Having just finished Martin Gardner's brilliant/hateful wipe-out of occultism (in the N.Y. Review of Books, a propos the collected oeuvre of Shirley MacLaine) I find myself beset by feelings of paradox – and thinking of you. I guess your paradoxical duality is one of the things I most like in you (and, for that matter, in any thinking–feeling person – including myself, in those ever-decreasing moments when I like myself).
Which of us worth his salt is not a paradoxnick? There's something in the Bible we all believe, even if not literally; and there's also something in Darwin and Freud that grabs us equally. Wm. Blake vs. Martin Gardner, X vs. Y, and on down the list of all the antitheses that engender free inquiry and democracy.
I like to think of myself, and of you, as primarily rational humanists, but then, there I go inhaling cosmic energies via Aaron Stern.32 And then, there you go, so movingly, pursuing your profound and loving experiment with Patrick Porter.33 I can't tell you how touching I find it.
This is not a sketch for some future lecture, but a spontaneous love-letter on your birthday. Have a happy one and many more.
Lenny
624. Maureen Lipman34 to Leonard Bernstein
London
[April 1987]
Dear Mr. Bernstein,
The show is off and the star is off-colour, but the memory is just the grandest. Wonderful Town ended in triumph, with a dynamic show, encores and bravos, a weeping star, the weeping star's children in Wonderful Town T-shirts, coming on stage bearing flowers – the whole audience on its feet and a mass “Conga” round the stage and auditorium.35 The rafters sang with your wonderful music and I hope it continues to do so right through the next production (which should never have been allowed in!)
Looking back, we had just the best notices we could have wished for, but no advertising, no record – no hype! You can't exist without it now in the West End. We had “a perfect gem” as the Punch critic said – but we needed a master jeweler – Van Cleef & Arpels even! – to set us, invisibly, into the bracelet of Shaftesbury Avenue! I wish I had hot latkes [potato pancakes] for every person who came to the dressing room glowing with the pleasure of seeing a real show with a book, lyrics, music and a HEART. After being disappointed by the Phantom of the Chessboard school of musical theatre.
Enough. Onwards. I know you are working on a new project with Stephen Sondheim and I wish you huge success. I'm taking three months off to do a second book and I hope it will be OK to include a wonderful picture of you and I – me kissing you on the nose, taken by Christina Burton of Watford.
Meanwhile – this really is the point of this rambling missive – Thank you, for the privilege of your music in Wonderful Town and for the joy of translating it, through Ruth, for the last year. God bless and take care of you.
Love,
Maureen (Lipman)
625. Leonard Marcus36 to Leonard Bernstein
299 Under Mountain Road, Lenox, MA
20 September 1987
Dear Lenny,
Merely a line to tell you that 1) you nearly caused me to have an accident and 2) I heard a performance of the Mahler Second that was more overwhelming than anything I remembered even you ever having done – and that goes back to my unforgettable first encounter with the work, singing it as a teenager under you at Tanglewood.
Earlier today I drove down to NYC from Lenox. When I got close enough to catch a City station worthwhile fielding, the radio was in the middle of the Mahler. Almost immediately, even with the lo-fi of car radio, I realized I was surrounded by an extraordinary performance. By the middle of the last movement, I concluded that a new champion of the work had succeeded in snatching from you the belt reading “Most in Tune with Mahler's Soul.”
I anticipated the penultimate choral chord – and what genius did it take to bring this epic to its perfect climax simply by expanding a dominant from closed to open position? – but what I heard so overpowered my expectations that I did something I haven't done in a couple of years.
I cried.
It only lasted a moment, but in that moment, I nearly swerved into another car as we came to the 59th Street exit of the West Side Highway.
You needn't worry. By 42nd Street I had already forgiven you. During the interim, Marty Bookspan had announced which Philharmonic concert had just been rebroadcast.
