teacher of conducting, as well as that of a music appreciation teacher, came from Koussevitzky‘s tutelage.‖45 And, indeed, for Bernstein, conducting and appreciation instruction were connected. Bernstein‘s demonstrative and emotive conducting was attention-grabbing and fascinating to watch.46 In many ways, Bernstein‘s expressive motions amounted to a ―graphic display of the music.‖47 Not only did Bernstein‘s gestures cue individual players and sections, they also directed the attention of his viewers to the development and interchange of thematic material throughout the orchestra.48 Clark suggests that ―it is conceivable that Bernstein‘s frequent encounters with the television camera consciously or unconsciously elicited the agitated podium style he became famous for.‖49 Also instructive were the facial expressions through which Bernstein reflected the music while he conducted. Additionally, during the performance of Bloch‘s Prayer (―Young Performers #3‖) Bernstein was captured on camera with a serious and contemplative expression. In this instance, as well as in his conducting, he demonstrated how a person should respond to the music—thoughtfully and emotionally engaged.

42 Bernstein quoted in Kevin P. Bartram, ―Lessons from a Master: Using the ‗Bernstein Formula‘ in Music Classrooms,‖ Music Educators Journal 90, no. 4 (March, 2004): 20. 43 Bartram, 20. 44 Bartram, 21. Bartram writes: ―A common theme of Bernstein‘s teaching is the progression from the known to the unknown – from the simple to the complex, which leaves viewers breathless with anticipation of discovery.‖ 45 Rozen, ―The Contributions of Leonard Bernstein to Music Education,‖ 44. 46 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 99. 47 Marcus, 33. 48 Rees, 140. 49 Clark, ―Congruent Odysseys,‖ 1985, 22. 53

Peace and the Power of Music: When Bernstein took the job as music director at the New York Philharmonic he declared: ―My job is an educational mission.‖50 And he saw a mission field that extended beyond New York City. In The Infinite Variety of Music Bernstein wrote: ―Until we have a great listening public, and not just a passively hearing one, we will never be a musically cultured nation.‖51 In his testimony before the House Subcommittee on Select Education, Bernstein demanded: ―Only a society prepared by education can ever be truly a cultured society… Children must receive musical instruction naturally as food, and with as much pleasure as they derive from a ball game.‖52 Through the YPCs, Bernstein earned status as a television personality and première expositor of music, and he used this position to advocate effectively in print and publically for the causes of music and the arts in the US. During the Cold War, Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic served as cultural emissaries for the US through concert tours abroad. At a time when liberal Western democracies were locked in a clash of civilization with communist countries, Bernstein demonstrated the value of cultural exchange and a reciprocated spirit of understanding. For example, Bernstein toured Japan with the NYP in 1961 and made much of Japanese music, instruments, dress, and culture. They were in Tokyo for the newly founded Tokyo Festival and its ―East West Music Encounter‖ directed by the Congress for Cultural Freedom.53 At one point, Bernstein even addressed his audience in Japanese.54 Consistently, Bernstein made it clear that he was on the side of peace and world harmony. For example, on YPC ―The Road to Paris‖ Bernstein introduced Bloch‘s Schelomo with these irenic words: One more word before we play; you should know that the name Schelomo, or Solomon, means peace in Hebrew—related to the famous Hebrew word Sholom [sic]. I would like very much—in fact with all my strength and I hope with all yours too—to dedicate this performance to lasting peace among all the peoples of our world.

50 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 290. 51 Leonard Bernstein, The Infinite Variety of Music, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966), 20. 52 Leonard Bernstein, Findings (New York: Anchor, 1982), 333. Bernstein made these comments on 17 December 1977 in New York City regarding a federal bill that called for a White House Conference on the Arts. 53 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 321. 54 Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 322. 54

World peace must have been on Bernstein‘s mind that season, for on the special CBS Christmas program ―A Joyful Noise‖ (12/14/1961) Bernstein again called for peace in the world.55 Bernstein responded to the cause of male/female equality by inviting women conductors to lead the NYP on two YPC programs. Swiss-born Sylvia Caduff served as his assistant conductor at the NYP for the 1966-67 season and conducted on ―Young Performers #8‖ (aired 1/27/1967). Helen Quach was his assistant for the 1967-68 season and was featured on ―Young Performers #9‖ (aired 3/31/1968). Introducing Quach, Bernstein said, Now just one more thing, to perform this movement I have invited another of our assistant conductors—a very gifted young lady, named Helen Quach. Now, Miss Quach was born in Saigon, South Vietnam of Chinese parentage, but that‘s by no means the only reason I have asked her to conduct this Chinese piece: there is also the much better reason that she is a very talented conductor.

