Music: Bernstein Talks About His Work

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I cannot judge this work. I am much too close to it. All I know is that it is both a theater work and a religious work. It is and is not a Mass. It is and is not a pageant. It is and is not a show. It is without precedent. It is a piece I have been writing all my life, and everything I have written before was in some way a rehearsal for it. ON MUSIC CRITICS: You see, I do not write or conduct for critics. Of course, it used to bother me—anybody would be bothered who is attacked week after week. I do not know why it is that I am such a natural target for these people. It must be hell on wheels to be forced to produce readable copy that is provocative, and probably nasty, because who wants to read a dull review?