Does anyone realize how dangerous great music can be? I mean, Plato's dead and all that, but even he could only have had a more formal, Dionysian version of Rock in mind, and everybody knows to complain about that. No, I'm referring to the perils of the classics. I hope Surgeon General Koop doesn't find out.
As always, with love.
Lenny
626. Leonard Bernstein to Claudio Arrau37
20 December 1987
Dear Claudio,
I am at this moment remembering, with deep emotion, our Brahms D minor in 1946. It was your birthday; and besides playing like a god, you had a post-concert birthday party at your house. It was at this party that I met a ravishing girl called Felicia Montealegre, who was not only a fellow-Chilean of yours and your one-time pupil, but who also shared your birthday, and for three decades thereafter shared my life.
So you see, my dear Claudio, how closely intertwined our lives have been, with Music playing the rôle of Destiny. May we long continue this closeness.
A very happy birthday, and may you go from strength to strength.
Love,
Lenny38
627. Claudio Arrau to Leonard Bernstein
29 February 1988
Dear Lenny,
I cannot thank you enough for your beautiful words of good wishes on the occasion of my 85th birthday. Imagine, 85, hard to believe.
As I sat holding the Festschrift on my lap, we all remembered our dear Felicia. Your words have special meaning for us and always will.
Now that you yourself are getting to be a grand old man, don't let the thought of age bother you. It really is not so bad. Some of us get better and stronger and I hear that is what is happening to you. So God bless you because nothing is more wonderful than fulfillment in later life.
All our love.
As ever,
Claudio
628. Jerome Robbins to Leonard Bernstein
19 April 1988
Dear Lenushka,
Sorry we didn't meet yesterday. It was Fancy Free's 44th birthday – and I was looking forward to giving and getting a big hug!
But, I was very happy to know you were working hard on your new piece – and I know how much that means to you, and all of us.
We do have some things to solve, not much, but things we can settle so we can move ahead.39 W[est] S[ide] S[tory] is in pretty good shape as we outlined it with only one spot a bit bumpy. [On the] Town needs some talking about. I've a few ideas. So let's get it done & out of the way.
I look forward to Tuesday (and the hug) and any other time you can manage to make for us.
Love,
Jerry
629. Jerome Robbins to Leonard Bernstein
117 East 81st Street, New York, NY
10 June 1988
[Note at top:] Lenny: First, play the tape! Then read this.
Dear Lenny,
Here's a tape of the On the Town Ballet such as we have put together musically and I have choreographed. It combines the elements we talked about and where I had some problems we made some temporary fill-ins and adjustments. I know there will be places which you think are over-extended musically, such as in the Penny Arcade and in the Dance Hall section which follows it, but they don't seem over-extended when you watch it with dancing. However, I'm certainly looking forward to your reactions and help.40
Scott, the pianist, did a wonderful job and I like the total buoyancy of the piece. It still is episodic which curtails a dynamic flow-through feeling. But, I like the little reprise of the fugato leading back into the finale material very much. I know you will love what I have choreographed for the fugato and the music that comes after it. It's all joyous and now that I've comp
leted sketching it, I'll do better by it when I get back to it. But I'm most anxious to get your reaction.
Sorry I can't be there to dance it for you. You know how much respect I have for the music and anything we have to add has been an imperative necessity to make the logic and the story work out.
So how are you? I miss you and hope you're not too tired and that the tour has been wonderful. I cannot come to Chicago but I hope to see you on the 26th of June.
I send you a big hug and await your response.
Love,
Jerry
P.S. I've started finding out about the Dance in America tape rights. Of course if I can manage to help, I will.
630. Miles Davis41 to Leonard Bernstein
c/o Shukat & Hafer, 111 West 57th Street, New York, NY
28 June 1988
Dear Leonard,
Having received the Son[n]ing Award in Copenhagen which only Isaac Stern, Stravinsky, you and I have received42 I am reminded of what an honor it is to be in your and their company.
