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Bernstein: Jewish Legacy (A)

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Program Notes ISRAELITE CHORUS, from incidental music to The Firstborn Premiere recording Premiere: April 29, 1958, New York City The Firstborn, a verse...

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Program Notes

ISRAELITE CHORUS, from incidental music to The Firstborn Premiere recording

Premiere: April 29, 1958, New York City

The Firstborn, a verse drama by Christopher Fry, was produced by Roger Stevens in conjunction with the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, in tribute to the state of Israel's tenth anniversary. The first public hearing of this choral work was given at an American Jewish Congress fund-raising dinner at the Essex House in New York City on April 22, 1959. The music was on tape, which was how it was presented during its Broadway run and, later, In Israel. Sets were by Boris Aronson. (The world premiere of the play, with music by John Hotchkis, was in 1948 at the Edinburgh Festival) Fry's play is set in Egypt at the time of the Exodus account of the plagues visited by God upon the Egyptians, including the death of the firstborn Egyptian males, which finally induced the pharaoh to declare the release of the Israelite slaves. Among the distinguished cast were Anthony Quayle (who directed and also played the role of Moses), Katharine Cornell, Torin Thatcher (as Seti, the pharaoh), Mildred Natwick, and Michael Wager, a close friend of the composer's who persuaded Bernstein to write the music in the first place. In addition to the choral number, there was a solo song by the pharaoh's daughter with lute accompaniment: "Teusret's Song," words by Fry, sung live by Kathleen Widdoes. The Israelite Chorus, based on incidents described in Exodus 12, is marked "allegro ruvido" (rude, noisy), which describes the piece precisely, with its choral canonic imitations in an Israeli hora-like dance rhythm, shofar-like horn calls, three sets of wild hand-drum rhythms, and a screaming clarinet at the end--a whoop of joy anticipating the freedom that lies ahead for the Hebrew slaves.

INVOCATION AND TRANCE, from Dybbuk

Premiere recording of the piano-vocal version

Premiere (orchestral version): May18, 1974

New York City

Conducted by the composer:

choreography by Jerome Robbins

For rehearsals of a ballet, a short score or piano reduction is required of the composer--sometimes, as in this case, reduced from full orchestra to two pianos, not necessarily intended for concert performance. This piece, however, is equally effective in both full orchestral dress and the simpler dual keyboard format. Based on the famous Yiddish play The Dybbuk, by S. Anski (Shloyme Zanvi Rappaport), Bernstein's ballet version uses Hebrew tents selected by the composer. They are sung intermittently throughout the ballet by a tenor-baritone duo representing the voices of the two shtetl (eastern European market town) communities of Brinnits and Miropolye, in the Pale of Settlement (the area in which Jews were permitted to live) within the Czarist Empire at the turn of the 20th century. Tents used in the ballet are taken from the Bible--the oath of allegiance between David and Jonathan; Song of Songs; and the curse found in Deuteronomy (27:22): and from Kaddish, the established Jewish doxology extolling God's greatness. The excerpt recorded here opens the ballet. The tent is from the havdala (distinction) ritual that concludes the Sabbath--a bittersweet ceremony in its farewell to the peace and restfulness of the day. There is a musical reference in this opening scene to a late- folksong, Di alte kashe (the perennial question about meaning, to which the only answer is "tra di ri di ram."

PSALM 148 (1935)

Words adapted by the composer

Premiere recording: not previously performed in public

There was considerable consideration given as to whether to include Bernstein's early composition on this recording, as it gives no indication of his eventual compositional style.

Yet it does reveal the musical environment to which he was exposed as a youngster in his family's congregation--specifically the music of Solomon Braslavsky.

In 1962 Bernstein subsidized the publication of Braslavsky's setting of one of the central prayers of the High Holy Day liturgy, Un'tane tokef, in appreciation of the man who had meant so much to him in his youth. We hear some of that Braslavsky influence in this Psalm setting, which in turn refers to Weber, Mendelssohn, and other Romantic composers. The work begins with grave chords, a la Handel, but with Wagnerian harmonies. There is even a hint of Mahler in the Allegro agitato section. The manuscript is dated September 5, 1935. Bernstein rediscovered the piece in the mid-1980s and even though he recognized its Victorian excesses as well as its schoolboyish weaknesses, he expressed an affection for its innocent sweetness.

