7 October 2018

Jewish Museum Vienna exhibits Leonard Bernstein's activities in Vienna and his relation to the city

The picture from 1966 of Leonard Bernstein (born 1918, died 1990) wearing a traditional Austrian alpine 'trachten'-jacket while conducting is one of the artefacts which will be on show from 17 October 2018 until 28 April 2019 at the exhibition 'Leonard Bernstein. A New Yorker in Vienna' at the Jewish Museum Vienna. On the museum's website, the musician's (conductor, composer,...) intention for wearing this jacket is cited as "therapy against German nationalism" (source).

Another clothing piece is mentioned at the press release: Leonard Bernstein's tuxedo tailored by Otto Perl, a Viennese Jew who could flee 1938 after ten months of imprisonment at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps to USA. Otto Perl sewed for almost forty years for Leonhard Bernstein. It's announced that the tuxedo and other objects from the collection of Otto Perl's son, Martin E. Perl, will be displayed at the exhibition.

fig.: Leonard Bernstein wearing a so-called 'Trachtenjanker' (traditional Austrian alpine 'trachten'-jacket) while conducting at the Musikverein in Vienna; 1966. Photo: © Historisches Archiv Wiener Philharmoniker.


more culture>