Leonard Bernstein's Time at Harvard
In 1935, Leonard Bernstein graduated from the Boston Latin School and entered Harvard University, majoring in music.
In the 1930's, Harvard had the structure of an immensely racial school-Jews were restricted to 10% of the student population. Because Bernstein was Jewish, he was not elected to join the Sigma Society, a campus group for those interested in the arts. Also, despite Leonard's gifts as an entertainer, he was never invited to perform with the Hasty Pudding Show, a Harvard revue that put on amusing musicals. However, even with all of these anti-Semitic acts, Bernstein was not affected by them all. He enjoyed singing in the Glee Club and playing the piano after supper.
Leonard studied with many famous teachers at Harvard. Bernstein's musical education was guided by Professor Author Merritt. He was the first person to introduce Leonard to the music of Monteverdi, quoted as "opera's first genius" (Great Composers 1300-1900 Ewen). Leonard best described his lessons with Monteverdi when he said "We would sit and play and cry with joy...My God, I will never forget the first time we sang Orfeo (Monteverdi's first opera) and played it four hands together!" Besides learning about music, Bernstein also had an interest in anesthesia. David Prall was a star lecturer on that subject at Harvard and Bernstein and Prall became friends. Prall, a devoted music lover, later became a strong supporter of Bernstein's
Leonard later met Dimitri Mitropoulos. He was a famous Greek conductor. The two met at a reception for Mitropoulos at Harvard. There he urged Bernstein to attend the orchestral rehearsals Mitropoulos was to commence the next day. This friendship would endure for nearly a quarter of a century.
Bernstein graduated from Harvard University in 1939 and went on to study music at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
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