The Infinite Variety Of Music

(Amadeus). With style, wit, and expertise, Leonard Bernstein shares his love and appreciation for music in all its varied forms in The Infinite Variety of Music , illuminating the deep pleasure and sometimes subtle beauty it offers. He begins with an "imaginary conversation" with George Washington entitled "The Muzak Muse," in which he argues the values of actively listening to music by learning how to read notes, as opposed to simply hearing music in a concert hall. The book also features the reproduction of five television scripts from Bernstein on the influence of jazz, the timeless appeal of Mozart, musical romanticism, and the complexities of rhythmic innovation. Also included are Bernstein's analyses of symphonies by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Brahms, a rare reproduction of a 1957 lecture on the nature of composing, and a report on the musical scene written for the New York Times after his sabbatical leave from directorship of the New York Philharmonic during the 1964-65 season.

Beginning with an introductory essay on his achievements, it continues with annotations on Bernstein's voluminous writings, performances, educational work, and major secondary sources.

"First published in the United States by Viridian Books, New York, 1999; first published in Great Britain by Pimlico, an imprint of Random House Group UK, 2000; first University of Minnesota Press edition published in 2004"--Title page verso.

Leonard Bernstein's Norton Lectures on the future course of music drew cheers from his Harvard audiences and television viewers. In the re-creation of his talks, the author considers music ranging from Hindu ragas through Mozart and Ravel to Copland, Shoenberg, and Stravinsky.

Designed for students, aficionados of classical music, and historians, this volume offers a wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary and comprehensive view of one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century at his 100th anniversary. Scholars from diverse backgrounds and fields have contributed rich insights into Bernstein's life and work in an approachable style, shedding light on Bernstein's social, professional and ideological contexts including his contemporaries and rivals on Broadway, his artistic collaborations, his celebrity status as a conductor on the international concert circuit, and his involvement in music education via broadcasting. From his early education, through his conducting and composing careers, to his fame as musical and cultural ambassador to the world, this book views Bernstein the man and the artist and provides a fascinating overview of American classical music culture during Bernstein's long career in the public spotlight.

In the last few decades, new technologies have brought composers and listeners to the brink of an era of limitless musical possibility. They stand before a vast ocean of creative potential, in which any sounds imaginable can be synthesised and pieced together into radical new styles and forms of music-making. But are musicians taking advantage of this potential? How could we go about creating and listening to new music, and why should we? Bringing the ideas of twentieth-century avant-garde composers Arnold Schoenberg and John Cage to their ultimate conclusion, Infinite Music proposes a system for imagining music based on its capacity for variation, redefining musical modernism and music itself in the process. It reveals the restrictive categories traditionally imposed on music-making, replaces them with a new vocabulary and offers new approaches to organising musical creativity. By detailing not just how music is composed but crucially how it's perceived, Infinite Music maps the future of music and the many paths towards it.

Beginning with an introductory essay on his achievements, it continues with annotations on Bernstein's voluminous writings, performances, educational work, and major secondary sources.