Mass

Genesis

The concept of Mass derived from three sources: Bernstein's experience conducting at Robert F. Kennedy's funeral in 1968 in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan; the Beethoven bicentenary in Vienna in 1970; and a small piece "A Simple Song" he wrote for Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon before withdrawing from that project after three months during which time he worked with Leonard Cohen.

Paul Simon was also approached for music and lyrics for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, but he too declined. However, a quatrain he wrote while considering the commission was later presented to Bernstein for use in his Mass.

Michelangelo had the Sistine Chapel, James Joyce Ulysses, D. W. Griffith Intolerance, Beethoven the Grosse Fuge – the one crowning project in which inspiration, resources and freedom combined to enable a visionary artist to pursue virtually any goal he wished, free from the demands of populist audiences, the fetters of cultural gatekeepers and the barbs of conservative critics. For Leonard Bernstein it was Mass.

Cast

The original cast consisted of a Celebrant, three choirs, and altar servers. A full classical orchestra performed in the pit, while onstage musicians—including a rock band and a marching band—performed and interacted onstage.

Celebrant – The central character of the work, a Catholic priest who conducts the celebration of the Mass.

Formal choir – A mixed choir (SSAATTBB) in upstage choir lofts who sing the Latin portions of the Mass.

Boys' choir – A children's choir (SSAA) that processes on and off stage various times, performing alone, in antiphon, or in concert with the Formal Choir and the Street Singers.

Street singers – Downstage and often performing around the Celebrant and the stage instrumentalists, a broad group of female and male singers representing the congregation (and occasionally the musicians), who variously participate in the prayers of the Mass, or alternately counter those prayers in a modern context.

Acolytes – Assistants to the Celebrant, who perform dances and altar assistance throughout the Mass.

Synopsis

The piece begins with pre-recorded 4-part contrary musics of vocal soloists and percussion. The resultant cacophony is cut off by a guitar and the Celebrant singing "A Simple Song".

Despite an initial wide-ranging eclecticism (evoking cool jazz, marching bands, world music, Lutheran chorale, and classical modernism) all of the performers are in apparent harmony and agreement. During the course of the Mass, however, the street choir begins expressing doubts and suspicions about the necessity of God in their lives and the role of the Mass. The street chorus sings with the Latin lyrics until they hit a line which they twist into a complaint or a self-serving boast; i.e. "dona nobis pacem" (English: "grant us peace") turns into the street chorus, "Give us peace NOW!" In this way, Bernstein interweaves and contrasts social commentary and prayer.

The street chorus's bitterness and anger continues to grow and makes each of the subsequent meditations more harsh. At the play's emotional climax, the growing cacophony of the chorus' complaining finally interrupts the elevation of the Body and Blood (the transubstantiated bread and wine). The Celebrant, in a furious rage, hurls the consecrated host, housed in an ornate cross-like monstrance, and the chalice, smashing them on the floor. At this sacrilege, the other cast members collapse to the ground as if dead while the Celebrant sings a solo. This solo blends the chorus's disbelief with his own crisis of faith. He feels worn out and wonders where the strength of his original faith has gone. At the end of his song, he too collapses.

A bird-like (Holy Spirit) a capella solo begins again (now flute, rather than oboe), darting here and there from different speakers in the hall, finally "alighting" in a single clear note. An altar server, who was absent during the conflict, then sings anew the hymn of praise to God, "Sing God a Simple Song". This restores the faith of the three choirs, who join the altar server, one by one, in his hymn of praise. They tell the Celebrant "Pax tecum" (Peace be with you), and end with a hymn asking for God's blessing. The last words of the piece are: "The Mass is ended; go in peace."

Movements

The movements of the work are as follows.

