The performance itself was interrupted by a bomb scare, when Bernstein himself was conducting the "universality of mankind". He was devastated and destroyed, but his faith "DOUBLED"; especially when the audience stayed and reinforced this universality.
I've known many a professor over the years who could do this similarly. You spend enough days teaching people, repeating the same concepts again and again until you've whittled down the words and phrases just how you like them, and you'd be surprised how eloquent you suddenly become. Bernstein was also a conductor, so he had to spend a good amount of time showing competence and confidence and a highly professional level, in front of a room of professionals, for hours at a time. All those skills and all that material was further honed for this particular video, which was meant for a Harvard audience with higher standards. The real shame is that you don't see stuff like this as often simply because there's either a greater emphasis on packaging education as entertainment or putting it behind a paywall or tuition fee. Often the latter requires that they don't record it at all, otherwise anyone could get a full Juliard education from youtube alone. I mean, you _can,_ but you'll have a harder time knowing whether the information you're getting is actually genuine and thorough. Even this video from Bernstein is just a tiny taste of the depths of understanding music theory.
I was fortunate enough to play under his baton on a few occasions, and to speak with him. The greatest mind and the greatest talent I have ever encountered.
This is like the musical equivalent of Carl Sagan. Also, while his linguistic speculations aren´t very up-to-date with current science: "I claim the right to be wrong" is simply beautiful.
Please extrapolate how it is not up to date? Chomsky's idea (theoretical continuance) of innate linguistical ability is still unsurpassed? And that's what Bernstein heralds here. Opposing theories / ideas like those put forth by messrs Pinker at al have failed.
"I claim the right to be wrong" sounds like an extract from Neil DeGrasse Tyson's benediction at the end of his Cosmos remake. The mark of intellectual integrity is this sort of modesty.
I watch Bernstein and he seems to be speaking without notes, speaking so fluently and fluidly, without "ums" or 'you knows". I am struck by what a seasoned performed/actor he is. How he engages the audience - and the camera - with such a warmth and friendly manner. He admits to being "petrified" which seems honest and also he has the strength to be vulnerable. What an excellent speaker. How brilliant and appealing. I love his handsome appearance, his crimson tie, and his appealing deep voice. His knowledge is extraordinary. In these troubled times, it comforts me so much to watch this and other LB videos. I'm grateful to Bradley Cooper and all the creators of "Maestro" that have brought Bernstein again to new world attention and to new generations as well as the older ones.
These six lectures constitute a highly important document in musical aesthetics by a great musician of the 20th century. I read the book by the same name which is a transcript of these lectures, but there is nothing like seeing them. Bernstein's immense talent, his passion for communicating the essences of music and it's place in the larger 'art' world, and his musicianship, which is total, are all on full display here. These lectures, along with their embedded concerts, are twelve or so hours well-spent for any musician, music lover, and all thinkers in aesthetics and culture. Bravo Lenny, and thank you for sharing your gifts with all of us. You are truly a bright star in the heavens.
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Well, it's the youtuber who decides where to put them, then again this is so precious so I get that they want make money off of it. However, I had 0 ad and you can too if you can add 'Ad block" (a free extension) to your browser, it blocks ALL ads on youtube, unfortunately it only works on computers. Thanks for the heads up because I almost put it on my smart tv, but I can't stand ads especially on a lecture
The video has been on the site for a while, it is therefore very likely it has been claimed by a third party. Once it gets claimed and monetized, the uploader himself has no longer any say in where, what and how many ads the video gets. It's reasonable to assume that this would be the case here, they usually pepper the video heavily with ads, cause you know... corporate shills amirite. Just yeet on AdBlock and stop crying lmao
As someone who always struggled with music theory and had a subpar natural ear for pitch intervals - yet still insisted on playing music - this demonstration of the harmonic series, the development/evolution of new harmonics being accepted as tonal... what a beautiful presentation. This made me understand the circle of fifths in an entirely new perspective that charts and articles never could. What a teacher, a true command of his craft and the ability to explain it. RIP Maestro thank you for the enlightenment.
