The Leonard Bernstein Letters (104 page)

Dedication: For Adolph Green

Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy
(by January 1961)
(i)
n79,
(ii)
n81

First performance: 19 January 1961, Washington, D.C., National Guard Armory, Inaugural Gala, orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (cond.)

A reworking of “This Turf is Ours”, a cut song from
West Side Story

Orchestration by Sid Ramin

Firstborn, The
, incidental music (1958; incid. music for play by Christopher Fry)
(i)

First performance: 30 April 1958, New York, Coronet Theatre

Halil, Nocturne for Solo Flute with Piccolo, Alto Flute, Harp and Strings
(1981)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)

First performance: 27 May 1981, Jerusalem, Sultan's Pool, Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute), Israel PO, Leonard Bernstein (cond.)

First US performance: 4 July 1981, Tanglewood, Doriot Anthony Dwyer (flute), Boston SO, Leonard Bernstein (cond.)

Dedication: To the Spirit of Yadin [Tannenbaum], and to his Fallen Brothers

Partly derived from the
CBS 50th Anniversary Music
composed in October 1977

I Hate Music: A Cycle of 5 Kid Songs
(by 14 March 1943;
see
Letter 133)
(i)
n57,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

First performance: 24 August 1943, Lenox, MA, Town Hall, Jennie Tourel (mezzo-sop.), Leonard Bernstein (pf)

Dedication: For Edys [Merrill]

Jeremiah
.
See Symphony No.
(i)

Kaddish
.
See Symphony No.
(i)

Lark, The
(1955; incid. music for play by Jean Anouilh adapted by Lillian Hellman)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
n74

First performance: 28 October 1955, Boston, Plymouth Theatre, Russell Oberlin (counter-ten.), members of New York Pro Music Antique, Noah Greenberg (dir.)

First New York performance: 17 November 1955, Longacre Theatre, cast as above

Music from
The Lark
was later reworked as the
Missa brevis

Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers
(1970–1; additional texts by Stephen Schwartz and Leonard Bernstein) 70 n104, 268 n3, 301, 502, 503
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
n55,
(viii)
,
(ix)
,
(x)

First performance: 8 September 1971, Washington, D.C., Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, cast incl. Alan Titus (Celebrant), Norman Scribner Choir, Berkshire Boy Choir, Maurice Peress (cond.)

Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, Hershy Kay and Bernstein

Dedication (added after the first publication of the piano-vocal score): For Roger L. Stevens

Missa brevis
(1988)
(i)
n24

First performance: 21 April 1988, Atlanta, GA, Symphony Hall, Derek Lee Ragin (counter-ten.), Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Robert Shaw (cond.)

Dedication: For Robert Shaw

Derived from music for
The Lark
, 1955

Nicest Time of Year, The
(by 12 July 1943,
see
Letter 148)
(i)

Probably unperformed at the time. The melody used the following year for “Lucky To Be Me” in
On The Town

On the Town
(1944; book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, on an idea by Jerome Robbins)
(i)
,
(ii)
n43,
(iii)
n60,
(iv)
n75,
(v)
n104,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)
,
(ix)
,
(x)
,
(xi)
,
(xii)
n9,
(xiii)
,
(xiv)
,
(xv)
n90,
(xvi)
n173,
(xvii)
,
(xviii)
,
(xix)
,
(xx)
,
(xxi)
,
(xxii)
n61,
(xxiii)
n128,
(xxiv)
,
(xxv)
,
(xxvi)
,
(xxvii)

First performance: 13 December 1944, Boston, Colonial Theatre, cast incl. Betty Comden (Claire DeLoone), Nancy Walker (Hildy Esterhazy), Sono Osato (Ivy Smith), Adolph Green (Ozzie), Cris Alexander (Chip), John Battles (Gabey); Jerome Robbins (choreo.), George Abbott (dir.), Max Goberman (cond.)

