伦纳德·伯恩斯坦1918年生于马萨诸塞州的劳伦斯市，是第一代美国犹太人。其父塞缪尔做的是美容用品的生意，他寄希望于儿子能秉承父业。但伦尼（伦纳德的爱称）十岁时，发现了钢琴。当他用自己的零花钱来学琴时，父亲就不再给他钱了，但当他发现儿子靠为舞蹈伴奏而挣钱时，就又恢复了补给。在费城的柯蒂斯学院（20岁时从哈佛大学以优异成绩毕业后），伯恩斯坦是伟大的弗里茨·赖纳的最具天赋的学生。有个学生因愤愤不平而扬言要杀了他。
Contrary to legend， the golden boy did have some lean times. In 1942. Bernstein moved to New York City armed with glowing references， but couldn，t find work. Lyricist Irving Caesar happened to hear him play the piano and thought he resembled his former collaborator George Gershwin. Bernstein told him that he needed 10 a week to stay alive. “What！” Caesar exclaimed. “You， a genius， starving？ Ten dollars a week for a genius？ I，ll get you fifty！” And promptly got him a job transcribing music. Within two years Bernstein had published his first symphony， written a successful ballet “Fancy Free”， had a hit Broadway show “In the Town” and made his now legendary New York Philharmonic conducting debut in Carnegie Hall. Filling in for an ailing maestro， the dashing 25yearold(who had a fierce hangover) was such a smash he got as much frontpage space in New York Times as the American submarines that sank seven Japanese ships.
与传说的相反，这个成绩斐然的男孩的确曾几度陷于窘境。1942年，伯恩斯坦带着热情中肯的推荐信来到纽约，然而却无法找到工作。抒情诗人欧文·凯撒偶然听到他弹奏钢琴并觉得他很像自己以前的合作者乔治·格什温。伯恩斯坦对他说他一周需要十美元来维持生计。“什么！”凯撒惊叹道。“你，一个天才，在饿肚子？一个天才每周就值十美元？我要让你每周有五十美元！”他很快就为他找到一份改编乐曲的工作。在不到两年的时间里伯恩斯坦就发表了他的第一首交响乐，成功地创作了他们一个芭蕾舞剧《自由遐想》，写了一部轰动一时的百老汇音乐剧《在小镇里》，并在卡内基音乐厅首次指挥当今已成为传奇的纽约爱乐乐团。这个干劲十足、患有严重宿醉毛病的25岁月小伙子因临时代替生病的指挥大师随即就一炮打响，在《纽约时报》上成了与美国潜艇击沉七艘日本舰同样重要的头条新闻。
The great creative output of the late ，40s and ，50s the musicals “Candide”， “Wonderful Town” and “West Side Story”， the film score for “ On the Waterfront，” the ballet “The Age of Anxiety” - came， with good reason， before Bernstein acquired an orchestra. In 1958， he became music director of the New York Philharmonic - the first Americanborn conductor to head a top symphony orchestra. He revived the works of Mahler and Nielsen and programmed such contemporary music， even if he， a dedicated tonalist， was uncomfortable with it.
伯恩斯坦在四十年代后期和五十年代，先后创作有音乐剧《坎狄特》、《美妙小镇》及《西部故事》，电影《海滨》的配乐和芭蕾舞剧《忧愁时代》。这些伟大的创造性的作品理所当然地使他掌管了一支乐队。1958年他成为纽约爱乐乐团的音乐指挥——是第一位出生在美国的执掌顶尖交响乐团的指挥。他把马勒和尼尔森的作品重新搬上舞台，同时编排了当代音乐曲目，尽管他这个对音调极其讲究的音乐家但对当代音乐并不喜欢。
Bernstein， says Leonard Slatkin， music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. “not only opened doors for all of us， but was the musical conscience of this country for years. We couldn，t have had a better spokesman.” After leaving the Philharmonic in 1969， Bernstein， the original globetrotting maestro， maintained close ties with many orchestras， including (with typical Bernstein irony) the Israel Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic.
圣路易交响乐团的音乐指挥伦纳德·斯莱特金说，伯恩斯坦“不仅为我们所有的人敞开了音乐殿堂的大门，而是这些年来我们国家的音乐良心。我们不可能有比他更出色的代言人了。”1969年伯恩斯坦离开爱乐乐团后，这位活跃于全世界的富有独创性的指挥家与许多管弦乐团都保持着密切的联系，其中还包括（带有伯恩斯坦特有讽刺意味的）以色列爱乐乐团和维也纳爱乐乐团。
Since the late ，50s his compositions have often been disappointing， but he was back in form in some recent works， especially the delicious Arias and Barcarolles. Though he had become whitehaired and craggy， he retained the passion and quickness of a wunderkind， and no one could dispute the depth of understanding he brought to the podium， particularly in recent years， when his interpretive powers were sharper than ever.
从五十年代后期起，他的作品常常令人失望，但近期的一些作品又恢复了他原来的良好状态，特别是那部精美的“咏叹调与船歌”。尽管他已是白发苍苍，老态龙钟，却仍保持着神童的激情与敏捷，他在指挥席上对音乐理解的深度是绝无争议的，特别是近些年，他对音乐的演译能力比以往更强了。
I Live Entirely in My Music： Beethoven
我沉醉在音乐中：贝多芬
Beethoven probably began to go deaf after what he called his terrible typhus of 1797， but he tried to keep it a secret， while consulting doctors and trying various remedies， such as the application of almond oil. He was extremely anxious about its possible effect on his career as a musician， and embarrassed by its effect on his social life.
贝多芬开始失聪大概是在1797年，在染上他称为“可怕的斑疹伤寒”后，但他想尽量保密，同时去看医生并试了各种疗法，如使用杏仁油。作为一名音乐家，这对他的事业所可能产生的影响使他感到极度忧虑，同时这对他社会生活的影响邮局是令他十分难堪的。