I also think about the time when my wife,43 who was the lead dancer in West Side Story, said to me: “Leonard wants you to think about playing this music”, and I replied “how am I going to play this corny shit”. Needless to say it turned out to be a classic.
You are one of America's true geniuses along with [Thelonius] Monk, [Dizzy] Gillespie, [Charles] Mingus and [Charlie] Parker. You are a true musician and if you chose to be you could be a great pianist in addition to being a great composer and conductor.
On this your 70th birthday, I wish you all the best and wish you many more productive years in pleasing the world with your music.
Sincerely yours,
Miles Davis
631. Gerald Levinson44 to Leonard Bernstein
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
9 July 1988
Dear Mr. Bernstein,
I send greetings and wishes for much nachas, as well as “harmony and grace,” on your birthday. After having made so much great music as composer, conductor, and teacher over the past seven decades, I'm sure you won't be content to rest on your laurels now.
I'll always be grateful for the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship that allowed me to spend an inspiring summer at Tanglewood in '71 – not least for the unforgettable Missa Solemnis you conducted that season. Hanging around the B.S.O. all summer certainly contributed to my appetite for the big orchestra, of which you've heard some of the fruits. And fellow TMC Fellows of the time are now friends and colleagues. The ties that keep bringing me back to that wonderful place formed then and keep growing.
Finally, here's a coded message for your seventieth. A key is included for the lower stave;45 you're on your own for the upper stave.
Many happy returns – from Ari, too.
Jerry Levinson
632. Ronald Reagan46 to Leonard Bernstein
The White House, Washington, D.C.
5 August 1988
Dear Mr. Bernstein,
Nancy and I are delighted to join with your many friends and admirers gathered in Tanglewood to extend warmest congratulations to you on your 70th birthday.
Your remarkable career as a conductor, pianist, and composer has greatly enriched American culture. Your memorable compositions during a long and prolific career have captured the hearts and dreams of generations of your countrymen.
From West Side Story to On the Waterfront, your music has cheered us, thrilled us, rallied us, and gladdened us. Today, we salute you for your rare gift for music and your outstanding contribution to the artistic life of our Nation.
Happy Birthday and God bless you.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan
633. Leonard Bernstein to David Diamond
[postmark Stamford, CT]
8 August 1988
Dear DD,
Thank you for the birthday wishes, but how dare you talk of no communication from me when the last I've seen or heard from you was after I'd lost five years of my life learning & teaching & performing your 9th Symphony and you walked off with your 75,000 bucks and little or no thanks and remained unheard from except via certain people who read your weighty input to a Peyser book which I have promised my children on my honor never to read.
… and I think that after decades of saving you from suicide, mental collapse, poverty, public fantasizing, and generally spoiling other people's lives you may owe me a bit more than a green, posterity-oriented birthday greeting, but never mind …
… (as always, ungenerous to my colleagues)
Goodbye & good luck.
L47
634. Claudio Arrau to Leonard Bernstein
18 August 1988
Dear Lenny,
I salute you on the wonderful occasion of your 70th birthday and wish you many more years of success, happiness and fulfillment.
I cannot believe that so many years have gone by since we first met and first performed together and Ruth and I introduced you to Felicia, your beautiful bride to be. Then, I felt like an older brother full of admiration for your God-gifts. Today, I feel more like a loving uncle delighting in your enormous growth and achievements. May the gods continue to carry you to the ultimate portals of your deepest hopes and wishes.
Yours ever,
Claudio
635. Frank Sinatra to Leonard Bernstein
[Reno, NV]
25 August 1988
Dear Genius,
Happy Birthday!
You are one of the few who deserves everything warm and wonderful that will be said about you on this marvelous occasion of reaching what Abe Lincoln would have called 3 score and ten.
And I think it's sensational this big bash in your honor is being held at your beloved Tanglewood in the shade of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Be assured, Lenny, that between songs here in Reno, where I am performing tonight, I raise a toast in your honor, in gratitude for all you have done for the musical world which bows towards you in appreciation this day, and for all you have done for the personal world I alone inhabit and which is a far better place because of your friendship, which I will always cherish.
