From The International Era Collection
Scores
"Everyday life in C-major Leningrad"
- ID:
- 1820
Leonard Bernstein performed Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 during the Philharmonic's first tour to Moscow in 1959. His notes on the score's first page read: "Everyday life in C-major Leningrad. Work-a-day quotidian. All's well." The program celebrated similarities between Russian and American people. Soviet musicians joined the Philharmonic on-stage, and Shostakovich himself was in the audience.
Images
East meets West
- ID:
- 800-147-05-011
During the Philharmonic’s first trip to Japan in 1961, Leonard Bernstein joined the musicians of the Imperial Household Agency on stage at the Imperial Palace for a performance of Gagaku. The court musicians performed and demonstrated the Shō and other traditional instruments for a television broadcast in America.
Business Documents
Letters Home
- ID:
- 023-02-12
Philharmonic president David Keiser wrote often to the Board of Directors, chronicling the day-to-day events of the Orchestra on its first visit to the Soviet Union and the Near East. His letters depict scenes of cheering crowds at the Acropolis, performances at an ancient temple in Lebanon, and Bernstein's birthday party in Moscow, complete with caviar, vodka, and birthday cake.
This project is funded in part by Save America’s Treasures through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Parks Service, Department of the Interior.
