Presents the life and career of influential conductor Leonard Bernstein.

From his dazzling conducting debut in 1943 until his death in 1990, Leonard Bernstein's star blazed brilliantly.

Chronicles the life and career of the composer and musician, focusing on his range of musical compositions, from "West Side Story" to "Kaddish."

Bernstein was also an enthusiastic letter writer, and this book is the first to present a wide-ranging selection of his correspondence.

Here is Leonard Bernstein, full scale and fully alive -- the child prodigy, the man, the composer, the teacher, the hugely charismatic personality, the lover, the American folk hero.

The book also features the reproduction of five television scripts from Bernstein on the influence of jazz, the timeless appeal of Mozart, musical romanticism, and the complexities of rhythmic innovation.

When Leonard Bernstein died in 1990 at the age of 72, one of his admirers said he was actually 288 because he led four separate lives: as a conductor, a composer, a pianist, and a teacher.

Archival photographs, mostly from the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress, illustrate this fascinating biography, which also includes a foreword by Bernstein’s daughter Jamie.

Describes the life and career of the composer and conductor.

This is an illustrated biography of the American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.