BERNSTEIN: Chichester Psalms / On the Waterfront

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Then comes 'Greeting', first written in 1955 after Bernstein's son Alexander was born and revised in 1988. 'Every time a child is born, for the space of that brief instant the world is pure.' This simple, calm, reflective song is a complete contrast to what follows. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me to water in places of repose; He renews my life; He guides me in right paths as befits His name. In the 'Love Duet' that follows, the couple try to get a handle on what this 'love' thing might mean, how long it might last, whether it is lofty or banal, and whether any of this really matters. 'Scary, the way it flows, as if it knows the mystery; scary, the way it grows and grows, incessantly, evenly, unevenly...' The song they are singing is a metaphor for their relationship itself. Love turns out to be hard to define and impossible to conceptualise, neither soaring to great heights nor plunging into the depths, as the couple drift along within what might be termed an area of tolerable conflict. Chichester Psalms, although a comparatively short work (less than 20 minutes in duration) is one of Bernstein's most popular pieces and provides a good introduction to his writing. It is full of Bernsteinian dramatic contrasts. It utilises his trademark lively, asymmetrical rhythms, often with five or seven beats to the bar; his angular melodies with large, surprising leaps; his placing of accents where least expected; his use of speech rhythm in song. The text is the original Biblical Hebrew, which Bernstein sometimes daringly manipulates to great dramatic effect.

After the death of his wife, Felicia, in 1978, Bernstein retreated from performance engagements to focus on composing. He worked on various projects, none of which made it to completion, until he received a commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in April 1980. The work was commissioned for the 1965 Southern Cathedrals Festival at Chichester Cathedral by the cathedral's Dean, Walter Hussey. [2] However, the world premiere took place in the Philharmonic Hall, New York, on 15 July 1965 with the composer conducting, followed by the performance at Chichester on July 31, 1965, conducted by the cathedral's Organist and Master of the Choristers, John Birch. [3] [2] O Lord, my heart is not proud nor my look haughty; I do not aspire to great things or to what is beyond me; but I have taught myself to be contented like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child am I in my mind. In 1977 (or ’78), I was singing with the Choral Arts Society of Washington, DC. On the program was Chichester Psalms, which we were to perform with the Israel Philharmonic and Maestro Bernstein conducting. I had been chosen to sing the short alto solo in the first movement. The short 'Prelude' typifies an inner calm surrounded by external storms. The piano music is discordant and impetuous, but is calmly interrupted by the couple singing 'I love you. It's easy to say it and so easy to mean it too.' The piano seems to disagree, but the couple are off on an exploration of what 'I love you' means for them, how they can hold onto that in a turbulent world and where it might lead them.

Bernstein Chichester Psalms Vocal Score

a b Fishbein, Joshua Henry (2014). "Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms / An Analysis and Companion Piece". escholarship.org . Retrieved October 15, 2018. The second movement begins with the boy soloist, accompanied by harp, serenely setting forth the opening lines of Psalm 23. As the Psalm is taken up by female voices, however, Bernstein has the male section of the chorus sing verses from Psalm 2 (“Why do nations assemble, and peoples plot ...”—a text familiar to British audiences through Handel’s Messiah) to much more angular and agitated music, in which the noise of the percussion takes on a sinister meaning. This contrasted music of peace and war proceeds in uneasy counterpoint throughout the rest of the second movement.

