THE STORY BEHIND: Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story"

On March 17 & 18, conductor Tito Muñoz and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra will present WEST SIDE STORY with pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk.

Title: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Composer: Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Last time performed by the Rhode Island Philharmonic: Last performed November 14, 2015 with Larry Rachleff conducting. This piece is scored for two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, piccolo trumpet, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, alto saxophone, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta and strings.

The Story: Although there have been many modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, none has rivaled West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, produced on the Broadway stage in 1957. The show was superlative in terms of total quality, social impact, and sheer power of expression. For Montagues and Capulets, the libretto substituted rival teenage street gangs, one Anglo (“Jets”) and the other Hispanic (“Sharks”). The star-crossed lovers, Tony and Maria, were from the neighborhoods where the two gangs operated.
       
Modern dance and ballet were employed in new and effective ways. For example, the hostilities and violence between the gangs finds expression in stylized modern dance, and a ballet sequence in the second act involving Tony and Maria gives way to a procession and the song “Somewhere.” In addition, some of West Side Story borrowed techniques from the operatic stage and the concert hall. One unifying technique was the persistent use of a recurring short melodic idea. It appeared during dance sequences such as the “Prologue” and as the subject of the Fugue.
       
Both the stage and film versions of West Side Story were resounding artistic successes, and some critics even felt that the show had made history on the musical stage. One London critic declared that with West Side Story began “a new age in the theater,” and American writer David Ewen called the show “one of the crowning masterworks of the American musical theater.”
       
In 1961, Bernstein put together the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, having originally been orchestrated for Broadway by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal under the composer’s supervision. The new dance suite premiered in December 1961 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Lukas Foss, and Bernstein recorded it the following year.
       
Jack Gottlieb, Bernstein’s long-time artistic associate, describes the relationship of the Symphonic Dances to West Side Story’s plot in the following way.

Prologue: The growing rivalry between two teenage gangs, the Jets and Sharks. “Somewhere”: In a visionary dance sequence, the two gangs are united in friendship. Scherzo: They break through the city walls and suddenly find themselves in a world of space, air and sun. Mambo: Reality again; competitive dance between the gangs. Cha-Cha: The star-crossed lovers dance together. Meeting Scene: Music accompanies their first spoken words. “Cool,” Fugue: The Jets release their hostility. Rumble: Climactic gang battle in which the two leaders are killed. Finale: Love music developing into a procession, which recalls, in tragic reality, the vision of “Somewhere.”

Program Notes by Dr. Michael Fink © 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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