At a time when the US was embroiled in a bitter and punishing war in Vietnam, Bernstein demonstrated that through music, humanity could rise above differences of nationality, ideology, and gender. Additionally, Bernstein used his YPCs to respond to the pains of racism that still plagued America in the mid-twentieth century. Bernstein showcased young African American artists such as Veronica Tyler, William Warfield, Andre Watts, Weldon Berry, James DePriest, Simon Esstes, and Reri Griest and ―provided highly visible role models for a group previously marginalized in the world of classical music.‖56 No Gimmicks: Early in their YPC collaboration, Bernstein and Englander had a significant conversation. Englander recalls, Soon after my appointment I was interviewed by Variety for an article called ―A Concert is a Show.‖ I was still concurrently producing the live concerts for the Little Orchestra Society, and Variety implied that the new Bernstein television concerts would be filled with the same kind of Little Orchestra

55 Humphrey Burton describes Bernstein‘s broader efforts for world peace: ―His desire to demonstrate for universal peace and the brotherhood of man led him to make gestures, like this visit to Berlin, that were marched by very few other musicians in the twentieth century‖ (Leonard Bernstein, 318). Additionally, in the Forward to Sennets and Tuckets: A Bernstein Celebration, Ledbetter writes, ―Throughout this half-century, which has included some of the darkest incidents of human history, Leonard Bernstein has retained an affirmative view that looks to the future with hope, that seeks in music and the other arts an expression of humanity‘s highest aspirations; these he has constantly held up to the young as a beacon and an inspiration‖ (Boston: Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1988, viii). 56 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television,‖ 53. Gelleny also notes that the ―Young People‘s Concerts were more of an outlet for Bernstein to take up the Civil Rights causes, since apparently he was not in a position to create change within the Philharmonic organization‖ (65, FN#14). 55

show-biz gimmicks: dancing illustrators, costumed narrators, and Broadway stage starts. The next day the telephone rang. ―Roger! This is Lenny!‖ He didn‘t have to identify himself, I thought. Who wouldn‘t recognize that voice, even though that day it had a slightly firmer tone than usual? ―A Concert is not a show,‖ he said, ―and if we‘re going to continue to work together….‖57

But both men did agree, and vowed that these YPCs would remain a clean, straightforward presentation while maintaining an ―air of spontaneity and improvisation.‖58 This meant an absence of Hollywood ―sweetening,‖ even when the show was no longer transmitted simultaneously, and there was an opportunity for adding additional audio/visual touches.59 Extra touches were unacceptable to Englander and Bernstein because they desired that each broadcast accurately represent the YPC in Carnegie Hall.60 And although Englander referred to the YPCs as the ―least produced shows on television,‖ in reality Englander‘s direction added an important dimension all the while avoiding to appear intrusive.61 Above all, Englander, with Bernstein, wanted to kindle a love for music. In recounting an interview with Richard Lewine, Englander remembered ―stressing the need for good music on television.‖62 Englander was concerned that ―good music‖ be televised specifically for the sake of young people.63 Consequently, Englander was excited that the YPCs were broadcast through commercial television since he was not interested in producing artistic programs ―in a ghetto atmosphere.‖64 In tandem with Bernstein‘s ―Educational Mission,‖ Englander‘s ideals also developed into a sense of mission. I did feel a sense of mission in that I was exposing people to the arts who might never have gotten a chance to see them. I always hope that my programs would arouse their interest in the performing arts and make them want to find out more about them.65

57 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30. See also, Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 137. 58 Secrest, 245. 59 Secrest, 245. 60 Englander said: ―Even after we moved to Lincoln Center and videotape made prerecording possible, the tapes were seldom edited before the show was broadcast. So what you got at home was what you saw at the hall‖ (Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30). 61 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30. 62 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 29. 63 Chapin, 58. 64 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 172. Englander said: ―I loved the idea that what I did at CBS would be seen by a wider variety of people, who might have been watching a big, popular show right before and would then stay tuned and possibly be intrigued by our arts programs.‖ 65 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 176. 56

