My Twelve Tone Melody

Song written by Leonard Bernstein in tribute to Irving Berlin

My Twelve Tone Melody
by Leonard Bernstein
Irving Berlin in 1937
Composed	1988
Performed	11 May 1988 (1988-05-11): New York City

"My Twelve Tone Melody" is a 1988 composition 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 in May 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" and "Russian Lullaby". Bernstein remembered "Russian Lullaby" from his youth.^[1]

The piece is two minutes in length.^[1]^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Works: Vocal: My Twelve-Tone Melody (1988)". LeonardBernstein.com. Archived from the original on 2018-05-05. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
^ Joan Peyser (1998). Bernstein: A Biography. Billboard Books. p. 490. ISBN 978-0-8230-8259-9.
^ Richard Harrington (12 May 1988). "Puttin' On the Ritz". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
^ Paul R. Laird; Hsun Lin (31 July 2019). Historical Dictionary of Leonard Bernstein. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-5381-1345-5.

External links

Video performance on YouTube, Jessica Laeger, soprano and Janet Scovill, piano

Leonard Bernstein

Opera and operetta

Trouble in Tahiti (1951)
Candide (1956)
A Quiet Place (1983)

Musicals

On the Town (1944)
- "New York, New York"
- "Lonely Town"
Peter Pan (1950)
Wonderful Town (1953)
- "Ohio"
West Side Story (1957)
- "A Boy Like That"
- "America"
- "Cool"
- "Gee, Officer Krupke"
- "I Feel Pretty"
- "Maria"
- "One Hand, One Heart"
- "Something's Coming"
- "Somewhere"
- Tonight"
- "Tonight Quintet"
A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1958, collaboration)
The Race to Urga (1968)
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976)
The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979, contribution)

Ballet

Fancy Free (1944)
Dybbuk (1974)

Orchestral music

Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah) (1942)
Symphony No. 2 (The Age of Anxiety) (1948–49, revised 1965)
Symphony No. 3 (Kaddish) (1963)
Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy (1961)
CBS Music (1976)
Slava! A Political Overture (1977)
Divertimento (1980)
Concerto for Orchestra (1986, 1988, 1989, originally Jubilee Games)

Concertante

Prelude, Fugue and Riffs (1948)
Serenade after Plato's "Symposium" (1954)
Ḥalil (1981)

Chamber music

Piano Trio (1937)
Clarinet Sonata (1942)
Dance Suite (1989)

Choral

Hashkiveinu (1945)
Chichester Psalms (1965)
"Olympic Hymn" (1981)
Missa Brevis (1988)

Vocal

Psalm 148 (art song, 1935)
I Hate Music (song cycle, 1943)
La Bonne Cuisine (song cycle, 1947)
"So Pretty" (1968)
Songfest: A Cycle of American Poems for Six Singers and Orchestra (1977)
"My Twelve Tone Melody" (1988)

Piano music

Non troppo presto (Music for the Dance No. 1) (1937)
Music for the Dance No. 2 (1938)
Sonata for the Piano (1938)
Anniversaries (1942—1988)
- Seven Ann. (1942–43)
- Four Ann. (1948)
- Five Ann. (1949–51)
- Thirteen Ann. (1988)
Four Sabras (ca. 1950)
Bridal Suite (1960)
Touches (1980)