TO BERNSTEIN WITH LOVE
These are strange words from a composer who earlier in his career had proselytized for the breaking down of artificial barriers between popular music and“ serious” art music. In West Side Story, he had triumphantly proved that the two can successfully fuse. Many a composer of symphonies and concertos would give his eyeteeth to be remembered as the creator of West Side Story.
Opening on Broadway on September 26, 1957, the musical updated Shakespeare’ s Romeo and Juliet to contemporary New York City, where prejudice and feuding teen gangs separate the Polish Tony from the Puerto Rican Maria. For this timeless love story Bernstein created music that glorified every twist in the plot— from brash, streetwise dances to the most tender of romantic ballads.
As West Side Story moved on to its 1961 movie version( which won ten Academy Awards), Bernstein saw potential for a concert version scored for symphony orchestra. The orchestral arrangements for the Symphonic Dances were created by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostel, but were closely supervised and edited by Bernstein. This work was premiered by the New York Philharmonic on February 13, 1961.
In the score, Bernstein associate Jack Gottlieb has provided a brief summary of the Dances— which follow each other without pause— and their connection to the West Side Story plot:
“ Prologue( Allegro moderato)— The growing rivalry between two teenage gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.
“‘ Somewhere’( Adagio)— In a visionary dance sequence, the two gangs are united in friendship.
“ Scherzo( Vivace leggiero)— In the same dream, they break through the city walls, and suddenly find themselves in a world of space, air and sun.
“ Mambo( Presto)— Reality again; competitive dance between the gangs.
“ Cha-Cha( Andantino con grazia)— The star-crossed lovers see each other for the first time and dance together [ music based on“ Maria”].
“ Meeting Scene( Meno mosso)— Music [ solo violins ] accompanies their first spoken words.
Leonard Bernstein
“‘ Cool,’ Fugue( Allegretto)— An elaborate dance sequence in which the Jets practice controlling their hostility.
“ Rumble( Molto allegro)— Climactic gang battle during which the two gang leaders are killed.
“ Finale( Adagio)— Love music [ based on Maria’ s‘ I Have a Love’] developing into a procession, which recalls, in tragic reality, the vision of‘ Somewhere.’”
Instrumentation: Three flutes including piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, celesta and strings.
THREE DANCE EPISODES FROM ON THE TOWN
Leonard Bernstein
The 13 months from November 1943 to December 1944 were heady times for Leonard Bernstein. On November 14, 1943, he made his legendary conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic, stepping in with less than 24-hours notice to replace the ailing Bruno Walter. His success was front-page news in The New York Times the next morning. Less than two months later( January 28, 1944), his First Symphony,“ Jeremiah,” was premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under his baton to warm critical reviews.
On April 18, his ballet collaboration with Jerome Robbins, Fancy Free, was unveiled at the Metropolitan Opera House. And on December 28, his musical On the Town— an expansion of Fancy Free’ s scenario— opened on Broadway. It was hailed as“ the freshest and most engaging musical show … since the golden days of Oklahoma!,” and it ran for 463 performances.( In 1949, it was made into a classic movie, starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.) At this time, Bernstein was only in his mid-20s, and there seemed to be nothing he couldn’ t do— and do brilliantly.
Written in collaboration with his friends Betty Comden and Adolph Green, On the Town told a light-hearted story about three sailors on 24-hours’ shore leave in New York City during World War II. As Comden and Green wrote, it humorously expressed“ the poignancy of young people trying to cram a lifetime of experience into a day.” The sailors start their tour of Manhattan on the subway, where one of them is smitten by the poster image of“ Miss Turnstiles,” the subway’ s girl of the month. The three decide to go on a search for her.“ With the other two sailors picking off girls en route, On the Town sings and dances, joshes and handsprings its way from Central Park to the Museum of Natural History, from Carnegie Hall to Times Square, from a flock of night spots to Coney Island.”
Drawing on the show’ s ballet music, Bernstein created the concert suite we’ ll hear tonight. Its three movements blend the high-octane energy of jazz with the gift for writing slow romantic music that Bernstein would later display in West Side Story. A prominent trombone gives a jazz edge to“ The Great Lover Displays Himself,” as the sailor Gabey dances a dream fantasy with Miss Turnstiles. The moody“ Lonely Town: Pas de Deux” draws on the show’ s wistful ballad of that name, while“ Times Square: 1944” is an extended fantasia on the show’ s most famous song,“ New York, New York”( with which this concert began).
Instrumentation: Flute and piccolo, oboe and English horn, three clarinets including E-flat and bass, alto saxophone, two horns, three trumpets, three trombones, timpani, percussion, piano and strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, © 2018
14 OVERTURE / BSOmusic. org