Leonard Bernstein‘s liberal political sympathies are well known. But they were never as clearly presented in his music as they were in his ‘Mass’ from 1971. The work was commissioned for the opening of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy.

In using the structure of the Catholic Mass Bernstein echoes the embrace of Christianity of previous Jewish composers like Schoenberg and Mahler.  Mahler embraced Christianity at least partly to get work in the increasingly antisemitic atmosphere of late nineteenth century Europe. Schoenberg’s dalliance with Christianity was more that of an existential crisis as he watched the rise of the Nazi party and their genocidal horrors. Bernstein’s embrace of Christianity seems a combination of homage and disappointment. He knew well the glories of liturgical settings of the traditional texts by the likes of Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and had himself made an a capella setting of the mass using music he had originally written for So Andso’s play, “The Lark”.

He also knew well the suffering and deaths occurring in the protests against the Vietnam war and the struggles of American citizens for equality in the Civil Rights movement as well as the struggles in the war itself and the failure of religious institutions to stem the tide of violence.

Bernstein had dealt with religious themes in his first Symphony from 1942, which set texts from the Biblical “Lamentations of Jeremiah” in the last movement. His Chichester Psalms of 1965 set three Psalms in Hebrew. And, his Third Symphony, “Kaddish” (1963) can be seen as a forerunner to the 1974 “Mass”. His final symphony became a post hoc requiem subsequently dedicated to John F. Kennedy when, just weeks before the premiere, he was assassinated in Dallas. The composer dedicated the work to the late president. He also performed Mahler’s “Resurrection” symphony the day after John F. Kennedy’s assassination presenting it as a peaceful response to the murder.

Bernstein was no stranger to politics and progressive ideas and his activism is central to his life and legacy.

The traditional mass is a ritual of sacrifice which the composer uses to talk about the sacrifices of lives and culture occurring during the ongoing Vietnam war. It laments the ineffectiveness of religion in dealing with sociopolitical crises.  The full title of the score at hand is ‘Mass, a piece for singers, players, and dancers’. It was commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy as the inaugural work for the opening of the newly completed Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. The first performance took place at the new Kennedy Center on September 8, 1971.

Richard Nixon had declined to attend ostensibly to not draw focus from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis but subsequent research has determined that he had been warned by FBI head J. Edgar Hoover of the possibility of “subversive” texts within the piece.  He was apparently referring to the latin texts of the mass.  So, for “security” reasons, Nixon stayed home that night.

The work continues to be revived and recorded.

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