RINA (1947)

Premiere recording of the choral version

This piece, in a different version, appeared on Jewish Holiday Dances and tongs (Von), a 78-rpm recording produced by Corrine Chochem, which also included settings by Milhaud, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Diamond, Eisler, Toch, Trude Rintman (who later arranged Bernstein's music for Peter Pan), Wolpe, and Kosakoff, and was conducted by Max Goberman, who subsequently conducted the original production of West Side Story. No score survives. The version presented here was transcribed from the original recording, but choral forces have been substituted where the original scoring included strings. The tune is known according to the lyrics--yesh lanu mayim, mayim b'sason (We have water, water with joy!)--an expression of thanksgiving by early halutzim--the pioneering Jewish settlers in Palestine.

THREE WEDDING DANCES, from Bridal Suite (1960)

Premiere recording

These dances are excerpted from a pi�ce d'occasion written for songwriter-lyricist Adolph Green and actress- comedienne Phyllis Newman upon their marriage. The suite, "in 2 parts with 3 encores," was intended to be played side by side by the Greens, Bernstein's friends and theater colleagues. Part I opens with piano secundo playing Bach's C-Major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier, while piano primo simultaneously plays "Just in Time" from the Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne score for Bells Are Ringing. Part II, comprising the three dances, is subtitled Belt Book, and Rabbi (pare John Van Druten). The three dances comprise The First Waltz (Canon) in which "he leads" and "she follows." Nine bars later the order is reversed, and then, five bars after that, the theme is marked "Who is this third voice?" No.2 is a cha-cha-cha, and No. 3 is a hora (the popular Israeli dance) marked "Fast and Jewish."

Y'VAREKH'KHA

from Concerto for Orchestra

Premiere recording of the final section in the organ version

Premiere: December 15, 1996, New York City

Kurt Ollmann, baritone, with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by the composer

Originally conceived as Opening Prayer, a work written to inaugurate the newly renovated Carnegie Hall, this piece is now the concluding fourth movement--known as Benediction--of Bernstein's Concerto for Orchestra (Jubilee Games). This is certainly consistent with the tent--the threefold priestly benediction (Numbers 6:24-26), part of the conclusion of the liturgy for traditional morning services. The free-floating vocal line and the serenity of the organ's sustained harmonic structure (an F-sharp mi nor triad against an F-sharp major triad, underpinned by a pitch of D natural) present a counterbalance to the agitated aural environment of Bernstein's setting of Vayomer elohim, also included on this recording.

HALIL (Flute): Nocturne for Flute, Percussion and Piano

Premiere recording of the chamber version

Premiere (orchestral version): May 27, l981

Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute, with the Israel Philharmonic

Orchestra, conducted by the composer

The composer's program note says, "This work is dedicated Spirit of Yadin and to His Fallen Brothers.' The reference is to Yadin Tannenbaum, a nineteen-year-old Israeli who, in 1973, at the height of his musical powers, led in his tank in the Sinai." Bernstein was reluctant to reveal that the pyrotechnical cadenza section depicted the slaughter of the Israeli soldier, but critics were quick to note this programmatic aspect of the work. As with many composers, Bernstein recycled musical materials when they suited his needs. Halil, for example, uses rejected material from his Dybbuk and from music written for the fiftieth anniversary of the CBS network.

But it is all organic, and as in notes, the work is "like much of my music in its struggle between tonal and non-tonal forces. In this case, that struggle as involving wars and the threat of wars, the overwhelming desire to live, and the consolation of art, love and the hope for peace. It is a kind of night-music which, from its opening 12-tone row to its ambiguously final cadence, is an on-going conflict of nocturnal wish-dreams, nightmares, repose, sleeplessness, night-terrors and sleep itself, Death's twin brother I never knew Yadin Tannenbaum, but I know his spirit."

SIMHU NA (1947)

Premiere recording of the choral-piano version.

This is a setting of a well-known Hebrew song by Matityahu Weiner (words and music), which, like so many songs of the early idealistic adherents of the Zionist movement who came to Palestine to settle in and rebuild the land, has achieved folksong status. This arrangement was done for the Pacific Symphonetta and Chorus at the invitation of dancer Corrine Chochem for her album Four Horah Dances (Alco Records) and was conducted by film composer Victor Young. The original 78-rpm recording also included settings by Jewish composers Milhaud, Diamond, and Toch. The piano-choral transcription from that recording was realized in 1954. The sheet music indicates that this was accomplished by R.K., the initials of Reuven Kosakoff (1898-l987), a composer devoted to Jewish-related works. No original score survives.

