Leonard Bernstein

 It's the birthday of conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, born in Lawrence, Massachusetts (1918).

leonard-bernstein-by-paul-de-hueck-courtesy-of-the-lleonard-bernstein-

His father was a Russian immigrant. He bought and sold beauty supplies, and he discouraged his son from being a musician in favor of taking over the family business. When he was 10, his Aunt Clara was going through a divorce, and she sent her piano to the Bernstein home. Leonard became a pianist. He got an assistantship with the New York Philharmonic. And on a Sunday afternoon, November 14, 1943, when the conductor Bruno Walter got sick, Leonard Bernstein filled in and got a great review on page one of The New York Times. He became a celebrity at the age of 25.

He wrote scores for many musicals, including "On the Town," "Wonderful Town," "Candide," and "West Side Story."

Bernstein also wrote a book called "The Joy of Music" (1959), a collection of essays and conversations about music. In it, he wrote, "Music, of all the arts, stands in a special region, unlit by any star but its own, and utterly without meaning ... except its own."

Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story Selection for Orchestra