Happy Birthday, young man. I can hardly wait for your next seventy.
Warmest hugs,
Francis Albert
636. David Del Tredici48 to Leonard Bernstein
1 September 1988
Dear Lenny,
Among all the wonderful things, I was most moved by Mass.49 It is way out there (a place I, too, inhabit), takes every kind of chance, and succeeds wonderfully. The pacing of the whole musical, dramatic unfolding is so skilful!
Thoughts of the moment and thanks for the never-to-be-forgotten music.
David
P.S. Look forward too, to Fall!50
637. Leonard Bernstein to David Diamond
[postmark New York, NY]
24 October 1988
Dear old Dovidl,
I've just returned from Europe and discovered your letter of two months ago. I don't want to discuss details, but I do want to say that I'm sorry I wrote you in the way I did. I should never have sent that letter in such a burst of anger (I can't remember ever having written such a letter to anyone, and besides, the anger was probably related to something else and only triggered by you).
So, I'm sorry; but I must say I meant every word of it.
Shalom uv'rachah [peace and blessings to you]
Lenny51
638. David Del Tredici to Leonard Bernstein
28 November [1988]
Lenny,
You were every bit as terrific as I thought you'd be. Tattoo52 came to life like I'd dreamed and in 4 different ways, too. I love your Rubens, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Rembrandt versions of the piece!
And most of all I love you.
All my gratitude, love, and envy.
David
639. Leonard Bernstein to Charles Harmon53
[New York, NY, with hand-drawn postage stamp “Namibia State Prison”]
“New Year's”, 1989
/>
Dear Lito,
Overleaf, behold my refuge from ragweed,54 1941, and the garret where I wrote my Clarinet Sonata, and started a ballet called Conch Town (bits to be found in Fancy Free, all the shows, including the whole tune of “America” in West Side). The house was dark brown then, and all I could afford.55
Love,
LB
640. Stephen Sondheim to Leonard Bernstein
22 March 1989
Dear Lenny,
Thanks for the telegram, and for the quick glimpses of your face on Sunday night's broadcast when you were listening to the song.56 I empathized with your apprehension at the start of it and was therefore doubly pleased at your relief when you realized that it was going to be affectionate (as well as brilliant, of course).
As you may have gathered, I called you when you were on vacation – it was just to give a nostalgic Christmas hello. I was about to do so again two weeks ago but Harry [Kraut] said you were in the slough of despond and it was not a good time. I'll try again. It would be nice to see you. Or at least talk.
Love,
Steve
641. Leonard Bernstein to Marin Alsop57
20 August 1989
My Marvelous Marin,
The bronchitis has finally felled me, and I've cancelled everything for this Sunday (a necessary Sabbath!) Forgive me, and do understand that I'm with you, every 16th-note.
Be glorious.
Love
LB
642. Leonard Bernstein to Doriot Anthony Dwyer
20 August 1989
Dear Darling Doriot,
Forgive & forget! I am in temporary collapse, abed, and have cancelled all activities for the day (including my own kiddies' concert) so that I can do this coming week with full powers. I know you'll understand.
Have a great party – and I do so look forward to our Shosty!
Love,
Lenny
643. Yo-Yo Ma to Leonard Bernstein
[No place]
31 October 1989
Dear Mr. Bernstein,
It was so wonderful to have the chance to see you in New York last week. Thank you for your time and for the lunch. My only regret is that I did not get to see the letters that you received from Boris Pasternak with his comments on the meaning of art.
I am very excited that you are willing to write a trio for Mr. Stern, Manny [Emanuel Ax], and me; I can't tell you what a thrill it is. Although you must hear this from so many people, I would just like to add that those of us who have the privilege of coming in contact with you do feel truly blessed.
The Leonard Bernstein Letters Page 78