Bernstein on Debussy pt 1 

"Cubism is around the corner" ... now that was a smart one !

the second bark at 7:52 is definitely a tritone away from the bark at 8:06, G# and D. your dog is getting this.

Imagine - there was a time when this kind of intellectualism was actually available on broadcast television. And further, most of our "sets" could only receive 3, 4 or maybe 5 channels. Where are we today in comparison? Giants walked the Earth back then.

Pianist, Conductor, Composer, Educator what a great man

As a music teacher myself I say that Bernsteins lectures are masterpieces of music teaching. Bravo.

"Tritonically-alienated . . ." Leonard Bernstein, STOP IT before you make me SWOON from the sheer musicological majesty of your prose!!!!!!!!

I'm completely overwhelmed with his genius. His ability to so succinctly break down theory is humbling

Mr. Bernstein is the epitome of a great connoisseur of his professional art... His intelligence shines, his acknowledges on linguistics, general "musical science" and his major intellectual stances are highly appreciated and virtuously shown on these series of lectures he presented.... Additionally, he was an extraordinary communicator, given with a powerfully modulated speech conveyed through a convincingly nice tone of voice. It is delightful to listen his explanations and it is easy to understand his multilingual sprinkled deposition. LB was and is one admirably gifted human being!!!! Respect and best regards for ever!!!

What a wonderfully talented, intelligent, and eloquent man was Mr. Bernstein.

We need this stuff on television today!

It’s insane that he does this all in one take.

This is the most interesting about music theory I've ever seen.

Wow! Bernstein has enlightened millions on this piece, expressing every story in beautiful words. Think: all of this came from one human soul with fierce musical, poetic inspiration! So much can we do in this life, creating purity out of reality, creating melodies of the air, joy of the sea!!

Debussy IS modern music. The greatest composer of our time, IMO.

Hey everyone these carefully edited briefings are posted with the hope that your interest might be piqued enough to listen to these lectures in their entirety just look to the right... however I understand that even the most ardent music lovers might not have 3 hrs to devote to broaching these elusive insights hence these video cliff notes

God I love the way this man speaks, so knowledgeable, passionate, and clear to understand

I am so grateful for this video being avaliable...

What a genius is Bernstein. He's extremely learned and is able to bring all of his knowledge to bear on a musical piece. And he can communicate this knowledge to us. And he can play the music. He rocks. Whenever I hear Debussy, I remember how well my brother plays it. I tried to copy him but never came close. I see from Bernstein's exposition that I don't understand the music well enough to play it. I can also see that my brother does understand it. There's no substitute for talent.

I really wish we had stuff stuff like this on our free view tv, amazing to listen to.

Thank you for uploading this stuff, I'm totally enthralled

thank you .. I love how he explains music , not just the notes and meter etc,, but the depth,, the way it makes you fell.. He was a genius!! Remember Harlends Opus.when he teaches his music class and says... " It's not just notes on a page!!"

very pleased to hear it :-) I spent a lot of time trying to extract the "really good stuff from each lecture "

I love Debussy, sometimes all I can think about is Debussy

This is a great series. Thank you for posting it!

These videos are incredibly enlightening for me. I'm a guitarist with a pretty good understanding of harmony, but the principals explained here are so inspirational for me. I will be exploring these concepts!

In 1970 Wash DC heard a brilliant speech by Bernstein against the Vietnam war - he was not like this / he was so impassioned he was almost doubling over -with logic that flew straight to the heart

Thanks for sharing this. Bernstein was a genius and a treasure.

Thank you so much for posting this. Bernstein is a remarkable lecturer, making the complex comprehensible.

Lol the barks startled me. This is a gem. Reminds me of music school days. If only our theory profs had been this captivating! Thanks for sharing this ♥️

Thanks for posting these videos.

Ive never listened to Bernstein speak before, I'm hooked the colour of his prose fit perfecty with the ambiguity of chromaticism

Thanks a million, @paxwallacejazz and thank you as well, Master Leonard Bernstein !!! Happy birthday, Claude Debussy... the one and only !!!

