My Twelve Tone Melody

"My Twelve-Tone Melody" is a 1988 composition for voice and piano by Leonard Bernstein written in tribute to Irving Berlin in celebration of Berlin's 100th birthday.[1] It was performed by Bernstein at the concert to celebrate Berlin's birthday at Carnegie Hall on May 11, 1988.[1]

The piece was poorly received by Berlin's family at the concert; Bernstein's biographer, Joan Peyser, described it as a "dour, mean little piece" and that the piece could be interpreted as a "shot fired in a battle" between "late twentieth-century masters".[2] Bernstein was the only performer at the concert not to perform one of Berlin's compositions.[3]

The piece is written in the twelve-tone technique and adapts Berlin's songs "Always" (1925), and "Russian Lullaby" (1927) which Bernstein remembered from his youth.[1] The piece is two minutes in length.[1][4]

Isabel Leonard performed the song in several all-Bernstein concerts.

An unpublished and unrelated work by Bernstein from the unfinished musical theatre work Alarums and Flourishes (1980), named "12-tone Serenade", is also called "My Twelve Tone Melody".[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Works: Vocal: 'My Twelve-Tone Melody' (1988) – details, incl. lyrics". LeonardBernstein.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  2. ^ Joan Peyser (1998). Bernstein: A Biography. Billboard Books. p. 490. ISBN 978-0-8230-8259-9.
  3. ^ Richard Harrington (12 May 1988). "Puttin' On the Ritz". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  4. ^ Paul R. Laird; Hsun Lin (31 July 2019). Historical Dictionary of Leonard Bernstein. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-5381-1345-5.
  5. ^ Helen Smith (2017). There's a Place For Us: The Musical Theatre Works of Leonard Bernstein. Taylor & Francis. p. 249. ISBN 9781351539234.
  • Video performance on YouTube, Greg Levy (tenor), Adrienne Shields (piano); 2018–2019 Mid-Columbia Mastersingers concert, Richland, Washington
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