Instrumentation

Bernstein scored Mass for a large orchestra and choir, and also included onstage groups (street musicians). Bernstein divided the orchestra into two parts: the strings, keyboards, and some percussion are in the pit; while the woodwinds, brass, guitars, synthesizers, and other percussion are onstage. The instrumentation is as follows:

Onstage groups

Stage orchestra:

Bernstein included a note that the musicians in the stage orchestra are to be robed and also act as cast members. Bernstein also went so far as to include a footnote that the bassist and the keyboardist of the blues band and the keyboardist, bassist and drummer of the rock band are to be recruited as percussionists for the stage orchestra for the second movement.

Street musicians:

Percussion: 3 steel drums, claves, bottles, a tambourine, gourds, and tin cans

Voice: at least 45 singers (20–30 soloists are used from this group)

In his instructions, Bernstein indicated that the percussion should be played by members of the street musicians.

FBI warning

The Federal Bureau of Investigation kept a file on Bernstein because of his leftist views. In the summer of 1971, the Bureau warned the White House that the Latin text of Mass might contain anti-war messages, which could cause embarrassment to President Nixon should he attend the premiere and applaud politely. Rumors of such a plot by Bernstein were leaked to the press. According to Gordon Liddy, White House counsel John Dean stated that the work was "definitely anti-war and anti-establishment, etc". In the event, Nixon did not attend the premiere; Nixon had this decision described in the press as an act of courtesy to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, because he felt the formal opening "should really be her night".

Other major performances

Much of the original cast reunited in a production at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in July 1972.

The European première of Mass was performed in July 1973 at Vienna's Konzerthaus with a cast consisting of students from Yale University, a choir from Vienna, and the Yale Symphony Orchestra, all conducted by John Mauceri. Mauceri, a protégé of the composer who studied at Tanglewood, was then a faculty member at Yale, and director of the student orchestra. He conducted the piece at Yale in the fall of 1972, at which time the composer elected to take the cast and orchestra abroad. Bernstein's Amberson Enterprises sponsored the production, which used amateur performers because of union restrictions on taking the Kennedy Center cast abroad. Michael Hume, the son of The Washington Post music critic Paul Hume, sang the role of the Celebrant. Ted Libby, later a music critic for The New York Times and The Washington Post, was a member of the Street Chorus, as was the television actor Robert Picardo.

The Yale/Vienna production was filmed for television by ORF, the Austrian broadcasting system, under the direction of Brian Large, a producer of live music films. To date, this production has not been released on video, though it was broadcast several times in the United States by PBS, in its "Theatre in America" series. The producers of the PBS biography, Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note, used clips from the film because no other high quality footage could be found. The design, direction and flavor of the production are redolent of the 1960s and 1970s, when Godspell, Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar used similar anarchical styles to present counter-culture themes on stage.

On March 11 and 12, 1974, a fully staged performance of Mass was presented at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Under the direction of Richard Wright, this Florida premiere performance featured Robert Terry Whidden portraying the Celebrant, with choreography by Sharon Brooks.

The first British performance was staged at Coventry Theatre on May 16, 1976, by the University of Warwick with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, University of Warwick Chamber Choir and Chorus, Southend Boys' Choir, The London Chorale, Cycles Dance Company, Cameron (a pop group), conductor Roy Wales, Robert Carpenter Turner as the Celebrant, and producer Clive Barker. Roy Wales received permission directly from Leonard Bernstein in November 1974 to stage this British premiere, following a visit that Bernstein made to the University of Warwick in October 1974 when Roy Wales conducted a performance of Chichester Psalms in his presence. Wales had conducted the first London performance of Chichester Psalms on June 10, 1966, in the Duke's Hall at the Royal Academy of Music. The Coventry performance of Mass was followed the next night by the first London performance, at the Royal Albert Hall, on May 17, 1976, and this was reviewed in the Financial Times by Paul Griffiths and by William Mann in The Times, both May 18, 1976. Most reviews of the Royal Albert Hall premiere were mixed, but the performance was widely praised. In the Financial Times, Griffiths wrote, "Given such poor material, this performance was almost a miracle of transubstantiation. The playing of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was full, bold and vigorous, and so too was the singing of the University of Warwick Chorus, joined by the excellent Southend Boys' Choir. Roy Wales had clearly trained his forces exceptionally well."

