1. WAR & PEACE IN THE PSALMS? Jeremiah Selvey Music 185 February 28, 2012 University of Washington

2. FOUR QUESTIONS  What is a choir?  Which parts sing in a choir?  What is “tonal music”?  What is a “premiere” in music?

3. 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.

4. CHICHESTER PSALMS BACKGROUND  Texts from the Hebrew Psalter  For choir, orchestra, boy soprano  By Leonard Berstein (Jewish; Broadway composer)  Composed in 1965 for Chichester Cathedral

5. WHAT IS “TONAL MUSIC”?  Music that uses the common practice and construct of 18 th- and 19 th- 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)

6. SOUNDSCAPE OF 1960’S  Expanding to more colorful explorations of composition  Led to three primary schools in the early 20 th century. Traditional / Tonal (Stravinsky, Bartòk, Milhaud, Poulenc) Serial – dissolution of tonal construct; mathematical construction of melody and harmony (Schoenberg  Boulez, 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.

7. 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)

8. 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. 

9. 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.”