Enhancing the Performing Arts: Although a guiding philosophy for the YPCs was to ―show only what those in the auditorium could see, Englander enhanced the musical performances by carefully studying the score beforehand in order to ‗orchestrate‘ the camerawork.‖66 A trademark of Englander‘s production style was his use of the musical score for deciding each camera shot. For him, ideally, the score became ―the shooting script.‖67 He felt a responsibility for accurately presenting the Carnegie Hall concert experience, but also ―communicating the sense, the excitement, or the structure of the piece being performed.‖68 Two problems common to television concerts at this time were either letting the presentation degenerate into an uncreative depiction with static camera angles or falling prey to too much camera activity, distracting the viewer, and detracting from the music rather than enhancing it.69 Since Englander viewed his task as translating musical sounds into visual form, he approached his work as a craftsman, but there was an artistic dimension to it.70 Chanan has written on the misconception that television directors are not artists.71 To many, their role as mediators between an artistic event and the viewer precluded any interpretation or explication. In reality, Englander conscientiously strove to add perspective and to enhance appreciation for the artistic event he televised—especially for live events. Actually, I loved doing arts programs on remote locations, away from the studio and the concert hall, more than anything else. That, to me, was the most creative challenge of all. I felt stymied by being in the studio, and wanted to break out, if for no other reason than to give a different perspective.72

His success as craftsman and artist was acknowledged by a New York Times critic who wrote: ―The exceptionally good camera work of the television crew appeared as if it were part of the orchestrations themselves.‖73 Gelleny also describes each YPC as an ―artistically conceived visual creation which mirrored the mood and formal structural of each musical work.‖74

66 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 6. 67 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 32. 68 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 32. 69 Nicholas E. Tawa, Art Music in the American Society: the Condition of Art Music in the late Twentieth Century (Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1987), 232-233. 70 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 14. 71 Michael Chanan, ―Television‘s Problem with (Classical) Music,‖ Popular Music 21, no. 3 (October 2002): 371. 72 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 167. 73 Chapin, 61. 74 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 23. 57

While the home audience was able to enjoy the seamless camera sequences of the YPCs in relative comfort, those in Carnegie Hall were sometimes inconvenienced by the cameras, lighting, and technical personnel. Englander writes: ―To be sure, there were a few intrusions for the live audience: the glare of the hot lights, the forest of hanging and standing microphones, the monstrous black-and-white orthicon tube, turret-lens-mounted cameras.75 Due to the bright, hot lights, in some YPC programs orchestra members as well as those seated in the audience resorted to wearing sunglasses. Englander often wove shots of the audience in with those of Bernstein and the NYP. He planned audience shots during musical numbers when he hoped to catch children off guard and display their reactions to the television audience. Englander called these ―Russian roulette shots‖ since ―you never knew what the kids were going to be doing. If they were avid listeners at one point and you wanted to get a shot of them twenty seconds later you‘d never know if they would be yawning or picking their nose.‖76 A Variety Magazine article about YPC ―Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky‖ described a ―poorly stifled yawn, the ear-picker, the earring plucker and a translucently beautiful child.‖77 Generally, people responded positively to these audience shots and thought that they added an element of honesty to the television representation. John Shanley of the New York Times wrote regarding ―Happy Birthday Igor Stravinsky,‖ There was a refreshing illustration of integrity during the telecast of the New York Philharmonic Young People‘s Concert over Channel 2 last night. As Leonard Bernstein conducted the orchestra in an all-Stravinsky program, the searching eye of the TV camera, roaming Carnegie Hall, where the concert was given, caught one intelligent-looking boy in the act of stifling a great yawn. The program was taped, and the uncomplimentary sequence easily could have been erased before it went on the air. But it showed up on the screen as a shining testament to TV honesty.78

Though some YPC elements were left to chance, careful planning on the part of both Englander and Bernstein ensured that each concert developed and engaged with ease. Early on, both men recognized their respective roles and realms of expertise. While Bernstein was the orator and no one dared usurp his scripts, Englander understood the technology and power of

