Leonard Bernstein's Opening Prayer

1. What words stand out to you from the text, especially the highlighted section?

2. Have you heard these words before? What associations do you have with them? In what settings?

3. What is the tone of these words? Hopeful? Solemn? Joyful? Petitionary? Reverent?

Bernstein Conducts Bernstein - Opening Prayer (World Premiere) 1986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9xjLke3SP4

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 text—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 minor 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.

--Jack Gottlieb, https://www.milkenarchive.org/music/volumes/view/masterworks-of-prayer/work/yvarekhkha/

Excerpt from Leonard Bernstein: Jewish America’s Favorite (Musical) Son

American audiences of all backgrounds swelled with pride as Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) became the first native son to overcome the European hegemony over conducting positions with ranking world orchestras. Bernstein was only 26 when he captured America’s heart–and respect–by stepping into the breach created by an ailing Bruno Walter and leading the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a critically acclaimed concert. The previously anony­mous, young assistant conductor was catapulted by that success into a career unprecedented in the history of Western music of any sort. Excelling in every venue he touched, Bernstein won praise as a conductor, pianist, teacher, and composer of a wide variety of musical forms.

Bernstein’s musical successes were as much a personal victory for him as they were a source of vicarious accomplishment for America. Bernstein had pursued his musical education over the strong objections of his father, who had urged him toward more conservative pursuits. Interestingly, despite (initially) frustrating his parents with his career choice, he did observe one important family tradition: The Jewish heritage that had been inculcated in him from his youth remained an important aspect of his personal and musical identity.

A year before his 1943 conducting debut, Bernstein completed his first symphony, though the work did not receive its premiere until 1944. At the conclusion of that season, the New York critics awarded Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 their highest accolade, pronouncing it the most impressive new work of the year. One wonders how the critics might have received the work if they had also appreciated its considerable Jewish musical content.

Bernstein subtitled his symphony “Jeremiah,” signaling his intent to tell the story of the prophet who had led Israel in the sixth century B.C.E.Jeremiah’s testimony is recorded in the biblical Book of Jeremiah, and in Lamentations, a series of five poetic odes written by Jeremiah as witness to the horrible destruction of the First Temple and the exile of the Jewish people into Babylonian slavery. The sym­phony’s three movements are labeled, not with the customary Italian titles announcing form or speed, but with the names of the three “chapters” in Jeremiah’s life: “Prophecy” (his own), “Profanation” (as the people rejected his message), and “Lamentation” (as the prophet’s warnings came true). The didactic intent of this symphony could have been satisfied with these programmatic titles, but Bernstein endowed each movement with unique Jewish musical significance as well…

Shortly after the premiere of the “Jeremiah” Symphony, Bernstein accepted a commission from the Park Avenue Synagogue to compose a setting of liturgy for the Sabbath service. His “Hashkivenu” for cantor, mixed chorus, and organ was completed in 1945. An impressive work–at times melodious and haunting, at other times dramatic and demanding–it is Bernstein’s only work “for the synagogue.” Since its premiere, its rare performances have been primarily on the concert stage. “Hashkivenu” was also the last “Jewish” work Bernstein wrote for many years.

-- Marsha B. Edelman, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/leonard-bernstein-jewish-americas-favorite-musical-son/

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