Leonard Bernstein and the Harvard Student Union: In Search ofPolitical Origins

DREW MASSEY

doi:10.1017/S1752196309090051

Leonard Bernstein and the Harvard Student Union: In Search ofPolitical Origins

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2009

DREW MASSEY

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Abstract

In spite of the publicity generated at times by the politics of the matureLeonard Bernstein, the roots of his entanglement with political causes have beenlittle-explored. As part of a larger collaborative project investigatingBernstein's ties to Boston, this article traces his role in theHarvard Student Union's theatrical productions. These shows wereimportant because they represented some of Bernstein's earliestefforts at writing and directing for the theater. Bernstein worked on two showssponsored by the Union: the production of Marc Blitzstein's CradleWill Rock in 1939, during Bernstein's senior year at Harvard, andthat of Aristophanes' play Peace in 1941, two years after hegraduated. Although the Harvard Student Union was a major progressive politicalforce on campus, Bernstein's relationship with the group appears tohave been surprisingly casual. Examination of archival materials surrounding theproductions, as well as selected interviews from the larger collaborativeBernstein project of which this article is but one part, reveals Bernstein as aman who was primarily interested in the Harvard Student Union insofar as it wasan organization amenable to supporting his musical activities. As the heat ofBernstein's celebrity cools with time, such findings are an importantaid in avoiding drawing overly deterministic conclusions about the significanceof Bernstein's affiliations while ignoring his own immediate aims,political or otherwise.

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Type: Research Article
Information: Journal of the Society for American Music , Volume 3 , Special Issue 1: Leonard Bernstein in Boston , February 2009 , pp. 67 - 84

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752196309090051 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society for American Music 2009

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References

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