Portland Chamber Orchestra - "Serenade" by Leonard Bernstein

"There is no literal program for this Serenade, despite the fact that it resulted from a re-reading of Plato's charming dialogue, 'The Symposium.' The music, like the dialogue, is a series of related statements in praise of love, and generally follows the Platonic form through the succession of speakers at the banquet. The 'relatedness' of the movements does not depend on common thematic material, but rather on a system whereby each movement evolves out of elements in the preceding one."

We might wonder why Bernstein chose to refer to a text that he could not have expected most audience members to know (or at least not well). Also perplexing is his decision to call the work Serenade, instead of Concerto for Violin. In fact, using "Serenade" as a title would generally indicate a less serious composition, a kind of light entertainment music hardly in keeping with a philosophically inspired program. Yet, if we consider the genesis of the composition, and some of the other programmatic elements in the work, the title makes perfect sense.

Though Bernstein did not begin composing it for three years, the Serenade was the result of a commission from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in June 1951, shortly after the death of Bernstein's teacher, Serge Koussevitzky. Bernstein had been in Mexico for the previous year, on a composing "sabbatical," and had read Plato's dialogue in the months preceding his mentor's death. In this same year, he married the Chilean actress Felicia Montealegre. A series of dialogues about the meaning of love must have seemed a particularly appropriate subject matter for a piece. Thus we can understand the title in two ways: first as a love song performed under the window of a fair lady (his wife), and secondly as a meditation on Bernstein's devotion to his teacher and mentor. Like Plato, Bernstein's work explores many facets and possibilities for love.

While Bernstein claimed that there was no literal program, he offered a movement-by-movement analysis of the literary allusions present in the music! His abbreviated comments are quoted below with additional explanation:

"I. Phaedrus; Pausanias (Lento; Allegro). Phaedrus opens the symposium with a lyrical oration in praise of Eros, the god of love. Pausanias continues by describing the duality of the lover and beloved." Here, the solo violin plays a lyrical melody (representing Phaedrus), which is imitated by the other strings in a beautiful introductory section. The slow introduction gives way to a brisk tempo, and the opening melodic material is used to generate a sonata movement using two main themes (realizing the duality that Pausanias describes).

"II. Aristophanes (Allegretto). Aristophanes does not play the role of clown in this dialogue, but, instead, that of the bedtime story-teller, invoking the fairy-tale mythology of love." The second theme from the preceding movement is transformed to generate the material of this movement. Notice the addition of grace notes (quick, short notes before the main note) to the original theme. To achieve the "fairy-tale" atmosphere, Bernstein employs very delicate orchestration for this movement, involving the use of mutes, plucked notes, string harmonics (extremely high and soft notes), and an effect called sul ponticello, which means to bow near the bridge of the instrument (producing a kind of metallic shimmer).

"III. Erixymathus (Presto). The physician speaks of bodily harmony as a scientific model for the workings of love-patterns." Bernstein describes the movement as "an extremely short fugato scherzo, born of a blend of mystery and humor." As in the first movement, imitation between voices is approximate (hence the term fugato, and not fugue) and in this case breaks down completely after only ninety seconds!

"IV. Agathon (Adagio). Perhaps the most moving speech of the dialogue, Agathon's panegyric embraces all aspects of love's powers, charms and functions. This movement is a simple three-part song." The first part of this "song" is a gentle but beautifully soaring melody for the soloist, accompanied by muted strings and extremely quiet punctuations by plucked low strings, harp, and timpani. The entrance of the bowed basses signals the second part, which builds to the emotional climax of the work-a solo violin cadenza punctuated by loud orchestral hits. The return to the first part is more gentle than before, marked pianissimo (very quiet) and dolcissimo (very sweet).

"V. Socrates; Alcibiades (Molto tenuto; Allegro molto vivace). Socrates describes his visit to the seer Diotima, quoting her speech on the demonology of love. This is a slow introduction of greater weight than any of the preceding movements." A short solo cadenza concludes the introduction and a huge explosion from the orchestra ("The famous interruption by Alcibiades and his band of drunken revelers") leads into the Allegro. As Bernstein noted, this section ranges "in spirit from agitation through jig-like dance music to joyful celebration. If there is a hint of jazz in the celebration, I hope it will not be taken as anachronistic Greek party-music, but rather the natural expression of a contemporary American composer imbued with the spirit of that timeless dinner party."