The Joy Of Music

''The Joy of Music'' is

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

's first book, originally published as a

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...

in 1959 by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

. The first UK edition was published in 1960 by

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld a ...

. It was translated into German (1961), Danish (1969), Slovenian (1977), Hebrew (1973 and 1977), Chinese (1987). The first edition was reprinted seven times and published in several further editions, including as a

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

and

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

. In the books' introduction, "The Happy Medium", Bernstein discusses the nature of music and the difficulties of writing about it. The first part of the book, "Imaginary Conversations", is about

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, meaning in music, and the difficulty to write popular tunes for serious composers. A brief section, "Interlude: Upper Dubbing, Calif.", describes the peculiarities of composing

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

. It was published on May 30, 1954, in ''

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''. The second part consists of seven scripts from the TV series ''

Omnibus Omnibus may refer to: Film and television * ''Omnibus'' (film) * Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes * ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme * ''Omnibus'' (U.S. TV series), an educational progr ...

'', three of which had been published between 1956 and 1958 in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''. They contain

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

examples to illustrate the lecture; the sound examples from the lectures and actions on stage are described in the form of stage directions. # "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony", broadcast November 14, 1954 # "The World of

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

", broadcast October 16, 1955 # "The Art of

Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

", broadcast December 4, 1955 # "American

Musical Comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

", broadcast October 7, 1956 # "Introduction to Modern Music"], broadcast January 13, 1957 # "The Music of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

", broadcast March 31, 1957 # "What Makes

Opera Grand Opera Grand is a skyscraper in Downtown Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The developer of the project is Emaar Properties Emaar Properties (Emaar Developments or simply Emaar) is an Emirati multinational real estate development company locate ...

?", broadcast March 23, 1958 All seven of Bernstein's ''Omnibus'' lectures, introduced by

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.Script and video excerpts
from sections 1, 4, 7, leonardbernstein.com * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joy Of Music, The 1959 non-fiction books Music books American non-fiction books Leonard Bernstein