Leonard Bernstein: A Complete Catalogue of His Works. Celebrating His 60th Birthday August 25, 1978.

[BERNSTEIN, Leonard]. Compiled by Jack Gottlieb.

$750.00

Item Number: 135237

First edition of Gottlieb’s complete catalogue of Leonard Bernstein’s works of music, writing, and film. Octavo, original wrappers. Association copy, Bernstein’s assistant and editor Jack Gottlieb’s personal copy with his ownership signature to the title page. Gottlieb worked for Bernstein for more that thirty years, first as his assistant and later as his editor, preparing for publication Bernstein’s books, scores, catalogues, programs and jackets. In his memoir “Working with Bernstein”, Gottlieb relayed, “Close to my heart were the editing jobs I did on three of Bernstein’s popular books. First was ‘The Joy of Music,’ on which I had the pleasure of working with the genial Henry Simon of Simon and Schuster. The next two books, also S&S publications, were co-edited with gentlemen who have since become distinguished men of letters: Michael Korda on ‘Young People’s Concerts for Reading and Listening’ and Robert Gottlieb (no relation) on ‘The Infinite Variety of Music’ (pp. 22-23). In addition to managing negotiations with Bernstein’s publishers, Gottlieb managed Bernstein’s over-booked professional schedule and shared the unique experience of navigating the 20th century American landscape of conducting and composition as a relative minority of Jewish faith and ancestry. In fine condition with Gottlieb’s annotations throughout. Accompanied by two Brandies University programs from concerts in 1952 and 1953 directed by Bernstein and from Gottlieb’s collection. Rare and desirable from the collection of Bernstein’s instrumental assistant.

American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein is widely considered one of the most important conductors of his time and was the first American conductor to receive international acclaim. According to music critic Donal Henahan, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history". Bernstein was the recipient of many honors, including seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards,sixteen Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement, and the Kennedy Center Honor. As a composer he wrote in many genres, including symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and works for the piano. His best-known work is the Broadway musical West Side Story, which continues to be regularly performed worldwide, and has been adapted into two (1961 and 2021) feature films.