Leonard's Childhood
Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Mass., on August 25,1918, at the Lawrence General Hospital around 1:00 PM. He as the first child born to his parents, Sam and Jennie Bernstein. Sam was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who at the age of thirty opened a barber-and-beauty supplies business in Boston. Jennie, whose maiden name was Resnick, was also Russian born. Leonard's sister, Shirley Anne, was born on October 3, 1923.
Leonard's name was officially Louis, but his parents called him Leonard around the house. He legally changed his name to Leonard on his sixteenth birthday.
As a baby, Leonard was frequently visiting his doctor. Leonard was troubled by asthma, like his father, and had a weak chest. He also had a vulnerable stomach and frequently suffered from colic, an illness which involves severe pain in the stomach and bowels. When Leonard was strong enough to travel, Sam took his family to visit Mattapan. Soon after, the Bernstein family moved to an apartment in Allston, near Cambridge.
When Leonard was a toddler he was tremendously drawn to music. The Bernstein family at this time didn't have a piano, but the Victrola, a wooden sound producing machine that plays either cylinder or disk shaped records, inherited from Leonard's grandfather. It was a source of delight for Leonard, however none of his family nor kindergarten teachers noticed any special talent in him on the piano.
Leonard's aunt Clara bought Leonard's parents a piano. As quoted from The Education of an American Musician, Leonard said, "I knew from that moment to this, that music was 'it'. Soon after the piano arrived, miraculously, ten-year-old Leonard's general health improved, he became more self-confident, and grow immensely in height.
Leonard's first step to learning the piano was to imitate tunes he had heard on the radio. The first tune he played was "Goodnight Sweetheart," followed by "Blue Skies." Leonard quickly asked for piano lessons. His first piano teacher was Frieda Karp. At the age of thirteen, Leonard became so good at the piano that he had to find a more experienced piano teacher. Leonard soon studied with Susan Williams.
In 1929, at the end of Leonard's sixth grade year, Leonard was admitted into the three-hundred-year-old Boston Latin School. The Boston Latin School was founded in 1635, a year before Harvard University. The school had much influence on Bernstein's life. It introduced a broad range of subjects to him, such as physics and history. Leonard was required to take six years of Latin, four years of French, as well as Greek or German. Bernstein chose German. Philip Marson, of Bernstein's teacher's, "awakened in him a love for the English language, and more."
At twelve years old, Bernstein met Sid Ramin, a boy from the neighborhood who would become a lifelong friend. Sid and Lenny explored aspects of music together. They also conducted chemical experiments in the loft of the Bernstein apartment on Pleasanton Street.
The Bernstein family regularly attended Temple Mishkan Tefila for Friday evening Sabbath services. Leonard's Bar Mitzvah ceremony was a great experience for Leonard. As a present, his father bought him a baby grand piano to replace the piano from his Aunt Clara. Leonard later cited religious music as the biggest influence on him in his childhood.
In 1931 Sam rented a summer home in Sharon, 20 miles south of Boston. Sam liked the community so much that he decided to build a summer cottage there.
The Bernstein family returned from Sharon in fall of 1933 and moved into their spacious new red brick home in Newton.
In 1934, fifteen year old Leonard Bernstein joined with Dana Schnittken, a schoolmate from the Boston Latin School. Together they wrote a joke version of an opera called Carmen, using only the hit tunes. Beatrice Gordon, Leonard's love, played a role in their production. The following year Bernstein produced another opera called The Mikado. He produced it in only four weeks.
Bernstein played the piano in the school orchestra for three years. It was Leonard's new piano teacher who did the most to develop his innate musical talent. Leonard took piano lessons with Helen Coates for a fee of six dollars an hour.
In 1935 Sam Bernstein, Leonard's father, paid three hundred dollars to Station WBZ in Boston to broadcast a series of fifteen minute piano recitals performed by Leonard. This was sponsored by AVOL Laboratories beauty products, his own-brand cosmetics.
Leonard was one of the brightest students in his class and he always wanted to go to Harvard because of the wonderful music program , but even with grants and scholarships attending Harvard as an undergraduate would be expensive. To Leonard's relief, his father accepted the plan.
In 1935, Leonard's favorite girlfriend was Elaine Newman. Later he introduced her to Robert Lubell, and Elaine started dating Rob. She eventually married Robert in 1942.
Bernstein's school days ended in June 1935. Bernstein's list of achievements were: " Modern Prize, 1929-30; Special Reading Prize, 1929-30; Classical Prize, 1929-30; French Club, 1934-35; Physics Club, 1934-35; Glee Club, 1929-30-31-33-34-35; School Orchestra, 1931-32-33; Soloist with the School Orchestra, 1933-34-35; co-author of the 1935 Class Song, 1935," The song was called "All for one and one for all"
Six weeks later Leonard received his examination results. He was top of the school in English, he had a poor mark in History, being only a 60 percent, and his overall average was 82 percent. He said to his piano teacher Helen Coates, "With the fine recommendations I have received, I should be accepted to Harvard."