''Chichester Psalms'' is an extended choral composition in three
movements
Movement may refer to:
Generic uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
* Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...
by
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...
for
boy treble or
countertenor
A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a ...
, choir and orchestra. The text was arranged by the composer from the
Book of Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of ...
in the original
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
. Part 1 uses
Psalms 100 and
108, Part 2 uses
2 and
23, and Part 3 uses
131 and
133.
Bernstein scored the work for a reduced orchestra, but also made a version for an even smaller ensemble of organ, one harp, and percussion.
The work premiered at the
Philharmonic Hall in New York City on 15 July 1965, conducted by the composer. That was followed by a performance at
Chichester Cathedral
Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of th ...
as part of the
Southern Cathedrals Festival, for which it was commissioned, on 31 July that year, conducted by
John Birch.
History
The work was commissioned for the 1965
Southern Cathedrals Festival at
Chichester Cathedral
Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of th ...
by the cathedral's Dean,
Walter Hussey.
However, the world premiere took place in the
Philharmonic Hall,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, on 15 July 1965 with the composer conducting, followed by the performance at Chichester on July 31, 1965, conducted by the cathedral's Organist and Master of the Choristers,
John Birch.
The first performance in London took place on 10 June 1966 in the Duke's Hall of the
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...
. Conducted by
Roy Wales and performed by the London Academic Orchestra and London Student Chorale, it was paired with Britten's ''
Cantata academica''.
''Chichester Psalms'' was Bernstein's first composition after his 1963
Third Symphony (''Kaddish''). These two works are his two most overtly Jewish compositions. While both works have a chorus singing texts in Hebrew, the ''Kaddish'' Symphony has been described as a work often at the edge of despair, while ''Chichester Psalms'' is affirmative and serene at times.
On 24 November 2018, as the finale of the ''Bernstein in Chichester'' celebrations to mark the centenary of Bernstein's birth, the choirs of Chichester Cathedral,
Winchester Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". ''National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winches ...
and
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English architecture, ...
again joined forces to sing ''Chichester Psalms'' in Chichester Cathedral. They were accompanied by the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Marin Alsop, a former pupil of Bernstein.
The treble solo was sung by the Chichester Head Chorister, Jago Brazier. Alexander Bernstein, Bernstein's son, was in the audience, as he had been in 1965.
Text and music
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".
Introduction
Psalm 108 (verse 2 in the
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...
; verse 3 in Hebrew)
The introduction (presented in the score as part of movement one) begins gathering energy.
Word painting
Word painting, also known as tone painting or text painting, is the musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song's lyrics or story elements in programmatic music.
Historical development
Tone painting of word ...
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
A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...
'' 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.
First movement
Psalm 100
The first movement is in a joyous meter, sung in a festive fashion, as is implored in the first verse of the psalm. Its last words, "Ki tov Adonai," recall the 7th interval presented as the main theme in the introduction. The music progresses in three asymmetrical beats, with the groupings shown by the composer as 2+2+3.
Second movement
The second movement begins with the Psalm of David set in a conventional meter () with a tranquil melody, sung by the boy treble (or countertenor), and repeated by the soprano voices in the chorus. This is abruptly interrupted by the orchestra and the low, rumbling sounds (again word painting) of the men's voices singing Psalm 2 (also notably featured in
Handel's ''Messiah''). This is gradually overpowered by the soprano voices (with the direction—at measure 102 in the vocal score only—"blissfully unaware of threat") with David serenely reaffirming the second portion of Psalm 23. However, the last measures of the movement contain notes which recall the interrupting section, symbolizing mankind's unending struggle with conflict and faith.
The music for the beginning of the second movement is taken from sketches from Bernstein's unfinished ''The Skin of Our Teeth''. The men's theme was adapted from material cut from
''West Side Story''.
Third movement
Psalm 131
The third movement begins with a conflicted and busy instrumental prelude which recapitulates the chords and melody from the introduction, then suddenly it breaks into the gentle chorale set in a rolling meter (subdivided as ) which recalls desert palms swaying in the breeze.
