Leonard Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony
A Young Composer's Examination of the Book of Lamentations
Even as Leonard Bernstein became a household name through his directorship at the New York Philharmonic and his contributions to the American musical, something gnawed at him. He had an indefatigable devotion to the music he conducted, and he very much wanted to gain acceptance as a serious composer – music for the orchestra stage and not the Broadway stage.
Writing a review of a PBS American Masters broadcast of Bernstein in 1998, Walter Goodman of the New York Times says, “He was hurt, one friend notes, by the judgment that he can write theater music but he can't do anything in the concert hall of any real worth.” Whoever said that didn’t give an honest listen to his Jeremiah symphony.
It is this desire for expression as a composer of concert music, coupled with intense evocations of his Jewish faith, where Bernstein created some of his best work. He wrestled with issues of faith, and on occasion the loss of it, throughout his life and then poured it into his music. The Jeremiah symphony from 1942 is a profoundly personal and vivid account of the prophet Jeremiah in the Book of Lamentations. And for a young pup of 24, he handles the sorrowful text superbly.
Bernstein’s Lamentations
Originally in a single movement for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, Bernstein proceeded to flesh out a three-movement symphony, and he strings together quite a stirring voyage. The heaviness of Jeremiah’s forewarning of Jerusalem’s fate – and of the impending text chosen by the composer – sweeps over the first movement, “Prophecy.” It melodically equates to mournful wails, best represented by octave leaps and downward intervals of a fourth, and an elegiac tempo.
The second movement, “Profanation,” is a clear precursor to Bernstein’s classic Broadway scores. Along with the jagged syncopation and copious mixed meters, there’s a certain kinship in the melodic line of the trio to West Side Story. That music could have been recycled and reserved for a Maria solo, and nobody would be the wiser.
Almost without pause, the mezzo-soprano then sings the opening lines of the third and final movement, “Lamentation.” Bernstein elects for the texts attributed to Jeremiah to be sung in Hebrew. He uses the following verses from this Old Testament poetry: Lamentations 1:1-3, 1:8, 4:14-15 and 5:20-21.
The first three verses of Lamentations grieve for the destruction of Jerusalem and the anguish it causes to its people. The first verse of the New International Version reads:
“How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave.” – Lamentations 1:1
Musically, Bernstein’s blend of major and minor sevenths in the strings frames the appropriate ambiance, and the motive affixed to those chords produces the first climax. And once again, during the ensuing calmer sections, echoes of West Side Story – which won’t be written for another 15 years – continue to reverberate.
Jeremiah Performances with Jennie Tourel
Bernstein led the first performance of the symphony, at the request of the formidable Fritz Reiner, with the Pittsburgh Symphony in January 1944, and Jennie Tourel as soloist. The trusted Tourel, a longtime friend of Bernstein’s, gives the definitive interpretation in the New York Philharmonic’s 1961 recording with the composer conducting. There is a stamp of authority in her singing, as is the case with most soloists who perform a work for the first time, and it’s particularly noteworthy here.
The Philharmonic players in that same recording are without question dedicated to their maestro’s music and give an inspired performance. Bernstein exhorts them into a searing reading of the “Profanation” and the orchestra packs an emotional wallop at the tension and release points.
If nothing else, the Jeremiah symphony is the first glimpse of a genius in action. Hidden in the labyrinth of West Side Story, On the Town and Fancy Free, there does exist a serious composer waiting to be discovered.
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