Seeing a lot of "western culture doesn't produce people like this anymore". I would say, very brilliant minds do still exist, but pop culture is less tolerant of deep, nuanced ideas, so they are not broadcast as widely. One modern example (among countless) is Robert Sapolsky - a king of modern scientific communication, but unheard of in the mainstream. In some ways, we are seeing a return of nuance, e.g. with the meteoric rise in long-form interview/documentary podcasts and semi-academic video-essay youtube channels. Just enjoy these lectures and propagate the intrigue and passion that they invoke within you.
Thanks to your recommendation I watch his talk on disproving free will. It is a profound lecture. Thank your for introducing a gaint on which shoulder I could stand.
He does command a powerful vocabulary. I consider speaking to be a sort of artform in itself. When humans communicate, one way of describing what's happening is that one person is painting a picture in the mind of the other person. And to do this really well, you need a large vocabulary and the intellectual tools to use it properly. With that, it's easier to communicate complex concepts. But beware. Because when you're behind some famous lecture desk in the hallows halls of Harvard University, you sound intelligent and confident. But when you're on the internet, often you can sound like a pretentious asshat. Being a bit of a pretentious asshat myself, I know from experience.
@@PaulTheSkeptic Agree. No question that L. Bernstein was somewhat arrogant, pompous, and pretentious. However, he was a brilliant intellectual, musician, and composer, and these attributes go with the territory. He was amazingly eloquent. I am just overly impressed with how he kept going with this excellent speech in such an eloquent way for more than one hour as if he was reading a dictation. Few people can do this, certainly not presidents. Simply impressive!
@@jgonz260 I didn't mean to imply that I thought he was arrogant or pompous in any way. In his time and in his skin with his achievements, he can get away with that. I'm saying that I have a tendency to speak like a book. I read a lot. I can see how I can come off as a pretentious asshat in the 21st century and on the internet. It's totally different. No one's going to accuse him or other great speakers, James Baldwin and FDR come to mind, of being pompous. They deserve the respect they get for their intellectual acumen and precise diction. I agree totally. He was very eloquent and I learn a lot when I listen to him.
A man of extraordinary gifts. Musician, story teller, philosopher, historian, presenter, writer, orator, artist, poet, and painter. Thank you for making such fine material available to someone like me, who had no idea this existed before RU-vid made it available to me.
He also would have lived longer if medical research wasn't so controversial. There are actually a lot of scenarios in which he would have lived longer, let's see if we can name all of them. Oh wait, that's a waste of precious time and resources.
I'm here before all the people who just recently watched Maestro on Netflix. Fun fact: I've watched the norton lectures something like 3 times in 10 years and it just gets better and better.
@@MrTeff999 Because anybody who has taken an interest in the life and musical acumen of Maestro Bernstein knows full well of his battles with amphetamines and alcohol ,also his health battles with emphysma, asthma .and a runny nose caused by sinus conditions which irritated him.
This is what PBS offered up in 1973 when I was 13. It's hard to realise how much higher the bar was not so long ago. It's why I am a jazz pianist/composer.
The early 1970s was the time in which PBS started promoting "Sesame Street", in which kids were portrayed as being street wise, with adults being clowns, buffoons, etc. (Big Bird, etc)
Good for you! Would that PBS would return to its former stature. It’s full of pop, trash and snake oil salesman now. Rarely do we get the well constructed new work- such as an opera, or even a well-staged repertory work. PBS is slacking and peddling junk to the masses. For shame.
His articulation is just off the chart. I've literally had to pause and search the definition of some of the words he says. I admire it and desire to follow in his lead
2:31 he says uh. Just because someone’s uses um, or ah, or err, in their speech, doesn’t make them bad speakers. It is the content of that speech that matters most.
It's so wild to think all these highly skilled musicians (Boston Symphony) went out to their period correct automobiles and drove home to their period correct domiciles spread throughout the Boston area of 1973 and their spouses and families or perhaps hipster single lives or elderly single lives and students. I love looking at audiences from this period as well I can almost see myself out there in those audiences. It was such a different world. The idea of watching this program on a handheld Smart phone while imaginable was pure science fiction. It's kinda sad because people really went to concerts plays jazz clubs lectures museums because culture took work back in my youth.
