The Prehistory and Reception of Leonard Bernstein's Missa
The prehistory and reception of Leonard Bernstein’s Missa Brevis (1988) by Patrick Connor Dittamo B.A., College of William and Mary, 2013 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MUSIC School of Music, Theatre, and Dance College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2019 Approved by: Major Professor Craig Weston Copyright © 2019 Patrick Connor Dittamo. All rights reserved. Abstract Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) commonly repurposed previously-written material in new compositions, including his Missa Brevis (1988), which adapted significant portions of his incidental music for Lillian Hellman’s play The Lark (1955), itself an adaptation of French playwright Jean Anouilh’s play L’Alouette (1953) about the trial of Joan of Arc. Based on an assessment of The Lark’s mixed reception history as a play, Bernstein’s score, recorded by the New York Pro Musica, deserves some credit for the original Broadway run’s considerable success. Bernstein’s Medieval- and Renaissance-inflected score was written shortly before the play’s tryout run in Boston, and used fragments of verse by Adam de la Halle (c. 1245-1288/1306) and Jean-Antoine de Baïf (1532-1589), as well as the tune of the French folksong “Plantons la Vigne,” and not the commonly-cited “Vive la Grappe.” Bernstein and the New York Pro Musica were well- compensated for their contributions to The Lark; however, during the play’s national tour, there was a pay dispute over reduced royalties between Bernstein’s agent and the play’s management. Before the New York premiere of The Lark, Bernstein expressed a belief that its incidental score held a viable “kernel of a short mass,” and considered using a Lark-based missa brevis to fulfill a commission for Juilliard’s fiftieth anniversary, an idea he ultimately abandoned.
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