Book contents
- Leonard Bernstein in Context
- Composers in Context
- Leonard Bernstein in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Musical Examples
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Bernstein’s World
- Part II Conducting
- Part III Composition, Creation, and Reception
- Chapter 11 The Crisis of Faith
- Chapter 12 Popular Music
- Chapter 13 American Sound
- Chapter 14 Exotic Evocations
- Chapter 15 Opera
- Chapter 16 Women, Gender, and Sexuality
- Chapter 17 Film
- Chapter 18 Early Shows
- Chapter 19 Late Shows
- Part IV Bernstein as Musical and Cultural Ambassador
- Part V Connections
- Part VI The Legacy
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 12 - Popular Music
from Part III - Composition, Creation, and Reception
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 April 2024
- Leonard Bernstein in Context
- Composers in Context
- Leonard Bernstein in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Musical Examples
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Bernstein’s World
- Part II Conducting
- Part III Composition, Creation, and Reception
- Chapter 11 The Crisis of Faith
- Chapter 12 Popular Music
- Chapter 13 American Sound
- Chapter 14 Exotic Evocations
- Chapter 15 Opera
- Chapter 16 Women, Gender, and Sexuality
- Chapter 17 Film
- Chapter 18 Early Shows
- Chapter 19 Late Shows
- Part IV Bernstein as Musical and Cultural Ambassador
- Part V Connections
- Part VI The Legacy
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Bernstein was a popular figure, in the conventional sense of garnering attention and admiration from a great many people, but his relationship to popular music was hardly straightforward. Bernstein expressed scepticism about much of popular music from the 1960s on and his personal taste hewed to the musics of his youth, such as swing-era jazz, blues, and the Golden-era of Broadway and popular song, while occasionally expanding to include rock’n’roll. However, Bernstein also viewed popular music as a kind of wellspring that composers could draw from, whether it was Mozart’s Magic Flute or his own West Side Story. Not only could borrowing from popular music revitalize tonal classical music for the twentieth century, as opposed to twelve-tone serialism and other mid-century modernist trends, but Bernstein also firmly believed that popular musics, particularly jazz, were the key to creating a uniquely American musical style.
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- Leonard Bernstein in Context , pp. 98 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024