Bernstein heirs give studio items to I.U.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The family of Leonard Bernstein has donated items from the late composer's Connecticut studio -- including a conducting stool from the Vienna Philharmonic believed to have been used by Johannes Brahms -- to Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.

The donation, announced by the school Monday, also includes the conductor-composer's rocking chair, 39 Grammy nomination plaques, batons, a pencil and ruler and blank manuscript paper.

"There is nothing like standing in front of Leonard Bernstein's standup composing desk with blank paper, visualizing how he might have composed," said Phil Ponella, who directs the school's music library.

The collection also includes a signed piece of the Berlin Wall that Bernstein received while in the German city leading an international orchestra during its collapse, said Melissa Korzec, a spokeswoman for the school.

"These gifts are priceless," she said.

Bernstein, who died in 1990 at age 72, was the composer of works including "West Side Story," the film score for "On the Waterfront" and the music for the ballet "Fancy Free."

The Jacobs school plans to recreate Bernstein's studio and use it as a teaching studio for guest artists. Some items from the collection also will go on display this spring.

The Fairfield, Conn., studio, along with one in New York City, was where Bernstein wrote during the last 30 years of his life, composing works such as his "Mass," his third symphony "Kaddish," the ballet "Dybbuk" and the opera "A Quiet Place."

Bernstein had a long-standing relationship with the Jacobs School of Music that began in the early 1970s. He spent time on campus with students and faculty and in 1987 established a scholarship in his name at the school.