75 Englander, ―No Balloons or Tap Dancers,‖ 30. 76 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 30 June 2008. 77 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 75, quoting Art Woodstone, ―New York Philharmonic Young People‘s Concert,‖ Variety, 28 March 1962, 34. 78 John Shanley, ―TV: Camera‘s Integrity,‖ New York Times, 27 March 1962. 58

cameras, and that world was left to him.79 Englander recalls: ―After the first couple of shows, we never discussed camera. By then, we understood each other.‖80 It was left to Englander to use media technology in heightening the drama of each concert, increase musical perception, and unify each program by emphasizing the primary theme for each concert.81 For example, many YPCs opened with a dramatic sweeping shot of Carnegie Hall that began with the ceiling and took in all the balconies and main floor (e.g. ―The Road to Paris‖). YPC ―Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky‖ serves as an excellent example of Englander using technology to enhance perception. Rose writes, To emphasize the orchestral colors of Petrouchka, Englander concentrated on ever-changing views of the instrumental soloists, with cuts from player to player precisely motivated by the score. Camera movements and edits also depended on musical impetus; legato sections, for example, were accompanied with slower pans and dissolves, rather than rhythmically quick cuts.82

Rose goes on to note Bernstein‘s portrayal ―as just one of the many components fueling the work‘s vitality‖ and the absence of ―maestro shots‖ that might highlight Bernstein over individual members of the NYP.83 So-called maestro shots were popular in early art music telecasts. A perfect example is the 1952 video recording of Arturo Toscanini conducting Beethoven‘s Fifth Symphony with the NBC Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. On this recording, the first movement lasts just over six minutes, but at no point is the orchestra shown without Toscanini. In fact, as the music broadens toward the end, instead of the cameras pulling back to capture more of the orchestra, they zoom in on Toscanini‘s restrained but intense conducting. Rose justly notes the absence of maestro shots of Bernstein during the Petrouchka sequence, but when the YPCs are taken as a whole, it is clear that Bernstein and Englander did at times emphasize Bernstein‘s presence over the orchestra. Englander referred to these as ―money shots‖ because some thought Bernstein‘s personal charisma was a major factor in securing viewership.84 For example, in the YPC ―What is Impressionism‖ Bernstein is sometimes

79 Bernstein did appreciate the complexity of producing an engaging, satisfying television music experience. In a 1958 interview with TV Guide he said, ―And you know how difficult it is to televise an orchestra. What do you do after the first five minutes of showing the violin bows marching in unison?‖ (Stahl, 19). 80 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 171. 81 Chapin, 58. 82 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 116. 83 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 116. 84 Roger Englander, Telephone interview with author, 30 June 2008. 59

displayed singly, smiling and cajoling members of the orchestra, and at the program‘s end, his image is superimposed over the orchestra as they relish the final chord of Ravel‘s Daphnis and Chloe. These shots show that his presence with the orchestra was primarily positive and that he enjoyed his work while at the same time he took it seriously. In many ways, Englander used his cameras as ―active participants,‖ not merely passive observers.85 Gelleny describes two manifestations of this participation: One subtler aspect of Englander‘s artistry was his technique of creating visual metaphors that correspond to Bernstein‘s spoken metaphors or descriptions…. In ―What is a Melody?‖ (1962) a long, uninterrupted tracking shot tracing an irregular counterclockwise arc around the orchestra aptly reflected the ―endless‖ melody of Hindemith‘s Concert Music for Strings and Brass, Op. 50. In conjunction with Ives‘s Unanswered Question (―Charles Ives: American Pioneer,‖ 1967), Englander placed a camera in the center of the orchestra and allowed it to rotate slowly on its axis. The distorted, surreal visuals that resulted corresponded effectively to Bernstein‘s description of a ―great, wheeling galaxy of stars.‖86

Gelleny is critical of one instance where Englander tried to explicate the music through his cameras in the La Mer sequence of ―What is Impressionism?‖87 Specifically, she questions the use of a special lens at one point which blurred the image and approximated impressionistic art. Gelleny‘s charge could be valid, but it may also be that what she interpreted as a purposeful blurring was merely the limitations of the cameras employed, i.e. there are blurry shots, but they are always taken from cameras a great distance from the stage and musicians. Overall, Englander‘s guiding philosophy regarding camera usage was, ―The picture is the container of the sound.‖ Englander claimed: ―In other words, the picture has to be in view before you hear the sound. Because that‘s what happens—you see something first and then you hear it. Just a nanosecond before.‖88 Englander understood that his responsibility was to select enlightening, engaging images and to transition them at the perfect musical moment so that each scene had the most significance for the viewer.89 Clearly, in philosophy and sense of mission, Englander‘s association with Bernstein became ―television‘s greatest contribution to music and arts education.‖90 Although each man

85 Clark, ―Congruent Odysseys,‖ 1985, 20. 86 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television,‖ 54-55. 87 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 74. 88 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 139. 89 Clark, ―Congruent Odysseys,‖ 1985, 32. 90 Chapin, 58. 60

had a different field of action and oriented himself towards a distinct audience, both Bernstein and Englander were united in ideal and purpose. Both men were passionate about the arts and their positive effect on society. Both men saw the power that television offered for disseminating concert music to all and stimulating a superior music appreciation in the American public. Most importantly, both men were determined to educate with honesty and integrity.

