By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — One man and a piano. For most, this would be a scene in a hotel lounge with patrons coming and going. But not for virtuoso Hershey Felder who completes this year’s Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival playing at the Lyceum Theatre.
Hershey Felder is well known for bringing great composers back to life to tell their stories. His other portrayals include George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt…. “Maestro” tells the story of that icon of American music, Leonard Bernstein.
Bernstein’s father Shmul –every ounce of him an immigrant from the “old country”- was ever breaking into niggunim, wordless songs meant to elevate the soul. If you listen carefully, you can hear their echo in “I get carried away.” Leonard Bernstein wasn’t the most learned or pious of Jews, but Yiddishkeit was infused into the very fabric of his music. His Jeremiah Symphony is essentially the cantillation of Eicha, the Book of Lamentations read in the synagogues every Tisha B’Av, a holy day marking the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
A piano came to the Bernstein house by way of his “meshuganeh Tante Clara.” But Shmul wouldn’t pay for lessons. Talmud was what was worthwhile whereas klezmorim always ate with the help in the kitchen. So, Leonard did odd jobs to pay for the lessons himself. Where Shmul searched for God in Talmud, Leonard sought the Divine in music. To him, Aaron Copland was “Moses, one step closer to God.”
Getting into the Harvard School of Music –making their 10% quota of Jews, Bernstein found a mentor in conducting. This was the person with whom Bernstein fell “A little bit in love.”
I don’t want to tell any more of the story because it’s Hershey Felder’s story to tell, not mine. We are treated not only to Bernstein’s music, but the music that shaped him. These include Beethoven, Mahler and even the rabidly anti-Semitic Wagner.
Leonard Bernstein was a musical genius and an icon of American culture. Like most geniuses, he was a complicated man. He could be courageous and bombastic, loving and selfish. He left this world with a great musical legacy and deep, personal regrets.
“Maestro” is much more than an evening’s entertainment. It’s a mystical journey into the soul of music. So get your tickets NOW because Maestro will only be with us until July 17th.
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)