Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 8

death, a death sentence imposed upon Candide and Dr. Pangloss by the Inquisition, the death of Pangloss, slavery, shipwreck, and poverty. Can- dide eventually renounces his teacher’s ideology and decides that the only way is “to make one’s own garden grow.” Times Square: 1944 from On the Town Scored for flute and piccolo, oboe, three B-flat clarinets, E-flat clarinet, and bass clarinet, alto saxophone, two horns, three trumpets, three trombones, timpani, suspended cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, triangle, trap set, wood block, xylophone, slide whistle, piano, and strings Not long after joining the New York Philhar- monic, Bernstein’s first musical comedy, On the Town , opened at the Adelphi Theatre in New York City on December 28, 1944. This stage work evolved very freely from his acclaimed ballet Fancy Free , produced seven months earlier. Their common elements include a wartime setting in New York and the antics of three sailors seeking love on shore. On the Town does not—contrary to a commonly held belief—share any music with Fancy Free . The composer insisted on the gifted team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green as lyricists. Work began in June 1944 with “con- cept” meetings, some taking place in a hospital room after Bernstein and Green both underwent minor surgery. Bernstein then left on a coast-to- coast summer conducting tour that included an appearance at Ravinia. From the beginning, On the Town adopted a more serious than usual ap- proach to musical comedy; Comden described its cohesive plot and motivically unified score in terms comparable to Richard Wagner’s Gesamt- kunstwerk (unified, or total, art work). The story celebrates the vibrant energy of New York City while portraying the emotional highs and lows of young men and women living in an anxiety-filled time of global conflict. Three seamen on a 24-hour leave wander the streets of this “helluva town” looking for amorous adventures. The naive Chip encounters the hard-edged taxi driver Brunnhilde Esterhazy, a.k.a. Hildy. Ozzie, hell-bent on a sexual liai- son, pairs up with the nymphomaniac anthro- pologist Claire de Loone (Comden and Green created these roles). The young romantic Gabey falls for the subway system’s “Miss Turnstiles” of the month—Ivy Smith—who is also a dancer at Coney Island. At the end of the day, the sailors leave their new loves behind, return to duty, and ship off to war. The rip-roaring Times Square: 1944 from Act I captures the lively, untamed spirit of the city. Bernstein dedicated this dance to one of his original On the Town leading ladies: Nancy Walker (Hildy). “A Simple Song” from Mass Scored for on- and off-stage flute, cymbals, snare drum, bass drum (trap set), vibraphone, acoustic guitar, two electric guitars, electric bass guitar, harp, big Allen organ, little Allen organ, strings, and solo voice Meditation No. 3 from Three Meditations from ‘Mass’ Scored for organ, piano, harp, vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, glockenspiel, suspended cymbals, triangle, tambourine, gourds, tam-tam, two snare drums, bass drum, three hand drums, strings, and solo cello Bernstein composed Mass , a “theater piece for singers, players, and dancers,” for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Perform- ing Arts in Washington, DC. The premiere took place on September 8, 1971, with more than 200 performers directed by Maurice Peress and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The decision to compose a work entitled Mass , the most cen- tral musical statement in Christian observance, provoked much controversy. Even Peress, Ber- nstein’s former assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic, questioned, “What’s a Jew- ish boy like you doing writing a mass?” The choice of Christian subject matter stirred enough hullabaloo, but Bernstein ignited a ver- itable firestorm with his approach to dramatiz- ing the venerable Latin text. Additional English lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (composer-lyricist of Godspell ) and a few verses contributed by the composer himself transformed the tradi- tional solemn worship setting into an antiwar, antichurch diatribe directed toward the Nixon administration as well as the God worshipped by the staunchly Catholic Kennedy family. Not surprisingly, the audience reacted with shock, horror, and outraged charges of sacrilege. Mass was Bernstein’s music exercise in ques- tioning authority, examining personal integrity, and—as in the case of Symphony No. 3 ( Kad- dish ), written eight years earlier—struggling bit- terly with matters of faith. As in Kaddish , faith is affirmed at the end after a tortured spiritual voyage. The Celebrant, whom Peress described as suffering a midlife crisis, bears more than a passing resemblance to the 53-year-old compos- er-conductor-pianist. The Celebrant’s personal journey begins in innocence after the opening “Kyrie eleison” with the guitar-accompanied “A Simple Song.” In his second week (October 11–14, 1977) as music director of the National Symphony Or- chestra, Mstislav Rostropovich programmed an all-Bernstein concert—with no fewer than three world premieres—during which the composer and cellist shared time on the podium. The con- cert opened with a “rousing new overture” enti- tled Slava! , a deliberate double-entendre on the Slavic word’s celebratory meaning and the nick- name of the music director. Rostropovich as- sumed the soloist role in the premiere of the or- chestrated Three Meditations from ‘Mass , ’ which Bernstein had arranged for cello and orchestra (expressly for the NSO and Rostropovich) and conducted himself at the end of the first half. The major new work, Songfest , occupied the second half, conducted by Bernstein. Lamentation from Symphony No. 1 ( Jeremiah ) Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, bass drum, snare drum, suspended cymbal, crash cymbals, wood block, piano, strings, and mezzo- soprano soloist Leonard Bernstein was still a relatively un- known musician when he composed his First Symphony, Jeremiah , in 1942. The young mu- sician learned of a composition competition chaired by his mentor, Serge Koussevitzky, and Bernstein felt reasonably optimistic about his chances, despite the December 31 submission deadline being literally days away. Brimming with energy, Bernstein sketched the first move- ment and a scherzo in 10 days. Running short Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green in rehearsal for On the Town Mstislav Rostropovich JULY 22 – JULY 28, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 109