40th anniversary

2011 saw several performances of Mass commemorating the 40th anniversary of its premiere in 1971. Among these were a production presented by the Anchorage Concert Chorus, Alaska Children's Choir, and Alaska Dance Theatre in the Atwood Concert Hall on March 18 and 20 in Anchorage, Alaska, and the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Boettcher Concert Hall (Denver) on April 26. A full-stage production was performed at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center in Dayton, Ohio, May 13 and 14, featuring the Dayton Philharmonic, conducted by Neal Gittleman, and actors, singers and dancers from Wright State University, directed by Greg Hellems, choreographed by Gina Walther, with musical direction by Hank Dahlman, as well as the Kettering Children's Choir, featuring John Wright as the Celebrant, and produced by W. Stuart McDowell.

The BBC performed Mass as part of their 2012 Proms music festival at Royal Albert Hall. Featured was Morten Frank Larsen as the Celebrant, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the BBC National Chorus of Wales, and the National Youth Choir of Wales.

Mass was performed on March 9 and 10, 2012, at the Adelaide Festival Theatre during the 2012 Adelaide Festival of Arts with Kristjan Järvi conducting. The Celebrant was Jubilant Sykes, performing with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Absolute Trio, and the Adelaide Festival Chorus and Children's Choir. Soloists included James Egglestone, Carolyn Ferrie, Leah Flanagan, Adam Goodburn, Lane Hinchcliff, David Linn, Nic Lock, Beau Daniel Loumeau, Samantha Mack, Libby O'Donovan, Mark Oates, Kirsty-Ann Roberts, Gary Rowley, Danielle Ruggiero, Sally-Anne Russell, and James Scott. The director was Andy Packer and the chorus director was Carl Crossin. A very positive review in Limelight magazine described the production as "a brave production of a brave work that doesn't shy away from exposing the contradictions and hypocrisy of life with or without religion". This performance was described in Festival publicity as the "Australian première" but in fact several earlier Australian performances were held: in Sydney in 1987 by the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, with Peter Cousens as the Celebrant, conducted by Ronald Smart; in Brisbane in 1986 by the Brisbane Chorale; in Melbourne in 1989 by the State Orchestra of Victoria; and in Adelaide at the 52nd Intervarsity Choral Festival in 2001.

The Philadelphia Orchestra presented a staged version of Mass at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, April 30 – May 3, 2015. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted and Kevin Vortmann sang the role of the Celebrant. The production was recorded by Deutsche Grammophon and released in 2018, as part of the Bernstein Centenary celebrations.

Recordings

1971: Alan Titus (Celebrant), Norman Scribner Choir, Berkshire Boy Choir, Studio Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (conductor) – Columbia Records

2004: Jerry Hadley (Celebrant), Rundfunkchor Berlin, Berlin Cathedral Chorus, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Kent Nagano (conductor) – Harmonia Mundi (The 2004 version is Grammy Nominated)

2008: Randall Scarlata (Celebrant), Tölzer Knabenchor, Chorus Sine Nomine, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Kristjan Järvi (conductor) – Chandos

2009: Jubilant Sykes (Celebrant), Morgan State University Choir, Peabody Children's Chorus, Morgan State University Marching Band, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop (conductor) – Naxos (Grammy-nominated)

2015: Kevin Vortmann (Celebrant), Temple University Concert Choir, Westminster Symphonic Choir, American Boychoir, Temple University Diamond Marching Band, Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) – Deutsche Grammophon, 2018

2020: Vojtěch Dyk (Celebrant), Wiener Singakademie, Schülerinnen und Schüler der Opernschule, Vienna State Opera, Company of Music, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (conductor) – Capriccio

Video

Although several performances were televised, none are available commercially. There is one DVD version:

2004: Leonard Bernstein Mass at the Vatican City (2000) (ASIN B0002S641Y) Douglas Webster (Celebrant) – Kultur Video