61

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION: “COMMUNICATION IS WHAT TELEVISION IS ABOUT” Technological Mediation: Reflecting back on his pioneering work in television and music appreciation, Bernstein commented, The great benefit, for me, is the educational value, not only in the pedagogical sense but in the best sense of acquainting people with new stuff they can come to love… Bringing music close to people: as you know that has always been my lifelong desire and goal even in writing my own music. And I think there is nothing that comes near to television for this purpose. This is the best communicative means, and, after all, communication is what television is about.1

Bernstein‘s positive view of technology and optimistic opinion of mass culture were in contrast to music/social thinker, Theodor Adorno. Adorno and others of the so-called Frankfurt School wrote of an inherent conflict between high and low culture. Adorno‘s language was often extreme in his assertions against popular culture and technological mediation. In his view, recordings, television, and other mass media were tools for commodification, wholly dedicated to the popular music industry which he loathed. Adorno felt that music of high culture should never be treated as a mass culture commodity, and in those instances where technology was used in the cause of art music, Adorno regarded the result as ―pseudo-culture.‖2 For Adorno, concerts and music appreciation programs on radio and television represented the imposing of an official, ―affirmative,‖ and commodified culture—―a type of pabulum processed for effortless consumption.‖3 He felt that the public only learned to value music in terms of mastery, ownership, and the fetish of recognition.4 As a survivor from the cult of personality that surrounded Hitler in 1930‘s Germany, Adorno feared the emphasis American music lovers placed upon celebrities, e.g. Arturo Toscanini and Walter Damrosch.5 Furthermore,

1 Humphrey Burton, ―Leonard Bernstein: Video Man,‖ in Sennets and Tuckets: A Bernstein Celebration, ed. Steven Ledbetter (Boston: Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1988), 141. 2 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein on Television,‖ 64, FN#4. See also, Theodor W. Adorno, ―Analytical Study of the NBC Music Appreciation Hour," The Musical Quarterly 78, no.2 (Summer 1994), 325-377. 3 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 229. 4 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 334. 5 Adorno dedicated a lengthy critique of Walter Damrosch and the NBC Music Appreciation Hour in his essay, ―Analytical Study of the NBC Music Appreciation Hour" (1994). Although Adorno primarily addressed music appreciation on radio in this article, his critique has implications for Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s music appreciation efforts on television. 62

Adorno regarded the transmission audio standards of his time to be insufficient to the task of presenting a classical symphony with any honesty. But clearly, in the twentieth century, technology provided many positive means for disseminating music and to constructive ends. Beginning with radio, the entire nation was brought together simultaneously to experience the same music event. Frith asserts that radio ―also changed the experience of live music, putting performers into the home and transporting listeners into the audience… If radio had not been invented, the history of music in the twentieth- century would have been quite different.‖6 Instead of exacerbating the class conflict between high and low culture, radio and television exposed music listeners to a diverse palette of musical choices. Technology created an opportunity to learn about and experience classical music in parts of the U.S. long deprived of such privilege. Broadcasting classical music on commercial stations did risk commodifying classical music as Adorno feared. But as Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s YPCs demonstrated, high standards of programming and technical explanations geared for children increased public exposure to modern and American music without resorting to a tired lineup of standards. The YPCs deepened music appreciation beyond perceived notions of mastery to loving and listening to music as a lifestyle and right. In many ways, through radio and television the music product itself was presented without actually attending a concert hall. The enjoyment of art music played well was divorced from barriers that had kept it from the broader populace. Now anyone with a radio or television could receive the knowledge and enlightenment of high culture without geographic or economic limitations that precluded participation for many. Although the YPCs were driven in many ways by Bernstein‘s personality and charisma, his approach was not aristocratic but American and urbane. D. Kern Holoman writes, But the popularity is hardly sufficient to describe the effect he had on the prepubescent band-and-orchestra set. We were, I would say, seduced: by his undeniable good looks, the suave patrician accent, the seeming inexhaustibility of his talents and powers. His ―talking about music‖ seemed grace itself, and