I saw the original lectures on TV in the early Seventies. I was spellbound then, and even more so on revisiting them now. As a teacher (of languages) I have never encountered such inspirational teaching. Ever!
"spellbound"... interesting choice of words. That LITERALLY was what happened. Bernstein was not even correct if you see my other comment under tis video. He just enchanted you and others with a hollow fair speech.
So much shit comes out of America that it's nice to be reminded that there are some great Americans as well, this guy was brilliant. He does seem to like philosophers I do as well and it's interesting how he works it into music.
I can't press the like button enough times. I'm saddened by the fact that I was born at a time where such wisdom and eloquence has everything but disappeared, but I am also glad that it grants me the technology to witness this 46 year old masterclass I couldn't have witnessed otherwise. Thanks to whoever uploaded this.
Bernstein's lectures are, today more than ever, pure unadulterated intelligence! Deep pleasure and constant tension intertwined in a singularly unique, sadly of days gone past, way of embracing complexity. The academic wokes, cancel culture and related "modern" debris should be forced to watch and listen.
I have seen this lecture series multiple times over the years on RU-vid - although it may have been a while since I watched this first lecture until the very end, after the performance itself. I had forgotten and was deeply moved almost to the point of tears at his description of his initial presentation of this in Harvard Yard being interrupted by a bomb scare after the start of the Mozart performance. And this is 1973. Sadly in our current era, this kind of event might be interrupted by an active shooter... These days it is not outside of a real possibility. Yet Bernstein's faith was restored by the music and by the commitment of the audience. I wonder if he would have the same experience with an audience of today.
I made this comment 2 years ago, so I don't remember why I was unimpressed with this blowhard spewing simple concepts using the highly stilted language, and exaggerated articulation, that is so common among those in Classical Music. So I decided to rewatch part of it to see what I was thinking. I'm 18 minutes into it, and it's all hot air. All he has said is that he realized that a small number of well-known compositions had a phrase consisting of the same 4 notes. That's it. I can't waste anymore time relistening, since the lecture is so long, and he could have said what he just said in 18 minutes in about 2 minutes. So let me as you this. If you watched it, what did he conclude about the universal musical language?@@eltiogottlieb.4911
He can hold the audience in silence and listen patiently in his lecture. I admire his flow of uninterrupted sequencing thoughts on the topic with numerous tangential swings and back to the base. Brilliant.
O, how I had almost forgotten the brilliance of this man! Lenny was brilliant not only for what he knew, or what he could demonstrate with an instrument or an orchestra, but also how much information he could convey. I can open my mind like a trash can lid (which it often resembles), and he can simply pour information in like cream.
This has utterly transformed and blown open my understanding of scales, keys, modulations, diatonic and chromatic control. it's just mind blowing. Freedom at last. Thank you so much for the upload. What a great man Bernstein was.
Thank you so much, I remember these from when they were first broadcast and have talked about them ever since, I will so much enjoy watching again, I love the part about Mozart 40th symphony
You have good ears. That is called 'print through' and is the result of the magnetic field of a tape recording imprinting itself on the nearby layers of a reel of tape.
I imagine it being more likely to happen if the tape sits for a long period of time without being played. If so, I now wonder how tape archives protect against the phenomenon.
I watched the Young People's Concerts as a kid. I loved him then--love him now. His communication skills are amazing. So glad this has been posted. Awaiting Maestro. ☮
yes, I thought that at first, but have come to the conclusion there is indeed a teleprompter - still, amazing information, and amazingly orated! This is my second time through...!
If any of you haven't noticed there isn't a regular teleprompter, you haven't watched this to the end....and i mean the full lecture. Even after so doing, if you still believe there is, the details have blown over your head. (Un)fortunately. There is actually a "teleprompter" of sorts: in his memory.
