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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe children of Leonard Bernstein have donated the contents of the famed composer’s Fairfield, Conn., studio to Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, the school announced today.
Among the donations: a conducting stool from the Vienna Philharmonic that is said to have been used by Johannes Brahms, 39 Grammy-nomination plaques, Bernstein’s stand-up composing table, a rocking chair and a piece of the Berlin Wall.
IU did not put a dollar value on the donation, but called it “priceless.”
The Jacobs School plans to create a Leonard Bernstein Studio that will contain the collection in substantially the same arrangement as it existed in Fairfield. Bernstein, who died in 1990, composed much of the music from the last three decades of his life in the studio.
The space also will also be used as a teaching studio for distinguished guests. Most of the contents of the room will be available for students, faculty and the public, IU said. Books and music scores that were given as part of separate donations from the Bernstein family also will be displayed there.
Items from the collection will also go on display for a few weeks in the lobby of the Musical Arts Center this spring, IU said.
Bernstein had a long-standing relationship with the Jacobs School that began in the early 1970s.
“My father’s artistic and educational connection with Indiana University was profound,” said Leonard’s son, Alexander Bernstein, in a press release. “He adored the institution and became close to the dean, faculty and, of course, students. “
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