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Leonard Bernstein collection, circa 1900-1995

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BOX 1086 Personal Materials, 1935-1990
BOX 1086 Personal Documents, 1935-1990
BOX-FOLDER 1086/1 Harvard transcripts, 1935-1939
BOX-FOLDER 1086/2 A midsummer night's dream program, 1938
BOX-FOLDER 1086/3 Social security card, 1940
BOX-FOLDER 1086/4 Card announcing opening of studio, 1941
Digital content available
BOX-FOLDER 1086/5 Power of attorney, 1944-1977
BOX-FOLDER 1086/6 Driver's license, 1947
Note: On verso, stamping from the soon-to-be State of Israel
BOX-FOLDER 1086/7 Permits, 1948
Contents: Allied force permit/Permis militaire alliée; Occupational force travel permit/Laissez-passer des forces...; The aliens order, 1920
BOX-FOLDER 1086/8 Claim of non-residency, 1951
BOX-FOLDER 1086/9 Marriage certificate, 1951
Digital content available
BOX-FOLDER 1086/10 Marriage certificate, 1957
Note: Signatories include people involved with West Side Story
BOX-FOLDER 1086/11 Power of attorney, 1963
BOX-FOLDER 1086/12 Passports, 1946-1978
6 items
Digital content available
BOX-FOLDER 1086/13 Birth certificate, re-issued, 1980
BOX-FOLDER 1086/14 Papers regarding sleep-wake disorders center, 1980
BOX-FOLDER 1086/15 Prescription, 1984
BOX-FOLDER 1086/16-17 Papers regarding Jamie Bernstein's wedding, 1984
BOX-FOLDER 1086/18 Blue cross card, 1986
BOX-FOLDER 1086/19 Dolphin research center adoption certificate, 1988
BOX-FOLDER 1086/20 Map of Russia (circa 1880), gift, 1989
Note: Inscribed; purportedly showing where his family came from
BOX-FOLDER 1086/21 Cigarette counts, 1989
BOX-FOLDER 1086/22 Treatment regimen, 1990
BOX-FOLDER 1086/23 Funeral register, 1990
BOX-FOLDER 1086/24 Signature plate, undated
BOX-FOLDER 1086/25 License plates, "MAESTRO1," undated
BOX 1042-1085, 1087-1583 Music, 1932-1995
BOX 1042-1085, 1087-1095 Holograph Music, 1935-1990
The holograph music in the Bernstein Collection represents the music written in Bernstein’s hand, from sketches to fair copies. A separate series of music has not yet been fully described for inclusion in this finding aid, but is accessible on request. That series includes manuscripts in the hands of copyists and colleagues, photoreproductions (some of which are of Bernstein manuscripts), printed and published music. This material includes full scores and parts, and some of it includes edits and annotations in Bernstein’s hand.

Much of the material came to us in envelopes that included substantive notes on the history of their contents and relationships between works. These notes had been prepared by Bernstein’s musical assistants, Jack Gottlieb, Charlie Harmon, and others. To the degree possible, we transcribed this information and included it in the notes for each work. We assume, but cannot attest to its accuracy.

While this subseries is called holograph music, it does include other related materials such as notes, correspondence, and scripts that were included in the packages of music that we received. There are also occasional photocopies of manuscripts, particularly works where the originals were gifts to friends and family. Some complex works have been kept in groupings that were designated before we received them and may reflect various stages of sketches and versions of a work. Dybbuk is a good example. We have also attempted to include as many cross-references as possible, particularly for versions of works whose titles changed, and those that moved within multiple pieces.

Not all of Bernstein’s holograph music manuscripts reside at the Library of Congress, and not all that do are part of our Bernstein Collection. In addition to the aforementioned gift pieces to friends and family, some works are known to live in the Kennedy Library, in Israel, and in private hands. Among the works that are found elsewhere within the Library’s collections are sketches and a short score for The Kaddish in our Jack Gottlieb Collection, the full score for The Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) in our Koussevitzky Archive (it was a Koussevitzky commission), and the song “Victory Jive” in our Gershwin Fund Collection.

There are various sources of the music manuscripts within our Bernstein Collection. The majority comes from the Bernstein estate, but significant portions were given to the Library by Bernstein himself between 1953 and 1967. This included manuscripts (but not necessarily all) for The Serenade, West Side Story, Trouble in Tahiti, On the Waterfront, Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, Fancy Free, Candide, The Age of Anxiety, The Chichester Psalms and other works.

