TROUBLE in TAHITI Readers

rt• s News for fr iends of Leonard Berns te in Winter 1993 To Our TROUBLE IN TAHITI Readers hen Leonard Bern ste in Wco111 posed TROUBLE !N TAHITI , he was in his ea rl y thirties, just married , and wri ting iron ically of sub urban do111es tic bliss in the J950s. Three decades later, a widower and fath er of diree grown chil dren, he wrote a sobe r sequ el, A QUIET PLACE, into wh ich the earlier opera was eve ntu all y enfold ed. Here, Bernstein and hi s libretti st Stephen Wadsworth gi ve us daughter Didi 111arried to her brother's ex-lover Fran ~o is; th e couple are devoted to helpi ng and loving Jun ior, the brother wh o sce 111 s to ha ve intern ali zed his pa rents' des pair in to a kind of helpless madn ess . By th e opera's end, th e three young adults have form ed a fragi le uni on, at las t with th eir e111b irrcred fat her's bl ess ing. "We' re only who we are," rh ey realize, as they set out to be a newl y for111cd fa mil y. The message of A QUIET PLA CE is more tim ely than ever: the traditional config ura tion of a Leonard Bernstein conducting the studio orchestra for TROUBLE IN TAHITI, London Weekend Television, 1973. fa 111il y does nor gua ra ntee its happin ess, while an un co nven by Humph rey Burton September 9th Bernstein married production at Tanglewood two tiona l gro up ing of indi vidua ls can Felicia Montealegre Cohn. months later, Bernstein revised the love and ca re for eac h oth er with n the spring of 1951, after The cou pie returned to libretto and composed a different all th e devoti on required to seven hectic years of conduct Cuernavaca for an extended finale. Conducted by Seymour dese rve th e na111 e of fa 111 il y. Iing, Leonard Bernstein retired honeymoon and Bernstein resumed Lipkin and directed by Sarah A QUIET PLACE is sure to temporarily from the podium, compos ing TAHITI, undeterred by Ca ldwell, the opera was warmly di sturb advocates of narro wly determined to concentrate for at the task of portraying a marriage received. defin ed "fa 111i ly va lues" long in to least a year upon his neglected in crisis while enjoying the first Bernstein was still not th e futur e. We can be certai n that composing career. He settl ed in months of his own. Work went completely satisfied. Yet more Leo na rd Bern stein wouId not ha ve Cuernavaca, Mexico to write the more slowly, however, until in modifications were made for a minded th e co ntro ve rsy at all. • libretto and music for TROUBLE January he reached an impasse, third performance, a live telecast IN TAHITI, his first opera. unable to devise a satisfactory on NBC-TV in November 1952. Work was interrupted by the conclusion to the opera. Directed by Kirk Browning, death of Serge Koussevitzky. Back in New York in February, conducted by the composer an d Bernstein returned to the United he was persuaded by Irving Fine to featuring cartoons designed by States, buried his revered master complete the opera in time to Sau l Steinberg, the telecast was and took over the conducting conduct it for the first Brandeis very popular. TROUBLE IN school at Tanglewood. To University Festival of the Creative TAHITI soon became a staple of co nclude an eventful summer, on Arts on June 12, 1952. For a new (continued on page 7) The BETA Fund BETA Fund Supports The Power of "Fun" Arts Connection nurturing that potential can On October 22, 1992 for this stim ul ate learning and success in year's Contemporary Music all aspects of school. Festival, the Longwood College The essential research compo Department of Music in Rich nent of the program documents mond, Virginia, presented THE BETA changes in students' self-esteem, MUSIC OF LEONARD I academic performance, attendance BERNSTEIN. Alexander FUND and interpersonal behavior. Bernstein was the special guest Another important component is lecturer. The following are teacher support. The Teacher excerpts from the lecture he he Bernstein Education Training Institute offers two week delivered there. TThrough the Arts (BET A) long summer workshops and a Fund has awarded a grant to the weekend training throughout the hat I would like to do is ArtsConnection program Talent school year to assist the classroom W give you some idea of how I Beyond Words. A private, not teacher to recognize and build on saw, and see, my father. And I for-profit organization, Arts the students' talents, to discover wo uld like to do that as much as Alexander Bernstein. Connection was founded in 1979 outlets for creative expression