Amazing. I will look for more Bernstein's lectures...

i love to hear all the lectures

I only wish I had the full musical vocabulary to describe Mt emotional reaction to each chord change and swell or shift of motive/emotion in this piece! I've been in love with it since I was 17!

Perfect. He explains as well as he plays for all of us, technically, historically, musically, and verbally.

Love this. thank you for the upload

I love the dog sound it help me realize not to be afraid of music theory like I've been for the past 37 years and even book for being a 64-year-old musician who never got over the fear of music theory

I am extremely impressed listening to Bernstein's thoughts. His insights about music - about chromaticism, diatonic, triads, fifths - are astounding. I intend to watch more of these, because I think I understand where he is coming from. It is unfortunate that today, because of blogs and social media, just about anyone can bather away, drowning out the opinions of true experts. Bernstein represented the pinnacle of musical thought.

What a brilliant teacher!

Thanks for uploading, I enjoyed every second of it :)

incredible lecture from an unbelievable talent

This is wonderful thank you so much for posting!

Thank you, M. Bernstein!

Wow. What a Teacher. Awesome.

Absolutely mesmerizing.

Thank you thank you thank you, this made my day

Wow this is great stuff!!! And oddly enough I think I'm understanding what Leonard is getting at...Can't wait to try it out to see if I'm actually following!

Not only a great insight to Debussy's work, it makes me want to explore the other artforms of his time.

Gracias por el video. Buenísimo.

Bless You for Posting this!!! AND I bust a gut laughing with doggie's superior timing , doggie knows a Lot about music too !! My cats gather around no matter how or what I play on piano, its a salon and concert time and you should see them crawl and climb closer and closer and relax and lounge and go into trances with me.. Debussy is indeed their Rockstar too !!LL!! AND BERNSTEIN His Axeman !!LL! YAAAAaaaa!!! So I guess I was born with a singing voice Alto that lends so well to harmony but especially in E keys , ohhh …. but I still have lead music nicely at church , so hmmm.... church leaders getting scaredy-pants but Bach and his organ they were cool with , hmmm history cycles ..and makes political problems .. bleh.. lol ROCK ON!!

He makes so much sense !

I think that even a stone can understand Bernstein's lessons. What a Master! Wow!!

Extremely well spoken

The tritone: "The devil in music" And then Bernstein goes to write West Side Story, where the name Maria starts with a tritone :D

God he was unique. No one could inform like Bernstein.

Luv me some Debussy...And what a great way to learn music!:)

Thx for posting!!!

Thank you for these posts. gratis gratis gratis...

One does not have to "binge" through this, I don't. I compare this to reading a book. You don't have to read it all in one sitting. There are hours of his lectures to enjoy starting in the early 60's. Go "nuts" on RU-vid! He the most engaging proponent of music "education" ever. It was and is so compelling. I'm Chris, using my wife"s phone. She passed away in June after surviving almost eleven years of brain cancer. And with zero deficits. But that's another story.

Even Bernstein says the tritone was banned! Adam Neely you are an insightful bloke.

A lot of New Metal riffs use that sharp fourth. I’m reminded of “Go Away” by Godsmack. Footnote: Gerard Manly Hopkins did some strange things with meter and the accentuation of syllables in his poetry, sometimes even including accent marks over vowels that English speakers would otherwise not emphasize. He called it “instress.” Comment from Debussy: “Close, but actually I arranged those chords that way merely because it sounded cool. That’s my only test for what stays in a piece.”

Fascinating... thanks.

Un vrai régal !

Very interesting. Thank you.

How clear! The "devil interval" can be found a plenty in Bach's music too

Love the bark. Sweet.

Tritonius Maximus , obscuring tonality once again 🎭😶💯

Yes and the structures when composing can be felt..., intuitively, like dealing with colour, you don't need to know the chemical composition of Blue or Green to use the colours in combination with, colour, line, shape etc.....

I haven't a clue what Bernstein is talking about. Yet I'm drawn to his his passion, charisma and genius.

Thank goodness for RU-vid

It’s 2023 and we now live in an Idiocracy… how far so many can fall, and so quickly. Your dog has good taste.