AF MAYN KHASENE (At My Wedding),

from Arias and Barcarolles

Poem by Yankev-Yitskhok Segal

Premiere: May 9, 1988, New York City

Mordechai Kaston, baritone; the composer and Michael

Tilson Thomas, piano

Bernstein's choice of this Yiddish poem alludes, perhaps subconsciously, to his early conflict with his father over his career choice. Like the elders in the poem, Sam Bernstein was initially dubious about his son's musical aspirations. The poem's main appeal to the composer had to be its depiction of music's magical and youthful power to transform hidebound elders into frenzied enthusiasts. As it turned out, the father eventually embraced his son's music-making. Of particular interest is the composer's commentary in the piano parts. At the words nor a vunder

(what a wonder), the organlike piano parts are marked "pp, a vision." At a lebediker bronem (a living wellspring), the cadence is annotated with the word "amen." At un dos fidele hot gekusht (and the little fiddle kissed), piano primo is marked "fiddly" against piano secundo's descriptive "waltzer," while the last bar carries the indication "ff frantic."

VAYOMER ELDHOM (ca. 1989)

Premiere recording; not previously performed in public

This setting was found posthumously among Bernstein's papers in a folder marked "1989," but the musical atmosphere suggests his style in Dybbuk (1974). Only ten bars long, this rumination on the mystery of creation is, by extension, a tone painting of artistic creativity, suggesting something formed out of nothingness.

YIGDAL (1949)

Premiere recording

In 1950, an important anthology of Jewish songs, The Songs We Sing, was published by the United Synagogue of America (the lay umbrella organization of the Conservative movement). The collection was compiled and edited by Harry Coopersmith, an influential Jewish music educator and music director of the Board of Jewish Education in New York City. Bernstein's setting, as a round, of an excerpt from this well-known hymn appears in section 3, entitled "Favorite Songs--Old and New." Some instrumental touches have been added for this recording to augment the accompaniment.

FOUR SABBRAS (ca. 1950)

The sabra is a cactus-type plant with tough thorns on the outside and sweet flesh inside. In common usage, it is applied to native-born Israelis. The sabras in this piece are: 1) Ilana, the Dreamer; 2) Idele, the Hassidele (little Jew, the little Hassid); 3) Yosi, the Jokester; and 4) Dina, the Tomboy Who Weeps Alone.

On the cover page of the original manuscript, the title is given as Six Sabras, with an indication of two possible additions--a kibbutznik (member of a collective agricultural settlement) and an [Israeli)] boy scout, without names--but these two pieces were not composed. Some detective work has been necessary in order to determine even the approximate date of composition. The title page is stamped ISRAELI MUSIC PUBLICATIONS (IMP), suggesting that the piece might have been requested by that publisher--possibly as a set of children's piano pieces-- or, conversely, that it was simply a handy piece of paper found by Bernstein when he was conducting in Israel in 1948. He was there again in 1950, briefly in 1953, and then not until 1957. In any case, it can be established that these vignettes were written prior to 1956, since Ilana, the first portrait, became "Candide's Lament" in Bernstein's celebrated score for Candide. (It was also known as a piano piece written for an anniversary occasion for a friend, Cesarina Riso.) No.2, Idele, recalls Mussorgsky's Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle, from Pictures at an Exhibition. Bernstein's version of Samuel Goldenberg

is a rav--a rabbinical-type teacher who Talmudically intones lessons to Bernstein's version of Schmuyle--known as Idele (Yudel, the name of Bernstein's paternal grandfather). Idele is otherwise distracted--i.e., the pianist's right hand--while the rav continues to drone on in the left hand. No. 3, Yosi, may refer to a friend of Bernstein's, Yossi Stern, an Israeli artist known for his incisive cartoons. The rhythms are reminiscent of the "jump" sequence from West Side Story's "Dance at the Gym." The middle lento section of No. 4, Dina, found a later echo in the score for On the Warerfront.

SILHOUETTE (Galilee) (1951)

Words by Bernstein

Premiere: February 13, 1955, Washington, D.C.

Katherine Hanse, soprano; Evelyn Swarthout, piano

Bernstein wrote this piece in honor of the forty-first birth day of his friend mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel.

The song incorporates an old Lebanese folksong, the Arabic words of which are paraphrased in the lyrics: "The boys in the dark olive groves assemble." Bernstein can be heard singing this tune in the 1967 film Journey to Jerusalem.

