Abstract
Leonard Bernstein's advocacy of Gustav Mahler's music has been viewed primarily as a consequence of his position in a lineage of prominent conductors who preceded him as Mahler proponents. But treating Bernstein's conducting as divorced from another crucial aspect of his musical life-his composing-has limited our understanding of how ideas about music circulated in the twentieth century. This study argues that Bernstein's relationship with Aaron Copland, his mentor as a composer, played a central role in his engagement with Mahler's music. Correspondence suggests that from the 1930s, Copland discussed Mahler's compositions with Bernstein and supported his interest in performing them, particularly the Second Symphony. A script for a lecture from the New York Philharmonic Mahler festival in 1960 shows that Bernstein borrowed content and phraseology from Copland's 1941 book Our New Music in an attempt to define Mahler as a forerunner of twentieth-century tonal composition.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 606-627 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Music and Letters |
| Volume | 94 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2013 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Music
Cite this
Beyond the composer-conductor dichotomy : Bernstein's Copland-inspired mahler advocacy. / Mugmon, Matthew S.
In: Music and Letters, Vol. 94, No. 4, 11.2013, p. 606-627.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond the composer-conductor dichotomy
T2 - Bernstein's Copland-inspired mahler advocacy
AU - Mugmon, Matthew S
PY - 2013/11
Y1 - 2013/11
N2 - Leonard Bernstein's advocacy of Gustav Mahler's music has been viewed primarily as a consequence of his position in a lineage of prominent conductors who preceded him as Mahler proponents. But treating Bernstein's conducting as divorced from another crucial aspect of his musical life-his composing-has limited our understanding of how ideas about music circulated in the twentieth century. This study argues that Bernstein's relationship with Aaron Copland, his mentor as a composer, played a central role in his engagement with Mahler's music. Correspondence suggests that from the 1930s, Copland discussed Mahler's compositions with Bernstein and supported his interest in performing them, particularly the Second Symphony. A script for a lecture from the New York Philharmonic Mahler festival in 1960 shows that Bernstein borrowed content and phraseology from Copland's 1941 book Our New Music in an attempt to define Mahler as a forerunner of twentieth-century tonal composition.
AB - Leonard Bernstein's advocacy of Gustav Mahler's music has been viewed primarily as a consequence of his position in a lineage of prominent conductors who preceded him as Mahler proponents. But treating Bernstein's conducting as divorced from another crucial aspect of his musical life-his composing-has limited our understanding of how ideas about music circulated in the twentieth century. This study argues that Bernstein's relationship with Aaron Copland, his mentor as a composer, played a central role in his engagement with Mahler's music. Correspondence suggests that from the 1930s, Copland discussed Mahler's compositions with Bernstein and supported his interest in performing them, particularly the Second Symphony. A script for a lecture from the New York Philharmonic Mahler festival in 1960 shows that Bernstein borrowed content and phraseology from Copland's 1941 book Our New Music in an attempt to define Mahler as a forerunner of twentieth-century tonal composition.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84893324812&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/ml/gct131
DO - 10.1093/ml/gct131
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84893324812
VL - 94
SP - 606
EP - 627
JO - Music and Letters
JF - Music and Letters
SN - 0027-4224
IS - 4
ER -