BERNSTEIN: Chichester Psalms / On the Waterfront

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The orchestra consists of 3 trumpets in B ♭, 3 trombones, timpani, a five-person percussion section, 2 harps, and strings. [1] [7] A reduction written by the composer pared down the orchestral performance forces to organ, one harp, and percussion. The Church of England has witnessed recurrent strains of preoccupation with the ancient Temple rituals and with Hebraic antecedents of Christian liturgy. These considerations often provided perceived areas of common ground between the Church and its Judaic roots, which could offer a sense of historical underpinning as well as theological continuum and legitimacy. And there still remain the perceived, even if mythical and now more poetic than real, links to the biblical Davidic monarchical line of succession—manifested, for example, in the anointing rite at coronations. The Book of Psalms, however it might be interpreted artistically by a 20th-century Jewish composer who, in the case of Bernstein, might be expected to reflect some degree of Jewish sensibility in his work, represented—more so than any other liturgical or biblical text—just such common as well as neutral ground. Indeed, Dr. Hussey is reported to have told Bernstein that he was especially excited that the Psalms “came into being at all as a statement of praise that is ecumenical.” The first performance in London took place on 10 June 1966 in the Duke's Hall of the Royal Academy of Music. Conducted by Roy Wales and performed by the London Academic Orchestra and London Student Chorale, it was paired with Britten's Cantata academica. It was published in 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes. [1] In 1965, the Dean of Chichester Cathedral, the Very Reverend Dr. Walter Hussey, commissioned Bernstein to compose a work based on the Psalms for that summer’s Southern Cathedrals Festival. Dr. Hussey, who has been called “the last great patron of art in the Church of England,” was well known as a visionary and enlightened champion of the arts in general. First in his capacity as Vicar of St. Matthew’s Church, in Northampton, and then as the Dean of Chichester, he also commissioned works for the Church by such serious composers, painters, sculptors, and poets as Benjamin Britten, William Walton, Marc Chagall, W. H. Auden, Graham Sutherland, and Henry Moore. As he later recalled, the seed for Dr. Hussey’s approach to Bernstein had been planted in his imagination the previous year by the Cathedral’s organist and choirmaster, John Birch, who had recommended inviting a composer to write a choral piece for the Festival in a “slightly popular” yet still manifestly artistic style. That almost immediately prompted Dr. Hussey to think of the composer of West Side Story, whom he had met only briefly in New York in the early 1960s; John Birch concurred. 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 ]

The next song is in Yiddish. ' Oif mayn Khas'neh' ('At my wedding') is a surreal and disturbing song about an enigmatic fiddler at a Jewish wedding. The guests do not know what to make of him and the sad old primitive music he plays. Bernstein's setting is raw and dissonant, and a Jewish cantorial passage in the middle of the song seems to sum up the emotion. The passion that inspires love can also be disturbing, even destructive. The song ends with a climactic prayer from the old folk: 'Have mercy!'After the June 23rd concert by Orchestra Sinfonica de Roma, the Harvard Glee Club and the Newark Boys Chorus, the Pope blessed the musicians, and thanked Bernstein, saying: “ Ecco un Americano che vien a dare lezione musicale a noi della vecchia Europa. (Behold an American who has come to give music lessons to us of the old Europe.)” Hear Chichester Psalms Today On the 45th anniversary of this historic concert, we’re delving into the music — and memories of Chichester Psalms. a b Fishbein, Joshua Henry (2014). "Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms / An Analysis and Companion Piece". escholarship.org . Retrieved October 15, 2018. This year, to celebrate Leonard Bernstein's centenary, the Chichester Psalms will once again be performed in the Cathedral on Saturday 24th November. This performance promises to be a major highlight of the year's celebrations.

Susan Lewis: Why The Unusual Chichester Psalms is Quintessential Leonard Bernstein wrti.org May 25, 2018 a b Roberts, Stephen (May 22, 2012). "John Birch obituary". The Guardian . Retrieved October 14, 2021. The orchestra were looking for a piece to help them celebrate their centennial, and Bernstein accepted. The composer had a long-term sentimental connection to the city, having grown up and attended university there, made his directorial debut at the Tanglewood Music Center, and conducted more then 130 concerts with the orchestra itself. Chichester Psalms juxtaposes vocal part writing most commonly associated with Church music (including homophony and imitation), with the Judaic liturgical tradition. As Head Chorister in 1965, David Gibson had the honour of being chosen as the soloist for the performance. When asked if he was nervous he said, 'When you are that young, you just take it in your stride.' He remembered seeing Bernstein at the performance and described him as ' Wearing a gaberdine mac with the collar turned up, he looked very stylish, very romantic.'

By combining the Hebrew with Christian choral tradition, Bernstein was implicitly issuing a plea for peace in Israel during a turbulent time in the young country’s history. The orchestration of Chichester Psalms calls for six brass (three trumpets and three trombones), two harps, a large percussion section, and strings. The original conception or “version”—in which form the work was given its premiere at Chichester Cathedral at the end of July 1965—is for a chorus exclusively of men and boys, with the boys’ voices on the soprano and alto lines. (This follows the German, or continental European choral tradition, rather than the established English Church format that calls typically for boys only on the soprano line with adult countertenors on the alto part.) Two weeks earlier, however, Bernstein conducted the actual world premiere at New York’s Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall), with the New York Philharmonic and the Camerata Singers—a mixed choir with women’s voices substituting for boys on the soprano and alto parts. Performances since then have been given in both formats. But Bernstein stipulated in a note to the published score that the long alto solo in the second movement, which is unsuited to the timbre of the female—and certainly an adult female—voice, must always be sung either by a boy (which is generally preferable) or a countertenor. The introduction (presented in the score as part of movement one) begins gathering energy. Word painting is used in that the dissonant sevenths present in every chord sound like clanging bells, indicating that we are being told to awaken in a deep and profound way. In the first measure, Bernstein also introduces a leitmotif in the soprano and alto parts consisting of a descending perfect fourth, ascending minor seventh, and descending perfect fifth. The motif is also found with the seventh inverted as a descending major second. It conjures up images of tuning the harp and psaltery (especially the use of perfect fourths and fifths). This leitmotif is found elsewhere in the work, including the end of the first movement ("Ki tov Adonai," m. 109–116), the third movement prelude, and in the soprano part of the final a cappella section of movement three ("Hineh mah tov," m.60), with a haunting reintroduction of the material in the harp on unison G's during the "Amen" of m. 64.

Commissioned by the Very Rev. Walter Hussey, Dean of Chichester Cathedral, Sussex, for its 1965 Festival, and dedicated, with gratitude, to Cyril Solomon”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. Chichester Psalms was commissioned for the 1965 annual choral festival at Chichester Cathedral, Sussex, UK. The world premiere took place on 15 July, 1965, at the Philharmonic Hall, New York, with the composer conducting. He subsequently attended the first performance of the original version for all-male choir on 31 July, 1965, at Chichester.