6 Simon Frith, ―Look! Hear! The Uneasy Relationship of Music and Television,‖ Popular Music 21, no. 3, (October 2002), 279. Frith continues, ―Radio provided a livelihood for trained musicians and serious composers, and helped develop a new sort of high music culture. In commercial radio systems, classical music programming was an effective weapon in the pursuit of the upmarket audience; in public service systems classical music broadcasting was an essential part of stations‘ perceived duty to educate as well as to entertain their listeners, to sustain the national cultural heritage as well as to promote contemporary creativity.‖ 63

in that respect he taught us what good music teaching was long before we encountered university-level courses in musical grammar and history.7

Joseph Horowitz notes that music appreciation ―middlemen‖ were inherently unable to personify art music to the extent of a performer like Toscanini.8 But through television Bernstein was able to fill the roles of both skilled performer and expositor. With Englander‘s help, Bernstein employed a symbiosis of aural and visual technology to pedagogical ends. In many ways, Toscanini‘s success on radio fit his professional personality: Through radio he was imminent but unseen, cold, and superhuman—a ―high priest‖ for classical music.9 In contrast, Bernstein was a perfect match for the television medium: Through television Bernstein was seen, heard, and received as a worldly-wise older relative. Initially, televised concerts were handled like the reportage of an event. They provided a seat in the concert hall with a view of the stage and audience. But, as Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s work demonstrated, television had the potential to engage the home audience in a unique manner. Television was ―an ideal medium for musical argument.‖10 It is also true that the sound quality of the early YPCs was nowhere near the superiority of modern digital recordings and high definition broadcasts. But Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s efforts represented a much needed and widely appreciated first step in the right direction for developing American culture and augmenting the education of American youths. One critic wrote, Programs of this caliber make a great contribution to American culture. With the development of a preponderance of such types of programs and with the diminishing of the gangster-murder thrillers that adulterate the ether, the metamorphosis of our youth from the chrysalis stage to that of the full-grown maturity can be towards an era that can bring a new renaissance of civilization to our Western world.11

Another prominent naysayer who spoke vehemently against the effects of technology on American musical culture was John Phillip Sousa. On the Edison Phonograph, he said, It is the living, breathing example alone that is valuable to the student and can set into motion his creative and performing abilities. The ingenuity of a phonograph's mechanism may incite the inventive genius to its improvement,

7 D. Kern Holoman, ―Talking About Music: The Maestro and the Masses or Reflections of a Child of the Sixties,‖ In Sennets and Tuckets: A Bernstein Celebration, ed Steven Ledbetter. (Boston: Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1988), 143. 8 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 217. 9 Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini, 3. 10 Frith, 280. 11 Jessie Solomon, The Washington Star, 17 December 1958. 64

but I could not imagine that a performance by it would ever inspire embryonic Mendelssohns, Beethovens, Mozarts, and Wagners to the acquirement of technical skill, or to the grasp of human possibilities in the art.12

Sousa worried about a bifurcation of musical doers and passive receivers; he feared that many would substitute experiencing music through technology for the learned ability to make music themselves. For him, performing music oneself was integral to music appreciation. In part, Bernstein addressed Sousa‘s fears through the YPCs. Through the marvels of technology, he demonstrated that music could be more than a learned ability. For Bernstein, music was something any person could experience perceptively. Bernstein understood that most Americans already valued music, especially the so-called classics, but wanted to know what specifically made music great. Again and again, Bernstein demonstrated that any listener could approach music intelligently and with discernment. Bernstein knew that music could enrich any life, even if it was only heard, but received with informed judgment. Consequent Young People’s Concert Development: After Bernstein retired from the YPCs in 1972, he was succeeded by a former student and disciple, Michael Tilson Thomas. Roger Englander stayed on and worked with Thomas for two more seasons, and the format remained relatively consistent with how it was under Bernstein.13 Selected programs hosted by Thomas were broadcast by CBS for three years, but there was a marked decline in audience interest.14 Shanet writes: ―By 1973, although the subscription of Philharmonic Hall for the Young People‘s Concerts was still close to full, there was no longer the waiting period of several years that had been a mark of the Bernstein era.‖15 When he left the YPCs, Englander noticed a distinct change in how the program was approached. I‘d heard that after I left the series, the budget went up about eight times and there were now all sorts of slave cameras, and so forth. It was really done as ―a production.‖ Edited in Hollywood and sweetened in Hollywood with applause… I couldn‘t stand it. It had become something else.16

