Shortly before he died, my wife and I were invited to perform some of Aaron Copland's music for him at his home. During the afternoon he led us around his house and pointed out mementos and photographs that he wanted to share (Sarah got to hold his Academy Award). One of the photos was a shot, taken perhaps in the late 1960's or early '70's, of five or six of the most distinguished American composers of the time. The shot was posed with the composers seated on a bench and taken from one end of the bench so that they appeared to be in a line. Sarah asked Mr. Copland why it was that he -- Copland -- was seated in the middle of the pack and Leonard Bernstein was in the front. Mr. Copland replied, "I'm sure Lenny could tell you exactly why he's in the front."
Leonard Bernstein.com attempts to do just that. The site -- "created by N2K Entertainment under the guidance and supervision of the Estate of Leonard Bernstein (Amberson, Inc.)" -- is not much short of an online biography of one of America's greatest musical resources. Falling somewhere between a museum and a CD-ROM profile, the site is organized around the metaphor of a "virtual" studio, the room (perhaps in the Dakota where he lived, or on the corner of 57th St. and 7th Ave. where he maintained an apartment) where Bernstein worked and entertained.
This is a beautifully designed site, with gorgeous graphics, oodles of images, RealAudio sound files, and QuickTime movies (with audio). Click on his:
Scattered throughout the site are comments from Bernstein, as well as notes and comments he wrote about the creation of some of his works. There's also an online store where you can purchase books and CD's through Music Boulevard (another N2K site), and a calendar of events.
The site's creators have seemed to make an odd use of frames at times, where full sets of frames are loaded with few sections ever being reused. And large JPEGs, RealAudio, and QuickTime video take a long time to load -- but, of course, you can leave them for those with fast connections or plenty of time.
In her introductory audio message, Bernstein's daughter comments on how odd it initially seemed to have a web site devoted to her father. But then she realized that since he was such a advocate of the use of new technology it made perfect sense. The site is the proof.
Originally published at Suite101.com Theatre, 5/13/97
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