First New York Performance: 28 December 1944, Adelphi Theatre, cast as above

Orchestrations by Bernstein and Hershy Kay, Don Walker, Elliott Jacoby and Ted Royal

Dedication: none, but the
Three Dance Episodes from “On the Town”
are dedicated to Sono Osato (I), Betty Comden (II) and Nancy Walker (III)

On the Waterfront
(1954; film score)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)

Sound recording: 25–8 April 1954, Hollywood, CA, Columbia Pictures Studio, North Gower Street, orchestra, Morris Stoloff (cond.), supervised by Leonard Bernstein

Bernstein also played the piano for part of this recording: he performed the solo in saloon scene, approx. 37 minutes into the film (the manuscript of the music for this scene is headed “4C - Juke Box”)

Peace, The
(1941, incid. music for play by Aristophanes)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

First Performance: 23 May 1941, Cambridge, MA, Sanders Theatre, Harvard Student Union Theatre, Robert Nichols (dir.), Leonard Bernstein (cond.)

Peter Pan
(1950, incid. music for play by J.M. Barrie)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)
,
(ix)
,
(x)
,
(xi)
,
(xii)
,
(xiii)

First performance: 24 April 1950, New York, Imperial Theatre, cast incl. Jean Arthur (Peter Pan) and Boris Karloff (Captain Hook); John Burrell (dir.), Trude Rittmann (music coordinator), Ben Steinberg (cond.)

Orchestrations by Hershy Kay

Piano Trio
(1937)
(i)
n18

First performance: 1937, Madison Trio: Mildred Spiegel (piano), Dorothy Rosenberg (violin), Sarah Kruskall (cello)

Later performance: 1939?, Harvard University, Paine Hall, Raphael Silverman [Hillyer] (violin), Jesse Ehrlich (cello), Mildred Spiegel (piano) [according to Raphael Hillyer]

Dedication: For the Madison Trio: M.S., D.R., S.K.

On the last page of the autograph score, Bernstein has written “Revised Apr. 1937”; Bernstein's movement listing on the inside front cover of this manuscript calls the work “Pianoforte Trio, op. 2”, as do the autograph parts

Quiet Place, A
(1983, rev. 1984; libretto by Stephen Wadsworth)
(i)
n46,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
n4,
(v)

First performance of original version (in one act; the second work on a double bill with
Trouble in Tahiti
): 17 June 1983, Houston Grand Opera, John DeMain (cond.)

First performance of the revised version (in three acts, incorporating
Trouble in Tahiti
): 19 June 1984, La Scala, Milan, John Mauceri (cond.)

First U.S. performance of the revised version: 22 July 1984, Washington, D.C., Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, John Mauceri (cond.)

Riobamba, The
(1942)
(i)
,
(ii)
n80

First performance: 10 December 1942, New York, Riobamba Club, 151 East 57th Street (
see
Letter 115), possibly Jane Froman (singer), who headed the bill on the club's opening night

Derived from music in
Conch Town
and later reworked as the “Danzón” in
Fancy Free

Serenade
(1947–8; 1955)
(i)
;
(i)
,
(ii)

Planned musical setting of James M. Cain's
Serenade
, not composed

Serenade after Plato's Symposium
(1954)
(i)
,
(ii)
n83,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)
,
(ix)

First performance: 9 September 1954, Venice, Teatro La Fenice, Isaac Stern (violin), Israel PO, Bernstein (cond.)

First US performance: 15 April 1955, Boston, Symphony Hall, Isaac Stern (violin), Boston SO, Charles Munch (cond.)

Dedication: To the Beloved Memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky

Seven Anniversaries
(1942–3; completed by February 1943)
(i)
n59,
(ii)
n110,
(iii)
n65,
(iv)
n75,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)

First broadcast performance (as
Six Pieces
and
Dedication to Aaron Copland
): 21 February 1943, New York, WNYC, 6:30–7:00 p.m. (
see
Letter 125), Bernstein (pf)

First known public performance: 14 May 1944, Boston, Opera House, Bernstein (pf)

Dedications: I. For Aaron Copland; II. For My Sister, Shirley; III. In Memoriam: Alfred Eisner; IV. For Paul Bowles; V. In Memoriam: Natalie Koussevitzky; VI. For Sergei Koussevitzky; VII. For William Schuman

Six Pieces
.
See Seven Anniversaries

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
(1976; book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner)

First performance: 26 February 1976, Philadelphia, PA, Forrest Theatre, Ken Howard (President), Patricia Routledge (President's Wife), Gilbert Price (Lud); Donald McKayle (choreo.), Frank Corsaro (dir.), Roland Gagnon (cond.)

