The Maestro and a Journey to Jerusalem

 

Have you watched the film Maestro on Netflix? It stars Bradley Cooper as the late, celebrated conductor, Leonard Bernstein and Carrie Mulligan as his wife, Felicia Montealegre. She was a performer of considerable skill in her own right but this narrative focusses more on Bernstein and the sometimes tumultous marriage with Montealegre. Leonard was bisexual or gay and Felicia knew this before they were married but chose to accept his orientation. It was not so straightforward a decision as the year's went by and as their children grew to an age where they were aware of rumours about their father's sexuality. 

Both Bernstein and Montealegre died relatively young but their three children have all supported the film and one of them, son Alexander, commented that watching it "was cathartic in a moment when joy and tears, memories and pain were overwhelming,” Some scenes were filmed at the family summer home and in the building where they lived in New York city. 

We really appreciated Maestro although we wished we could have watched it on a theatre screen with a sound system that did it justice. And the hype may have detracted from our experience. We heard that Cooper spent six years learning to conduct in the robust style of Bernstein, studying with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Canadian conductor and pianist.

Because I can't help myself from snooping I searched around for more information about Bernstein and came upon an 1968 article from the New York Times describing the documentary about  an outdoor concert Bernstein conducted in Jerusalem not long after the "liberation" of the city from Jordanian control. This was Mahler's Resurrection Symphony and the Times headline reads A 'Holy' Concert:'Journey to Jerusalem' Opens 2-Day Stand.

I watched the documentary, available on YouTube, and I was intrigued by Bernstein's explanation that for him the resurrection theme was a renewal of hope as Jews and Arabs came together in this new reality. Bernstein was not an observant Jew although he wrote many pieces on Jewish themes. According to the Milken Archive: 

 During the following decades he was to write some twenty works on Jewish themes—about one quarter of his orchestral works and half of his choral compositions, as well as songs and other pieces that have had broad appeal for Jews and non-Jews everywhere.

I viewed A Journey to Jerusalem not long after the horrific massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrrorists on October 7th and the beginning of the veangeful response by the IDF. Bernstein's comments seemed hopeful and naive and poignant, particularly in light of the fraught relationship between the state of Israel and Palestinians over the past 50 years and more. 

If you want to watch the documentary,  here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_IRzvtqB7I