The date range of the music manuscripts run from 1935, when Bernstein was 16 or 17, through 1990, a few months before he passed away. Although Bernstein is not generally thought of as having been particularly prolific as a composer, these manuscripts reveal a large number of obscure and unknown works.
First organized alphabetically by larger work title. Within these, the typical order is (where they exist): full scores, short scores or piano-conductor scores, piano-vocal scores, parts, scripts, and other materials. Some items may be further organized therein by smaller units, such as song titles, and/or arranged chronologically by year.
BOX-FOLDER 1068/30 5 against 2
see also Play this
Computer-generated piano score with holograph annotations ; [2] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1068/30 5 against 2
Computer-generated piano score with holograph annotations ; [1] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1088/1 50 precious notes ... and syllables to wish Harry [Kraut] a Quiet Place on his 50th birthday
Words by Jamie Bernstein; music by LB
Photoreproduction of holograph lead sheet ; [4] p.
2 pages are blank
Dated: 12 April 1983
On envelope: Music using all forms of AQP tone row
BOX-FOLDER 1088/2 52
Photoreproduction of holograph piano-vocal score ; [2] p.
Dated: 4-11 Apr '85
For Harry Kraut
BOX 1042-1044 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976)
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
BOX-FOLDER 1042/1 Act I finale ("Ball" extension, Concertato, etc.)
see also We must have a ball
Holograph sketches in pencil ; [9] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/2 American dreaming
see also Breakout (Act II)
Ozalid of piano-vocal score with holograph annotations in red pencil ; 8 p.
Original title crossed out: The breakout
Laid in: Insert A, holograph sketch in pencil ; [2] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/2 American dreaming: choral cadenza
Holograph piano-vocal score in pencil ; 4 p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/3 American dreaming: choral cadenza
Holograph sketches in pencil ; [5] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/4 Another kind of man (interlude before Breakout)
Holograph piano-vocal score in pencil ; 2 p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/5 Auction I ; Auction II
see also The monroviad
2 holograph piano-vocal scores in pencil ; [2], [1] p.
Sketch on verso
BOX-FOLDER 1042/6 Auctions I ; Auction II
Holograph sketches in pencil ; [2] p.
The ball
see Act I finale and We must have a ball
BOX-FOLDER 1042/7 Breakout (Act II)
Sketches in pencil ; [9] p.
Includes "Another kind of man" and "American dreaming"; unidentified sketch on p. [8]
BOX-FOLDER 1042/7 Breakout (Act II)
Typescript lyric sheets with annotations in AJL’s hand ; [5] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/7 Breakout (Act II)
Lyric sheets and notes in AJL’s hand with annotations in LB’s hand ; [3] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/4 The breakout
Manuscript piano-vocal score in pencil ; p. 1-8, p. 5-6
p. 4-8 manuscript not in LB’s hand
BOX-FOLDER 1042/8 The breakout
Lyric sketch in AJL’s hand in ink ; [2] p., yellow
BOX-FOLDER 1042/9 Bright and black
see also Uncle Tom's funeral and It's the Jews
Ozalid of piano-vocal score with holograph annotations in red and blue pencil ; p. 4-5
BOX-FOLDER 1042/9 Bright and black
Manuscript piano score (Tom Cathran's hand?) in pencil ; [2] p.
Caption: End of 5 to here
The British
see Sonatina
BOX-FOLDER 1042/10 Can you love
see also Reclamation scene and Sketches, set I
Manuscript/typescript lyric sheets in the hands of LB and AJL in pencil and ink ; [3] p.
Dreaming
see Sketches, set I
BOX-FOLDER 1042/11 Duet for one (The first lady of the land)
Holograph piano-vocal score in pencil ; 18 p.
Caption title: First lady sequence (+ new Hail)
BOX-FOLDER 1042/12 Duet for one (The first lady of the land)
Holograph sketches in pencil ; [10] p.
Caption title: New Hail and Lady
Last page is sketch for "Lady of the house"
BOX-FOLDER 1042/12 Duet for one (The first lady of the land)
Manuscript/typescript lyric sheets with annotations in the hands of LB and AJL ; [17] p.
Easy to be President
see Sketches, set II
Exclamation scene
see Sketches, set I
Finale
see We (Proud)/Finale
BOX-FOLDER 1042/13 Forty acres and a mule
Holograph sketch in pencil ; [2] p.
Freedom song
see Sketches, set II
BOX-FOLDER 1042/14 The grand old party
Holograph piano-vocal score in pencil ; 3 p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/15 The grand old party
Holograph sketches in pencil ; [4] p.
Includes sketch for "Game song"; used as opening of "Slava!"; musical idea to be used for "First things first" or "The old song and dance"–2 proposed minstrel numbers
BOX-FOLDER 1042/15 The grand old party
Typescript lyric sheet ; [1] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/16 Hail
see also Duet for one
Holograph piano-vocal score in pencil ; 4 p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/17 Hail
Holograph sketch in pencil ; [2] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/17 Hail
Typescript lyric sheets with annotations ; [9] p.
BOX-FOLDER 1042/18 Hail
Manuscript/typescript lyric sheets in AJL’s hand in ink ; [54] leaves
Here comes the minstrel parade
see Minstrel parade and Minstrelsy
BOX-FOLDER 1042/19 I love my wife
see also Lud's wedding: I love my wife
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