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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

3

Leonard Bernstein's Subversive 'Mass'


The New Yorker's Alex Ross filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Leonard Bernstein and received the late conductor's "eight-hundred-page F.B.I. file, memos from the files of Richard Nixon's Plumbers, and several lively excerpts from Nixon's White House tapes." In an ongoing series, he looks at how Bernstein's political beliefs and activities were monitored and interpreted by the FBI and the Nixon administration, particularly the "threat posed by 'Mass'-that multimedia, polystylistic spectacle in which Leonard Bernstein dramatized his struggle with God and fame." It makes for very interesting reading.

3 Comments / Post A Comment

Slapdash
Slapdash (#174)

I'm beginning to think this Nixon guy was a real bastard. Good thing he didn't have any students, right?

SarahHeartburn

My stars!!! Did we forget to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the un-Dicking of America back on the 8th? Shame on us!!!!

And great work on the part of Alex Ross. His stuff (tis a he, right?whatever.)surprises me again and again. And this is just brilliant. A timely reminder for those of us who remember those dark days, and a education for the younger set, who, I swear to god (polling my 20ish friends) did not know this stuff happened.

Spena
Spena (#640)

It really bugs me that this is the only version of Mass I've been able to find online. THEY AIN'T EVEN 'MERICAN!

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