Daniel Abraham & Alicia Kopfstein-Penk 
Leonard Bernstein and Washington, DC 
Works, Politics, Performances

Bold new essays demonstrate how Leonard Bernstein influenced American culture, society, and politics through his conducting, composing, political relationships, and activism.


Composer, conductor, activist, and icon of twentieth-century America, Leonard Bernstein (1918-90) had a rich association with Washington, DC. Although he never lived there, the US capital was the site of some of the most importantmoments in his life and work, as he engaged with the nation’s struggles and triumphs. By examining Bernstein through the lens of Washington, DC, this book offers new insights into his life and music from the 1940s through the 1980s, including his role in building the city’s artistic landscape, his political-diplomatic aims, his works that received premieres and other early performances in Washington, and his relationships with the nation’s liberal and conservative political elites. The collection also contributes new perspectives on twentieth-century American history, government, and culture, helping to elucidate the political function of music in American democracy.


The essays in
Leonard Bernstein and Washington, DC, all newly written by leading authorities, situate this important American cultural figure in the seat of United States government. The result is a fresh new angle on Leonard Bernstein, American politics, and American culture in the second half of the twentieth century.


Daniel Abraham is Professor of Music at American University, Alicia Kopfstein-Penk is Adjunct Professorial Lecturer at American University, and Andrew H. Weaver is Professor of Musicology at The Catholic University of America.

Table of Content

Introduction – Alicia Kopfstein-Penk and Andrew H. Weaver

Part One. Bernstein, Politics, and the White House

Bernstein and Washington, DC: Introductory Reflections – Carol Oja

Bernstein and the White House – Alicia Kopfstein-Penk

Bernstein and Mc Carthyism – Barry Seldes

The New York Philharmonic European Tour of 1959 and Bernstein as Eisenhower’s American Cultural Ambassador – Sarah Elaine Neill

Part Two. Bernstein’s Works in the Nation’s Capital

West Side Stories: Washington, DC – Elizabeth A. Wells

Bernstein’s Politics of Style: Listening for ‘Radical Chic’ in
Mass – Katherine Baber

‘Screaming Gets You Nowhere’: Bernstein’s
Mass and the Politics of Peace – Robert C. Lagueux

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner’s Musical History of the White House – Elissa Harbert

Songfest: Bernstein’s Monument to American Diversity – Paul Laird

Political Expression and American Identity in Bernstein’s
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Songfest, and
Slava! A Political Overture – Lars Helgert

A Quiet Place in a Not-So-Quiet Nation: Gender, Sexuality, and Family in Bernstein’s ‘American Opera’ – Mari Yoshihara

Selected Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index

About the author

Robert C. Lagueux is the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate Studies and Faculty Development at Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He researches and publishes work on medieval music, liturgy, and drama, and more widely on pedagogy, teaching, and learning.