Richard Kogan to Explore the Music, Mind of Leonard Bernstein

“It would not be going out on a limb to say Leonard Bernstein is the greatest all-around musician America has ever produced,” Richard Kogan, M.D., a clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, recently told Psychiatric News.

Bernstein was, after all, the true epitome of the “creative genius,” said Kogan, who is also the artistic director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program and co-director of the Weill Cornell Human Sexuality Program. Bernstein was an impassioned music conductor, a gifted pianist, and one of the foremost music lecturers in history. Bernstein’s memorable contributions as a composer can be heard in classical concert halls and Broadway theaters and on the Hollywood silver screen.

As with many creative luminaries, though, Bernstein also dealt with psychological issues that affected his daily living but also became important elements of his works. The conflict of inner turmoil versus external success will be explored in Kogan’s session at APA’s Annual Meeting titled “West Side Story: The Mind and Music of Leonard Bernstein.”

The session will honor the 100th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth and showcase a talent who made his career in New York City and whose life very much reflected the fast pace and brashness of the city.

As in previous years, Kogan’s special session will combine insightful discussion of Bernstein’s life with musical selections from his diverse catalog of material. Kogan, who in addition to being a psychiatrist is an award-winning pianist, will perform well-known numbers from “West Side Story” and “On the Town,” as well as lesser-known pieces from Bernstein’s classical library.

The fact that his popular works were more well received than his classical music was a significant source of tension for Bernstein, Kogan noted. “Bernstein had a hyperthymic temperament; he was uninhibited and sociable and had an overwhelming amount of exuberance and energy,” Kogan said. “Normally, though, composing is a solitary affair, and that posed a continual challenge during his life.”

That’s why Bernstein, despite a personal desire to be remembered in the same vein as figures like Mozart, was frequently drawn to the stage and screen. In these venues, composing music is a collaborative venture between musicians, lyricists, choreographers, and performers, Kogan said.

Bernstein’s hyperthymic personality also came through vividly when he was conducting. Bernstein was known for his animated conducting style (which on at least one occasion led him to fall off the conductor’s stand). Audiences loved it, as did the orchestral musicians, but over time Bernstein became concerned that his rising fame as a conductor was overshadowing his compositions.

Bernstein faced other challenges not related to his creative genius, Kogan noted. Significant among these was Bernstein’s sexuality. While married for more than 25 years to actress Felicia Montealegre, Bernstein engaged in numerous rumored and documented homosexual encounters.

“He lived such a complex and fascinating life, and I hope attendees can get some sense of that life through this lecture,” Kogan told Psychiatric News. ■