First New York performance: 4 May 1976, Mark Hellinger Theatre, cast as above; Gilbert Moses and George Faison (choreo. and dir.), Roland Gagnon (cond.)

Orchestrations by Sid Ramin and Hershy Kay

Skin of Our Teeth, The
(1964–5)
(i)
,
(ii)
n31,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

Planned musical, not completed. Two numbers (“Here Comes The Sun” and “Spring Will Come Again”) were reworked for
Chichester Psalms

Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
(1941–2)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
n38,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)
,
(ix)
n76,
(x)
,
(xi)
,
(xii)
,
(xiii)
,
(xiv)
,
(xv)
,
(xvi)
,
(xvii)
,
(xviii)
,
(xix)
,
(xx)
,
(xxi)
n144,
(xxii)
,
(xxiii)
n157,
(xxiv)
n48,
(xxv)
n159,
(xxvi)
,
(xxvii)
,
(xxviii)

First performance: 21 April 1942, Boston, Institute of Modern Art, David Glazer (clarinet), Bernstein (pf)

First broadcast performance: New York, WNYC, 21 February 1943, 6:30–7:00 p.m. (
see
Letter 125), David Oppenheim (clarinet), Bernstein (pf)

First New York public performance: 14 March 1943, New York Public Library, League of Composers Concert, David Oppenheim (clarinet), Bernstein (pf)

Dedication: For David Oppenheim

Sonata for Violin and Piano
(by August 1940;
see
Letter 58)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)

First performance: 1940, Cambridge, MA, Raphael Silverman [Hillyer] (violin), Leonard Bernstein (piano)

Dedication: For Raphael Silverman [Hillyer]

Songfest
(1977)
(i)
,
(ii)

First performance: 11 October 1977, Washington, D.C., Kennedy Center, Clamma Dale (sop.), Rosalind Elias (mezzo-sop.), Nancy Williams (mezzo-sop.), Neil Rosenshein (ten.), John Reardon (bar.), Donald Gramm (bass-bar.), National SO, Bernstein (cond.)

Dedication: For my mother

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
(1960)
(i)
n72,
(ii)

First performance: 13 February 1961, Carnegie Hall, New York, New York PO, Lukas Foss (cond.)

Orchestrations by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal with Bernstein

Dedication: For Sid Ramin, in friendship

Symphonic Suite from “On the Waterfront”
(1955)
(i)
n79,
(ii)
,
(iii)

First performance: 11 August 1955, Tanglewood, MA, Boston SO, Leonard Bernstein (cond.)

Dedication: For my son, Alexander

Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah
(1939–43)
(i)
,
(ii)
n66,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
n52,
(vi)
,
(vii)
n138,
(viii)
,
(ix)
,
(x)
,
(xi)
,
(xii)
,
(xiii)
,
(xiv)
,
(xv)
,
(xvi)
,
(xvii)
,
(xviii)
,
(xix)
n77,
(xx)
n23,
(xxi)

First performance: 28 January 1944, Pittsburgh, Syria Mosque, Jennie Tourel (mezzo-sop.), Pittsburgh SO, Leonard Bernstein (cond.)

Dedication: For my father

Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety
(1945–9; rev. 1965)
(i)
n163,
(ii)
,
(iii)
n72,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
n111,
(vii)
,
(viii)
,
(ix)
,
(x)
n2,
(xi)
,
(xii)
,
(xiii)
,
(xiv)
,
(xv)
,
(xvi)
n90,
(xvii)
,
(xviii)
,
(xix)
n63

First performance of “Dirge” (only): 28 November 1948, Tel Aviv, Habima Hall, Gala Soirée in aid of the IPO Pension Fund, Leonard Bernstein (pf), Israel PO, George Singer (cond.)

First complete performance: 8 April 1949, Boston, Symphony Hall, Leonard Bernstein (pf), Boston SO, Serge Koussevitzky (cond.)

First New York performance: 23 February 1950, New York, Carnegie Hall, Lukas Foss (pf), New York PO, Leonard Bernstein (cond.)