Leonard Bernstein

The legend of Leonard Bernstein began with the fact that it was unusual for an American to conduct a major American orchestra. On the occasion of his New York Philharmonic debut, filling in for an ailing Bruno Walter, Bernstein was introduced by Bruno Zirato, the orchestra's associate manager, as "a full-fledged American conductor, born and entirely raised in this country." An American conductor was not unique, of course, and Zirato duly emphasized Bernstein's American education. In the 1930s, however, a conductor's education and opportunities could only have come from the European source even if it was located in the United States. The four conductors who had the greatest influence on Bernstein in his conductor's apprenticeship, and were all instrumental in starting his career, were the Greek Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960), the Pole Artur Rodzinski (1892-1958), the Hungarian Fritz Reiner (1888-1963) and, most importantly, the Russian Serge Koussevitzky (1874-1951). Other conductors were influential in various ways. Prior to taking over for Walter in his illness, Bernstein had, as the Philharmonic's assistant conductor, sat in on all the rehearsals. His observations of Walter certainly aided in the stunning debut just as listening to various conductors was important to him. But the four who first perceived Bernstein's abilities, encouraged him, and opened doors for him were also the four who had the greatest influence on his conducting style.

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tropoulos' style, very much like Bernstein's, consisted of cajoling and exhorting the orchestra and allowing them access to his conception of the music. Mitropoulos' great memory allowed him to memorize every orchestra's personnel list and while most conductors know a few key players, "when a visiting conductor addresses a fourth-chair violinist . . . by name . . . the effect in the orchestra must be seen to be believed." An even more significant aspect of Mitropoulos' famous memory was his ability to correct every tiny rehearsal error without bothering to consult the score. When Bernstein attended the Curtis Institute a short time later he worked very hard at developing this capacity himself. Under Reiner, at Curtis, a student was expected to be in command of the material at the first rehearsal and to possess "a fully imagined sound picture of the work in his head and be familiar with every note in every orchestral part." These were skills at which Bernstein excelled. For Bernstein the drawbacks of Mitropoulos' approach only became evident later when Bernstein followed the Greek conductor as music director of the New York Philharmonic. Mitropoulos was appointed director in 1950 and he left this, his last regular appoint

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