150121[W] - From todays Composers Datebook, Leonard Bernstein gets political. Ive included in Comments a link to the piece Bernstein directed on a later date that was performed in protest to Nixons inaugural concert choice. The performance in Comments was directed by Zubin Mehta... Bernstein gets political In 1968, Senator Eugene McCarthy was running for President on an anti-war platform. The war in question was in Southeast Asia, and many American artists were, like Senator McCarthy, openly calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. On todays date at a New York fundraising event for the anti-war movement entitled Broadway for Peace, this music by Leonard Bernstein received its premiere performance, with the composer at the piano accompanying Barbra Streisand. The song was titled So Pretty, with lyrics describing the tragedy of the Vietnam War from a childs point of view. Richard Nixon, not Eugene McCarthy, became President in 1968, and was re-elected in 1972. At Nixons special request, the final piece on his January, 1973 Inaugural Concert was Tchaikovskys 1812 Overture, which struck many at the time as a deliberately bellicose selection, considering that the Vietnam War was still raging. As a protest, Bernstein, McCarthy and others arranged a counter-concert at Washingtons National Cathedral, scheduled at precisely the same time as Nixons, but presenting Haydns Mass in Time of War instead of Tchaikovsky. Three thousand people crowded into the Cathedral, and another twelve thousand stood outside in the wind and rain. Whether the music of Tchaikovsky or Haydn ultimately made any difference in resolving the conflict, history does note that a Southeastern Asian armistice was signed in Paris a few days later.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 12:47:39 +0000
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