HASHKIVENU (1945)

Premiere recording

The liturgical text hashkivenu

is recited at all evening services, with some text variation between the weekday recitation and that on Sabbaths and other holy days. The version here is for Sabbath eve, and Bernstein's three-part division in the music is dictated by the test's structure. The words are meditative in the first and third sections, and vociferously dramatic is the middle. The outer parts concern the hoped-for mood of peace upon retiring for the evening--the first in the form of an invocation, the second as a benediction. These have been set with the same simple expressive melody, almost a plainchant in the Phrygian mode, and stated as a twofold canon. Despite the contrapuntal texture, this creates a stasis, resulting in a heterophony that symbolically mirrors the stability of peace.

Although the arch (middle) section is rhythmically vigorous, the harmonic content remains relatively static. The tripartite formal division establishes the contrast between outer and inner designs. Within the adagio phrases on either end, supporting pillars to the architectural plan, each of the three sections is further subdivided into three sections, delineated by tempo markings. This setting was commissioned by Cantor David Putterman for the annual service of new music at New York's Park Avenue Synagogue, where it was premiered in 1945 by Cantor Putterman with the expanded synagogue choir conducted by Max Helfman and Isidor Geller as organist. As part of a letter to his secretary, Helen Coates, dated March 3, 1945, Bernstein wrote a poem entitled: "On Not Having an Idea in My Head for a Setting of Hashkiveinu!"

Oh deign, foolish Muse

To sit upon my shoulder,

I've got to sing a Blues

Ere I am one week older.

The trouble of the Jews

In my dear guts does smolder

But spark is the fuse:

My writing arm grows colder

I ask not stupid Muse,

For a Tristan and Isolde,

Just a small Berceuse--

But ere I'm one week older!!!

Evidently the composer was answered by his Muse, since the work was premiered ten weeks later

--Jack Gottlieb

Disc 1

Israelite Chorus

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Conducted by: Samuel Adler
Recording date: May 1993

The Firstborn: Israelite Chorus - 1:56

Dybbuk

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Barry Snyder, piano
Jean Barr, piano
Patrick Gnage, baritone
Jason Smith, bass-baritone
Recording date: May 1993

Dybbuk: Invocation and Trance - 3:52

Psalm 148

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Barry Snyder, piano
Angelina Reaux, mezzo-soprano
Recording date: May 1993

Psalm 148 - 4:29

Reena

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Conducted by: Samuel Adler
Recording date: May 1993

Reenah - 1:41

Bridal Suite: Three Wedding Dances

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Barry Snyder, piano
Jean Barr, piano
Recording date: May 1993

The First Waltz (Canon) - 0:56
Cha-cha-cha - 0:37
Hora - 0:36

Yevarechecha

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Aaron Miller, organ
Michael Sokol, baritone
Recording date: May 1993

Yevarechecha - 1:41

Halil (arr. for flute and piano)

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Barry Snyder, piano
Bonita Boyd, flute
Recording date: May 1993

Halil - 14:59

Simch Na

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Conducted by: Samuel Adler
Barry Snyder, piano
Recording date: May 1993

Simchu Na - 2:38

Arias and Barcarolles

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Barry Snyder, piano
Jean Barr, piano
Michael Sokol, baritone
Recording date: May 1993

Arias and Barcarolles: Oif Mayn Khas'ne - 5:14

Vayomer Elohim

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Barry Snyder, piano
Howard M. Stahl, cantor
Recording date: May 1993

Vayomer Elohim - 1:15

Yigdal

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Conducted by: Samuel Adler
Recording date: May 1993

Yigdal - 1:24

4 Sabras

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein Jack Gottlieb
Recording date: May 1993

Ilana, the Dreamer - 1:38
Idele, the Chassidele - 2:09
Yosi, the Jokester - 1:01
Dina, the Tomboy Who Weeps Alone - 1:28

Silhouette

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Barry Snyder, piano
Angelina Reaux, mezzo-soprano
Recording date: May 1993

Galilee: Silhouette - 2:08

Hashkivenu

(more info)

Composed by: Leonard Bernstein
Conducted by: Avner Ital
Hans Peter Blochwitz, tenor
Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ

Hashkiveinu - 5:05

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Composer(s):
Bernstein, Leonard; Gottlieb, Jack

Conductor(s):
Adler, Samuel; Ital, Avner

Artist(s):
Barr, Jean; Blochwitz, Hans Peter; Bowers-Broadbent, Christopher; Boyd, Bonita; Gnage, Patrick; Miller, Aaron; Reaux, Angelina; Smith, Jason; Snyder, Barry; Sokol, Michael; Stahl, Howard M.

Label: Naxos Milken Archives/American
UPC: 636943940723
Item Number: 8559407
Release Date: Oct 1, 2003