12 John Philip Sousa, ―Machine Songs IV: The Menace of Mechanical Music,‖ Computer Music Journal 17, no. 1 (Spring 1993), 14. 13 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 136. 14 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 7. 15 Shanet, 465, FN# 227. 16 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 137. 65

In an attempt to recapture audience enthusiasm for the YPCs, administrators departed from the ideals of simplicity and directness that had characterized the show under Bernstein and Englander. Currently, the NYP continues its tradition of hosting YPCs and enjoys sold out subscriptions—although the concerts are no longer televised. For 2009-10, the NYP plans to host its eighty-third consecutive YPC season. The concerts will be conducted by NYP Assistant Conductor Daniel Boico and hosted by Theodore Wiprud. All NYP YPCs are currently held in Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center, New York City. The YPCs also continue to creatively engage the youths who attend from New York and the surrounding area. Before each NYP YPC, children are invited to explore Kidzone Live!, ―an interactive music fair where kids can try out instruments, play musical games, and preview the theme of the day‘s concert.‖17 After the NYP moved to Lincoln Center, children‘s concerts in various formats also continued at Carnegie Hall, but not with the NYP. For example, the American Symphony Orchestra, led by Leopold Stokowski, presented its own series of children's concerts at Carnegie Hall throughout the 1960s. Carnegie Hall Corporation did not start presenting its own children‘s concerts until 1979, but since that date, they have regularly presented children‘s concerts with various orchestras. These Carnegie Hall children‘s programs, now called ―Family Concerts,‖ are still extremely popular. Lasting Impact: The positive and enduring impact of Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s YPCs is incontrovertible. Significantly, an entire generation of musicians and music scholars credit the YPCs as a major influence in their decision to pursue music as a career. Bernstein‘s daughter, Jamie states, I can‘t tell you how many people come up to me now, everywhere I go in the States, and they say something like: ―Oh, I used to watch your father‘s Young People‘s Concerts on TV, and I‘ve been a music lover ever since!‖ And an equally large number of orchestra musicians come up to me and say, ―I watched the Young People‘s Concerts when I was a kid, and that‘s why I'm a musician today!‖18

17 New York Philharmonic, ―Young People‘s Concerts,‖ http://nyphil.org/concertsTicks/subs_youngPeopleConcerts.cfm (accessed 16 February 2009). 18 Jamie Bernstein, ―Leonard Bernstein: A Born Teacher,‖ The Leonard Bernstein Office. http://www.leonardbernstein.com/educator.htm (accessed 4 March 2009). 66

Holoman also attests to YPC influence on American musicians and the general public of the so- called ―television generation.‖ I can‘t help wondering whether he hasn‘t molded many of the fundamental attitudes toward good music held by what is now called the television generation. Before the compact disc, the videotape, and the walkman, after all, there was Lenny. For those of us who were born, raised, and educated far from the Boston-New York corridor the efforts of Leonard Bernstein were central to classical music‘s having become a major force in our lives. I‘ll bet there‘s a little of the maestro in virtually every child of the sixties who went on to have a career in American music-making.19

During the 1960s, fan mail came from all over North America expressing appreciation for the show, requesting copies of the scripts, and a chance to audition and appear on the show.20 There were even clubs formed by teenagers to watch the program.21 Today, many baby boomers fondly recall Leonard Bernstein and the YPCs as a staple of their childhood, television at its best, and indicative of purer era in American history. But as Jamie Bernstein points out, Looking through our rose-colored glasses, we get a certain impression of Young people‘s Concerts…with all the kids sitting there so nicely dressed and well-behaved. But I wish to remind everyone that what you didn‘t see on television was the boys sending paper airplanes sailing over the balcony. The air was always full of paper airplanes. We mustn‘t forget that kids were kids back then, too.22

In his 1992 article, ―Is Bernstein Passé on Television? Only in America,‖ Joseph Horowitz laments the state of art music on television since Bernstein and the YPCs. He wonders at the inability of stations to acquire adequate funding and rebroadcast the shows for the benefit of a new American generation. He describes how Harry Kraut, Bernstein‘s manager worked twenty years getting permission for the YPCs to be released for worldwide syndication; ―But he has been unable to arrange for screenings on American public television.‖ In countries like Germany, rebroadcasting the YPCs was embraced whole-heartedly. Kraut recounted: ―Leo Kirch, of Kirch Gruppe in Munich, put up the entire advance. He and his wife are great music lovers. And the following year, the Japanese stood right up and made a terrific offer for the lease of rights.‖ Horowitz summarized that the lack of interest for the YPCs in America was indicative of a stunted set of priorities in American cultural life. Elsewhere