possible through his work - con to offer arts programming in New within the academic curriculum, ducting, composing and teaching. herself, or, in the jargon of the York City public schools using the and to learn to use the arts most In fact, my father was always day, have ownership in the making talents of professional artists. It effectively as a learning tool. work ing. And he was always of meaning. My father's YOUNG has become the city's largest and Parental involvement is another play ing. His life was a quest for PEOPLE'S CONCERTS on TV most comprehensive arts-in critical feature of the program. joy, and he found it in music, in were so successful because he was education organization. Through student-parent work friends, in language, in fami ly, in able to lecture yet make the The ArtsConnection Talent shops, parents are encouraged to theatre, in sports. I have always audience feel involved in the Beyond Words program seeks to see the value of their children's envied his life as an artist in that proceedings. He never conde identify students who are econo arts education and participate with his work gave him supreme ecstasy. scended; he invited his students mically disadvantaged, non them in these experiences. As opposed to some tyrants in along on the ride of inquiry. English-speaking or handicapped, Dedicated to matching artists the Arts, my father made it My father founded the who also show specia l gifts in with the learn ing needs of children, interesting and fun to Work for Bernstein Ed ucati on Through the music and dance that might not be ArtsConnection believes, as does him. Let me quote my father on Arts Fund shortly before he died. recognized by conventional the BET A Fund, that the arts in the subject of "fun": "If we add His plan was to spend his methods. Talent Beyond Words education stimulate curiosity, love up, 'sense of rightness,' 'tranquil remaining years in education, operates on the philosophy that a of learning, more imaginative lity,' 'balance,' 'catha rsis,' studying ways in which the arts child's potential for gifted thinking, a positive self-image and 'expressivity,' we begin to could enable students to be aware behavior can be measured by a a respect for the various cultural approach the meaning of 'fun. ' of how they learn, and enable wide variety of criteria and that heritages of us all. • Add to these 'participation,' ed ucators to discover the power of 'creativity,' 'order,' 'sublimation,' the arts to engage students, the and 'energy release,' and you power of "fun ." My job now is to almost have it. 'Fun' is all the keep the BET A Fund al ive and things we find impossible to say kicking and screaming for when we hear (Beethove n's) Opus educationa l reform. I'm not going 131 Quartet ... " to allow my father's vision to die Now, if you can adjust to the with him. And I am not at all 2 idea that listening to Opus 131 is cynical about the naivete or "fun," you can begin to under idealism involved. I think that this stand my father's idea of what is possible. • education is, or rather, should be. He believed that learning takes Alexander Bernstein is place only when it is fun. A president of The Bernstein learner must be engaged in the Education Through the Arts creation of ideas for him or (BETA) Fund. Students at PS 130, Brooklyn, taking part in the Talent Beyond Words program. AQUIET PLACE Creating with Lenny by Stephen Wadsworth to every note of American music Americans. We wanted to write A QUIET PLACE opens with the we could find. He wanted to see an opera in the American language chord TROUBLE IN TAHITI " I f you bring me a scenario and hear my reactions. We told - the American language as it is ended with - a cluster of all the for a sequel to TROUBLE each other about our lives, played spoken by Americans to express notes in one main TAHITI theme IN TAHITI by Tuesday at four anagrams altogether too much, their American selves. that is no less pivotal in the new o'clock, I'll give you your inter and decided to seek a commission The rest of the opera was opera. Old Sam, who sang the view" was the challenge Lenny for our opera. written between June 1982 and words "Is there a day or a night gave me for our first meeting. I We continued work separately June 1983. We worked mostly in waiting in time somewhere" to it had asked him for an interview for - I at a child's reading desk in the Connecticut then, chasing in TAHITI, also "I don't know, I a magazine.

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