Klarinet Archive - Posting 000312.txt from 2003/07

From: alevin@-----. Levin)
Subj: Re: [kl] Bernstein
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 16:48:58 -0400

Let me restate this:

I was a student of Boulanger in 1968. I spent many hours each
week with her. I suggested to her that I thought that Bernstein was her
student. She stated to me that they were friendly - that he had, on
occasion, paid social visits to her; but that he never studied with
her. In 1968 Bernstein was over 50, so I doubt that anything changed after
that. He (and Copland and many others) did contribute to a memorial
scholarship in her name at the school at Fontainebleau.

Bernstein studied with Piston at Harvard. (Dr. Piston confirmed
that to me in 1966 or 67.) And it is well known that he studied with Aaron
Copland at Tanglewood. (The clarinet sonata reeks of that.)

Piston and Copland studied theory with Boulanger. So did many of
Bernstein's contemporaries. (David Diamond comes to mind.) Bernstein did
not. If Bernstein's music had been influenced by her it would sound less
like Copeland and more like Faure (her teacher). Boulanger did not even
allow her own music to be played. She focused on that of her sister.

Boulanger taught theory - harmony, counterpoint, solfege,
reading. She specifically did not claim to teach composition. It is my
impression (I don't remember any statement in so many words), that she
thought that Bernstein's music went in too many directions according to the
musical fad of the moment. Of course, she expressed mystification that so
many Americans chose to study with her when their music went in directions
not to her taste.

Allen

At 11:45 AM 7/9/03 -0700, you wrote:
>There are lots of places on the web and in music history text
>books with reference to Nadia Boulanger's influence in
>Bernstein's progression as a composer.

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