Ok I had 0 idea this guy was this smart and articulate

Bernstein explains exactly why Debussy is my favorite composer in a way that I absolutely cannot.

The tritone plays an important role in diatonic harmony. The dominant 7 chord has a root, a 3rd, a 5th, and a flatted or lowered 7th. The interval between the 3rd and the lowered 7th creates the tritone, which causes instability or tension, and needs to resolve by contrary motion to the major third in the resultant tonic chord, which causes resolution. You could get away with playing a tritone 400 years ago as long as you resolved it with contrary motion. If you played a tritone and did not resolve it, it was the dungeon for you. That same tritone can also resolve by opposite contrary motion to the minor 6th interval if that same dominant chord is in 2nd inversion. This is what happens in Bernstein's "Maria" where the first 2 notes make up a tritone, making you think it's part of an altered chord (a chord containing a note or more that don't belong to the key the composition is in.) But when it resolves, you realize the initial tritone is simply the 4th and 7th step of the major key. It sounds chromatic but it's really diatonic. Genius.

Reminds me of the old joke about someone who was asked what he thought of Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun". He replied that he rather liked the bit about four o'clock!

A dog... there was a dog in Debussy's music!!

"How do we count silence? Do we care?"

The octave's ratio is 2/1 The perfect-fifth's ratio is 3/2 The perfect-fourth's ratio is 4/3 The tritone's ratio is √2/1 - an irrational number!

The Tritone. The Devil's Interval. Lenny hits it out of the park yet again, with an equal effortlessness as he displays both his instrumental and his didactic virtuosities. (Is Part 2 of this out here, somewhere?)

I would love to know what those musicians are thinking/feeling during this lecture. No doubt they understand they are sharing the stage with a genius, but I wonder if they are following along with all that he is saying. I cant imagine not being sucked into Bernstein's passion and expertise. I'm not a musician and I'm getting pulled in.

Debussy was a Master Painter, using every technique and creativity , to reach the "pleasure of sound (Le plaisir du son) " ...I feel that E natural note on that Bb7 chord like a 4# (or 11th#) introducing a Lydian sound/atmosphere, typical of the Impressionism/Belle Epoque era - if you look very closely to that chord, it's got 2 tritones, not one...(One is Bb-E , root-4#/11#- the other being Ab -D (7th- 3rd) - So -with an "atonal" quality in itself, it's got an incredible "functional/directional" power and possibilities...His choose of D (Maj 7) is great, though

The first bark scared the crap out of me! LOL

I had no idea he was so brilliant.

I never tire of experiencing a piece of Debussy's.😁🎶🎹🎹🎶 Play On

Thanks so much for posting these wonderful Bernstein excerpts. Not only a fabulous musician, composer and conductor - but a master communicator. The classical lectures are fascinating.... And on the flip side - I would have loved to have heard him discuss composing for musical theatre and the process of arranging fabulous scores for West Side Story, On The Town, Peter Pan..etc. "Lenny" was indeed a deep well of talent.

Haydn & Beethoven also pushed at the gate, but Sebastian Bach had already explored the outside.

"*snap* Foiled again!" Oh, how I relate to that so!

Magnificent...

The unexpected "Bach" made me jump.

U actually played the beginning of body and soul, he gave us 6 notes!

Love 💕 Lenny B. We were lucky.

Thanks for your time and vdo...Haooy New Ywar 2015.

what key did the dog bark in?

THe tritone.. hehe.. he is describing what makes heavy metal so great right now!

hahaha the dog, seriously thank you for sharing...

Wow, I now want to understand everything of which Mr Bernstein is speaking.

The tritone is part of the harmonic series though, not in contradiction with it. For example, the scale on an overtone flute boils down to a dominant #4 scale. Although it is a bit off compared to well tempered tuning, is clearly gives a lydian (dominant) sound. As usual, the church fathers didn't look past what was inconvenient to them.

augmented fourth is also heavily present in black sabbath's music.

PLAMDF is quite possibly the most flawless piece of music ever created. Debussy ..... say no more.