The work premiered at the Philharmonic Hall in New York City on 15 July 1965, conducted by the composer. That was followed by a performance at Chichester Cathedral as part of the festival, for which it was commissioned, on 31 July that year, conducted by John Birch. Bernstein made his own selection from the psalms, and decided to retain the original Hebrew for an ecumenical message, focused on the "brotherhood of Man". [5] Introduction [ edit ]When it came time to sing it in front of the Maestro in rehearsal for the first time, I was petrified and could barely squeak out my part. He was very encouraging, even for the short time I sang. At a break, I was bold enough to ask to speak with him about the solo. He was kindness and patience itself, giving me a mini-coaching on each note of my little snippet. This whole experience was just icing on the cake of the already mountaintop experience of singing under his baton for this amazing concert. Pope Paul VI: After Hearing Chichester Psalms at the Vatican, 1973 How nice, that the great maestro Bernstein chose a young Daniel Oren as the [boy soprano] soloist of Chichester Psalms, one of his masterpieces among his own compositions. As soon as Maestro Bernstein heard Oren singing only two notes, he said: “It’s him I was looking for.” Chichester Psalms juxtaposes vocal part writing most commonly associated with Church music (including homophony and imitation), with the Judaic liturgical tradition. The Cathedral of Chichester, in Sussex, England, after which Bernstein titled this work, is the seat of a cherished sacred music legacy that dates to the tenure of its honored organist and composer, Thomas Weelkes (ca. 1575–1623), one of the leading avatars of the early-17th-century English madrigal genre and a pioneer in the development of Anglican Church music in its formative period. Each year since 1960 the Cathedral of Chichester has collaborated with its neighboring cathedrals in Winchester and Salisbury in the production of a summer music festival, though the tradition of the annual meeting of the Cathedral Choirs actually dates to 1904. In his initial correspondence with Bernstein, Dr. Hussey suggested a setting of Psalm 2. But Bernstein then proposed a “suite of Psalms, or selected verses from Psalms,” with the tentative title Psalms of Youth—in view of his conception of the music as “very forthright, songful, rhythmic, and youthful.” He subsequently abandoned that title in favor of the present one. As he commented in a letter to Dr. Hussey, the music turned out to be far more difficult to perform than the word “youth” might suggest—notwithstanding the fact that it requires a professional caliber boy or children’s choir.

Chichester Psalms significantly features the harp; the full orchestral version requires two intricate harp parts. Bernstein completed the harp parts before composing the accompanying orchestral and choral parts, thus granting the harpists a pivotal role in realizing the music. In rehearsals, he is noted to have requested that the harpists play through the piece before the rest of the orchestra to emphasize the importance of the harps' role. Unlike a good portion of the music he composed (but did not complete) during his sabbatical, Chichester Psalms is firmly rooted in tonality. Bernstein commented during a 1977 press conference, “I spent almost the whole year writing 12-tone music and even more experimental stuff. I was happy that all these new sounds were coming out: but after about six months of work I threw it all away. It just wasn’t my music; it wasn’t honest. The end result was the Chichester Psalms which is the most accessible, B-flat majorish tonal piece I’ve ever written.” Again, from the poem submitted to the Times: With two film adaptations and many successful stage runs, West Side Story is Bernstein’s best-known work by far. A collaboration with lyricist Stephen Sondheim and director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, it’s considered by many to be one of the greatest musicals of all time. He had this goal all his life to bring people together regardless of their religions, origins, generations, and aspirations in life,” Nézet-Séguin said. “Bernstein showed all of us the way many decades ago. And now, all of the world, this is what we’re trying to do in the symphony orchestras, in opera houses, and concert presenters is to break boundaries.” Daniel OrenEach of the three movements contains the full text of one Psalm and an extract from another, but the relationship between the two texts, both in their meaning and in their musical treatment, is different each time. The work opens with an exhortation to praise the Lord: the mood is triumphal and authoritative, like a proclamation. This is the trigger for the main part of the movement, an ebulliently dancing (and in places jazzy) scherzo-like setting of Psalm 100, where the array of percussion is much to the fore in “making a joyful noise.” The finale comes in from the third movement without interruption. The principal motifs from the introduction return here to unify the work and create a sense of returning to the beginning, but here the motifs are sung pianississimo and greatly extended in length. Particularly luminous harmonies eventually give way to a unison note on the last syllable of the text—another example of word painting, since the final Hebrew word, Yaḥad, means "together" or, more precisely, "as one". This same note is that on which the choir then sings the Amen, while one muted trumpet plays the opening motif one last time and the orchestra, too, ends on a unison G, with a tiny hint of a Picardy third. Why do nations assemble, and peoples plot vain things; kings of the earth take their stand, and regents intrigue together against the Lord and against His anointed?