Finale
Psalm 133, vs. 1
The finale comes in from the third movement without interruption. The principal motifs from the introduction return here to unify the work and create a sense of returning to the beginning, but here the motifs are sung pianississimo and greatly extended in length. Particularly luminous harmonies eventually give way to a unison note on the last syllable of the text—another example of word painting, since the final Hebrew word, Yaḥad, means "together" or, more precisely, "as one". This same note is that on which the choir then sings the Amen, while one muted trumpet plays the opening motif one last time and the orchestra, too, ends on a unison G, with a tiny hint of a
Picardy third
A Picardy third, (; ) also known as a Picardy cadence or Tierce de Picardie, is a major chord of the tonic (music), tonic at the end of a musical Musical form, section that is either musical mode, modal or in a minor scale, minor key. This is ach ...
.
Scoring
In the score, Bernstein notes that the soprano and alto parts were written "with boys' voices in mind," and that it is "possible but not preferable" to use women's voices instead. However, he states that the male alto solo "must not be sung by a woman," but either by a boy or a countertenor. This was to reinforce the liturgical meaning of the passage sung, perhaps to suggest that
Psalm 23, a "Psalm of David" from the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
. '' David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
himself.
The orchestra consists of 3
trumpets
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B o ...
in B, 3
trombone
The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...
s,
timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...
, a five-person
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
section, 2
harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...
s, and
strings.
A reduction written by the composer pared down the orchestral performance forces to
organ
Organ and organs may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function
* Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body.
Musical instruments
...
, one harp, and percussion.
Music
The ''Psalms'', and the first movement in particular, are noted for the difficulty they pose for the performers. For example, the opening is difficult for the tenors, owing to the unusually wide vocal range, rhythmic complexity, and the consistent presence of strange and difficult-to-maintain parallel 7ths between the tenor and bass parts. The interval of a seventh figures prominently throughout the piece because of its numerological importance in the Judeo-Christian tradition; the first movement is written in the unusual meter.
''Chichester Psalms'' significantly features the harp; the full orchestral version requires two intricate harp parts. Bernstein completed the harp parts before composing the accompanying orchestral and choral parts, thus granting the harpists a pivotal role in realizing the music. In rehearsals, he is noted to have requested that the harpists play through the piece before the rest of the orchestra to emphasize the importance of the harps' role.
Publication and recordings
''Chichester Psalms'' was published in 1965 by
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...
.
''Chichester Psalms'' was recorded in the 1970s by the
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It was created by Henry VI of England, King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, to provide daily singing in his King's College Chapel, Cambridge, Chapel, ...
, in the version with only three instrumentalists. It was conducted by
Philip Ledger
Sir Philip Stevens Ledger, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE, FRSE (12 December 1937 – 18 November 2012) was an English classical musician, conducting, choirmaster and academic, best remembered as Director of the Choir of King' ...
with
James Bowman as the countertenor soloist. The instrumentalists were David Corkhill (percussion),
Osian Ellis
Osian Gwynn Ellis (8 February 1928 – 5 January 2021) was a Welsh harpist, composer and teacher. He was principal harpist of the London Symphony Orchestra, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble and a Professor of harp at the Royal Academ ...
(harp) and
James Lancelot (organ).
When
Richard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox (5 March 1948 – 23 November 2008) was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.
Early life and education
Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family. After attending ...
recorded the work in the 1980s, the composer gave his approval for the solo part to be sung by
Aled Jones, then a
treble.
A 2003 recording was performed by Thomas Kelly (treble) and the
Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by
Marin Alsop.
In 2018 another recording by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge was released, this time conducted by
Stephen Cleobury with George Hill as the treble soloist.
References
External links
*
*
Chichester Psalmsbernstein.classical.org
* Andrew McGregor
Bernstein Chichester Psalms ReviewBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
2003
* Susan Lewis
Why The Unusual Chichester Psalms is Quintessential Leonard Bernsteinwrti.org May 25, 2018
* Michael Slon
"Three Windows into Leonard Bernstein's ''Chichester Psalms''"''The Choral Journal'', December 2018
{{Italic title
Compositions by Leonard Bernstein
Choral compositions
1965 compositions
Psalm settings