WAR & PEACEIN THE PSALMS?

Jeremiah Selvey

Music 185

February 28, 2012

University of Washington

FOUR QUESTIONS

What is a choir?

Which parts sing in a choir?

What is “tonal music”?

What is a “premiere” in music?

WHAT IS A CHOIR?

Group of singers who strive to create an

“orchestra” of voices

Usually led by a conductor

Most choristers in the U.S. are amateurs.

CHICHESTER PSALMSBACKGROUND

Texts from the Hebrew Psalter

For choir, orchestra, boy soprano

By Leonard Berstein (Jewish; Broadway composer)

Composed in 1965 for Chichester Cathedral

WHAT IS “TONAL MUSIC”?

Music that uses the common practice and construct

of 18th- and 19th- century melody and harmony.

A single tone or pitch is considered to be “home”

and serves as the “base” for the scales on which the

harmony and melody are based.

Generally returns back “home.” (Bach, Beethoven,

Brahms, Debussy)

SOUNDSCAPE OF 1960’S

Expanding to more colorful explorations of

composition

Led to three primary schools in the early 20th

century.• Traditional / Tonal (Stravinsky, Bartòk, Milhaud,

Poulenc)• Serial – dissolution of tonal construct; mathematical

construction of melody and harmony (SchoenbergBoulez, Webern)

• Avant-Garde – use of experimental techniques; re-creating defintions of music, etc. (Cowell, Varese, Cage)

Fresh thinking appreciate, but not a warm

audience response.

BERNSTEIN’S APPROACH

Conducted many of these contemporary works with

the New York Philharmonic

Wrote Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish” in the

experimental style

Rejected the avant-garde techniques for

Chichester Psalms

Use Broadway material as sources for Chichester

Pslams tonal style (a huge contrast to other

concert music of the 1960s)

COMMISSION & WORLD PREMIERE

Commission: contractual agreement between an

organization and a composer for a work intended for

performance by the organization; implies the rights

for that organization to premiere the work.

World premiere: the first performance of a

composition.

Chichester Cathedral did NOT get to premiere the

work.

WAR & PEACE?

Movement 1 – celebration & dancing

Movement 2 – calmness & then war; calmness during war

Movement 3 – struggle to find peace; peace found in the

“love duet”; final chorale

“How good and pleasant it is for people

to dwell together in unity.”