19 Holoman, 142. 20 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 49. 21 Gelleny, ―Leonard Bernstein‘s Young People‘s Concerts,‖ 49. 22 Tim Smith, ―Encore for Young People‘s Concerts: Bernstein‘s Daughter Takes Dad‘s Music to Next Generation,‖ Baltimore Sun, 6 May 2006. 67

Horowitz grieves that: ―No master educator has taken [Bernstein‘s] place. His ‗young people‘ have not musically inculcated their young.‖23 Overall, acquiring significant funding has proved the most difficult task for the arts on television last century. For example, in 1980 Roger Englander was hired at CBS as head of Performing Arts for CBS Cable, the ―ambitious all-culture cable channel.‖24 He worked toward realizing the vision of William S. Paley who wanted ―to create a bold new vision for American TV – a commercial network whose only mandate was to showcase the best in music, theatre, and drama from all over the world.‖25 But the effort only lasted a year before folding with major losses. Obviously, there is still the need for dynamic leadership and shared vision if our current society hopes to create a phenomenon resembling Bernstein‘s and Englander‘s YPCs. That historic moment in American history was made possible with the confluence of significant, well- intended corporate sponsorship, Bernstein‘s dynamic and knowledgeable personality, and Englander‘s artistically inclined technological prowess. In conclusion, it is obvious that any serious academic understanding of Leonard Bernstein necessitates engagement with his work on the NYP YPCs. Additionally, attention must be paid to those significant personalities who worked with Bernstein in making the YPCs an award-winning success. As Clark notes, credit must be shared by Leonard Bernstein, Roger Englander, ―and their numerous associates: their dynamism as well as Bernstein‘s is on display.‖26

23 Horowitz, ―Professor Lenny.‖ 24 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 10. 25 Rose, Televising the Performing Arts, 10. 26 Clark, ―Congruent Odysseys,‖ 1985, 20. 68

APPENDIX

Figure 2: Leonard Bernstein with Roger Englander seated 1

1 Picture housed at the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection. 69

Figure 3: YPC Planning Meeting2

2 Roger Englander seated far left, Leonard Bernstein seated far right with back to camera, most likely Mary Rodgers and John Corigliano, Jr. seated in the center. Picture housed at the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection. 70

Figure 4: Side View of Leonard Bernstein and NYP on Carnegie Hall Stage3

3 CBS camera seen in lower left. Picture housed at the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection. 71

Figure 5: Leonard Bernstein and Teleprompters4

4 Picture housed at the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection. 72

Figure 6: Full Shot of NYP, Cameras, and Lighting on Carnegie Hall Stage5

5 Picture housed at the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection. 73

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Turner, Chan. ―Bernstein‘s Hour Excellent.‖ Times Union, 14 April 1962.

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―Young People‘s Concerts on Film: Offered for Use in the Schools.‖ Music Educator’s Journal 51, no. 4, (February-March 1965).

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH John Christian MacInnis was born on 16 July 1981 in Nova Scotia. As a music student growing up in Canada, his instruction was focused by yearly Royal Conservatory Examinations and music festival competitions. Upon graduation from Cobequid Educational Centre, Truro, Nova Scotia in 1999, John continued his education at Bob Jones University, a liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina. At BJU, John studied piano with Prof. Laurence H. Morton and Dr. Peter Davis. After graduating with a bachelor‘s degree in Piano Performance, cum laude in 2003, John stayed at BJU for a master‘s degree in Sacred Music, Organ Proficiency. John studied organ with Dr. Edward Dunbar and represented South Carolina in the 2005 MTNA organ competition, division finals. While studying at BJU, John worked at the university‘s publishing house as a research assistant and served as a contributing author on several high-school textbook revisions, including World History. John graduated in 2006 and worked as an organ tuner‘s apprentice in Charlotte, North Carolina that summer before accepting a position as high-school music teacher at Westwood Christian Academy in Miami, Florida for the 2006-07 school year. In 2007, John married Victoria Lynn Cannon and began his studies in Historical Musicology at Florida State University, in Tallahassee, Florida. John plans to graduate in 2009 with a master‘s degree in Historical Musicology and continue his education onto the doctoral level at FSU.

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