He was a composer in training for the New York Philharmonic at the age of 25, I got a feeling this guy obsessed with such thoughts and even if he was using one for this probably didn't need a teleprompter. There are many other interviews with him on You Tube
I want to be like him when I grow up... everything is so smooth and calm that you want to keep listening. my goal now is to be able to give a lecture like this in any chance that I get
Really like this exposition! But did anyone else notice that he kind of glossed over something in explaining the origin of the 12-semitone system? Early, he introduces overtones (harmonics) and tells how their physical basis makes them integer multiples of the fundamental frequency, mentioning that he'll explain later how this led to the 12-note system of western music. He also talks about tempering, and how basing the notes on these harmonics, can only make them sound right in one key, while throwing all other keys' scales, triads, etc., off a bit. Then when he gets around to making that connection from the overtone series to the 12-tone chromatic scale, he plays the series of fifths from C₁ up to C₈ : C₁ G₁ D₂ A₂ E₃ B₃ F#₄ C#₅ Ab₅ Eb₆ Bb₆ F₇ C₈ without pointing out that harmonic fifths (3/2 multiples of frequency) won't quite close that "circle." This is because those 12 fifths, amounting to 12 factors of 3/2, can't exactly match the 7-octave span: (3/2)¹² vs 2⁷ i.e. 3¹² vs 2¹⁹ 531441 vs 524288 a discrepancy of about 1.4%. This is only about ¼ semitone, and that's why this system is "good enough."
@@jpstenino You're a nut! My kind:) Cause u just cracked me up with your "who really gives a shit stain? Just Fuck off and leave us alone already." drollery:) ha ha ha ha! Oh shid! Thar was a good one! It's challenging enough to follow Bernstein getting a bit into the theory of Western tonalities. Then this guy with his long-winded esoteric blah blah pointing out Leonard's minor discrepancy. I was like, "Tsk! Oh geeze! I really couldn't care less dude! Goddamn!". Then I read your comment and nearly died laughing so hard:)
I was inducted in Jr high School at 14 to replace a saxaphonist in what was then a pretty high level youth jazz band in my home town. So of course I was struggling with music theory in order to solo better like all jazz musicians when at that hyper impressionable age I stumbled across these lectures on PBS. These lectures faned the flames of what was already a pretty hot fire so that I became so obsessed with the sound of music approaching that tonal precipice that he talks about in later lectures. As a result of this televised musical inquiry I began my own so I naturally became a composer. I am now 63 and I am still a working Jazz Pianist and Composer still engaged with that inquiry.
THANK YOU for sharing this! I saw this a long time ago on PBS and had not been able to find it for decades. A fascinating discussion from a genius at his peak. These lectures should be considered a "world heritage website" by UNESCO.
Phenomenal - thanks for sharing! What a rare combination of a really great lecturer, an amazing musician and a genuine intellectual - how many people could take such a complex topic and explain it to non-musicians so that they actually understand it?? I could listen to him talk about and play music forever!
I wondered how long he would stay seated in that formidable chair, for no lack of eminent behinds before his own having sat in it. Not a minute into it he is standing & about half a minute later he is seated on the desk. He did mention "occupying" that chair. Then, he frees himself of all that & stands rather alienating himself from the desk except as a support for his papers. Then, he is re-occupying the chair. Then off a few feet away to the piano. This, like his words & musical examples, is rhythmic, highly knowledgable teaching. Love you, Lenny. And may you, finally, rest in peace, aware of how much you have left behind to our immense pleasure, stimulation & gratitude.
1:40:50 I could listen to Lennie talk for hours and hours on end and never get tired of it. He was one of the most eloquent speakers ever, not to mention his being a walking encyclopedia of music - and I don't just mean classical.
140:06. I remember bomb scares like the one he mentions; when I was growing up, they happened once in a while. (No real explosions, thankfully.) "Banality of evil" seems like a good description. I like to think I'd've been one of the audience members who waited it out.
Tried to listen this while working as background noise. Stopped being able to concentrate on my work because of how informative and mesmerizing the lecture is. I'm pausing and coming back some other time. Gotta' finish work.
