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BERNSTEIN, Leonard.

Leonard Bernstein: The Infinite Variety of Music.

First edition of Leonard Bernstein: The Infinite Variety of Music; inscribed by Leonard Bernstein to his assistant and editor Jake Gottlieb who facilitated the book's publication

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966.

$3,500.00
Out of Stock Item Number: RRB-135123
* Custom Clamshell Boxes are hand made by the Harcourt Bindery upon request and take approximately 60 days to complete
First edition of Bernstein's extraordinary third book. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece portrait of Bernstein by V. Ernest Satow. Association copy, inscribed by Bernstein on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, "For Jack G. Alles gut in '67 - and eternal thanks for your work on this booklet. Lenny B. Xmas '66." The recipient, Jack Gottlieb, was not only Bernstein’s personal assistant, but a trained composer and musician who played an instrumental role in the shaping and publication of Bernstein’s first three books. 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 single-handedly 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. Near fine in a very good dust jacket which has been laminated. Jacket design by Paul Bacon.  
In this wonderfully personal account of his unique way of writing music, Bernstein provides one extraordinary insight after another into the mind, the imagination, the feelings of the composer at work - and the differences between a musical idea that is truly felt and one that is merely contrived. He discusses what is "American" in American music, the future of the symphony orchestra, the ways in which music can and cannot express specific emotions or tell a story. With an informal wit and total lack of self-consciousness, Bernstein ranges through the world of music, opening doors, and guiding us in.
$3,500.00
Out of Stock