Mass (formally: MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers) is a musical theatre work composed by Leonard Bernstein. The text includes the Latin mass text, with additional lyrics by Bernstein and by Stephen Schwartz. Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy, it premiered on September 8, 1971, directed by Gordon Davidson, conducted by Maurice Peress and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The production used costume designs by Frank Thompson. The performance was part of the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Mass premiered in Europe in 1973, with John Mauceri conducting the Yale Symphony Orchestra in Vienna.Yale Symphony Orchestra – Our History
The work is based on the Tridentine Mass of the Catholic Church. The liturgical passages are sung mostly in Latin, though the "Sanctus" includes portions in Hebrew. Mass also includes additional texts in English written by Bernstein, Stephen Schwartz, and Paul Simon (who wrote the first quatrain of the trope "Half of the People"). The work is intended to be staged theatrically, but it has also been performed in a standard concert setting. Music critic Peter G. Davis in an analysis of the work's musical merits described Mass as a "work [of] vertiginous stylistic gamut with acid rock and 12-tone serialism, Renaissance polyphony and Mahler, jazz, Broadway and down-home Americana. ... Yes, Bernstein could manipulate a 12-tone row with the best of them."
Initial critical reception, including a review in The New York Times, was largely negative. The Columbia Records recording of the work enjoyed excellent sales,Peter Gutmann, "Bernstein Mass" , Inkpot, no. 92, January 24, 2000 and in 2025 Richard Morrison commented at BBC Music that in recent years it has undergone something of a revival, with listeners more open to its chaotic blend of styles.
Genesis The concept of Mass derived from multiple sources: Bernstein's response to JFK's assassination and experience conducting at Robert F. Kennedy's funeral in 1968 in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan; the cultural upheaval of the 1960s and dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War; the Beethoven bicentenary in Vienna in 1970; and a small piece "A Simple Song" he wrote for Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon before withdrawing from that project after three months during which time he worked with Leonard Cohen.Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician by Allen Shawn, p. 221. Retrieved April 3, 2015Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen by Ira B. Nadel, p. 203. Retrieved April 3, 2015Naxos . Retrieved April 3, 2015 It also reflects his ongoing interest in what he called a "crisis of faith."
Paul Simon was also approached for music and lyrics for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, but he too declined.Marc Eliot, Paul Simon: A Life. Retrieved April 3, 2015 However, a quatrain he wrote while considering the commission was later presented to Bernstein for use in his Mass.
Mass is widely regarded as one of Bernstein's most ambitious and expansive compositions, incorporating a large ensemble and diverse musical styles.
Cast The original cast consisted of a Celebrant, three choirs, and altar servers. A full classical orchestra performed in the pit, while onstage musicians—including a rock band and a marching band—performed and interacted onstage. Celebrant – The central character of the work, a Catholic priest who conducts the celebration of the Mass. Formal choir – A mixed choir (SSAATTBB) in upstage choir lofts who sing the Latin portions of the Mass. Boys' choir – A children's choir (SSAA) that processes on and off stage various times, performing alone, in antiphon, or in concert with the Formal Choir and the Street Singers. Street chorus – Downstage and often performing around the Celebrant and the stage instrumentalists, a broad group of female and male singers representing the congregation (and occasionally the musicians), who variously participate in the prayers of the Mass, or alternately counter those prayers in a modern context. Acolytes – Assistants to the Celebrant, who perform dances and altar assistance throughout the Mass.
Synopsis
The piece begins with pre-recorded 4-part contrary musics of vocal soloists and percussion. The resultant cacophony is cut off by a guitar and the Celebrant singing "A Simple Song".
Despite an initial wide-ranging eclecticism (evoking cool jazz, marching bands, world music, Lutheran chorale, and classical modernism) all of the performers are in apparent harmony and agreement. During the course of the Mass, however, the street chorus begins expressing doubts and suspicions about the necessity of God in their lives and the role of the Mass. The street chorus sings most frequently in English, troping on the Latin lyrics with a question, complaint, or self-serving boast; i.e. "dona nobis pacem" (English: "grant us peace") turns into the street chorus, "Give us peace NOW!" In this way, Bernstein interweaves and contrasts social commentary and prayer.
The street chorus's bitterness and anger continues to grow and makes each of the subsequent meditations more harsh. At the play's emotional climax, the growing cacophony of the chorus' complaining finally interrupts the elevation of the Body and Blood (the transubstantiated bread and wine). The Celebrant, in a furious rage, hurls the consecrated host, housed in an ornate cross-like monstrance, and the chalice, smashing them on the floor. At this sacrilege, the other cast members collapse to the ground as if dead while the Celebrant sings a solo. This solo blends the chorus's disbelief with his own crisis of faith. He feels worn out and wonders where the strength of his original faith has gone. At the end of his song, he too collapses.
A bird-like (Holy Spirit) solo begins again (now live flute, rather than taped oboe), finally "alighting" in a single clear note. An altar server, who was absent during the conflict, then sings anew the hymn of praise to God, "Sing God a Secret Song". This restores the faith of the three choirs, who join the altar server, one by one, in his hymn of praise. They tell the Celebrant "Pax tecum" (Peace be with you), and end with a hymn asking for God's blessing. The last words of the piece are: "The Mass is ended; go in peace."
Movements
The movements of the work are as follows.
Instrumentation Bernstein scored Mass for a large orchestra and choir, and also included onstage groups (street musicians). Bernstein divided the orchestra into two parts: the strings, keyboards, and some percussion are in the pit; while the woodwinds, brass, guitars, synthesizers, and other percussion are onstage. A small chamber instrumentation also exists. The large instrumentation is as follows:
Pit orchestra
Percussion (at least 4–5 players) 5 timpani 5 bongos 3 congas 2 snare drums tenor drum bass drum 4 tuned drums cymbals 3 suspended cymbals sizzle cymbal splash cymbal triangle 2 cowbells chimes 2 tam-tams anvil 5 temple blocks 2 wood blocks tambourine guiro whip rachet castanets claves 2 xylophones glockenspiel marimba vibraphone
Keyboards celesta piano 2 Allen organs (small and large)
Strings 1 harp first violins second violins violas cellos double basses
Onstage groups Stage orchestra:
Woodwinds
Brass 4 horns in F
3 trombones 1 tuba
Percussion (2 players) bongos 2 drum sets finger cymbals temple blocks 2 tambourines glockenspiel Keyboards
Voice
boy soprano solo
Strings acoustic guitar
Bernstein included a note that the musicians in the stage orchestra are to be robed and also act as cast members. Bernstein also went so far as to include a footnote that the bassist and the keyboardist of the blues band and the keyboardist, bassist and drummer of the rock band are to be recruited as percussionists for the stage orchestra for the second movement.
Street musicians: Percussion: 3 steel drums, claves, bottles, a tambourine, gourds, and tin cans Voice: at least 45 singers (20–30 soloists are used from this group) In his instructions, Bernstein indicated that the percussion should be played by members of the street musicians.
FBI warning The Federal Bureau of Investigation kept a file on Bernstein because of his leftist views. In the summer of 1971, the Bureau warned the White House that the Latin text of Mass might contain anti-war messages, which could cause embarrassment to President Nixon should he attend the premiere and applaud politely. (work details, incl. synopsis) Rumors of such a plot by Bernstein were leaked to the press. According to Gordon Liddy, White House counsel John Dean stated that the work was "definitely anti-war and anti-establishment, etc". In the event, Nixon did not attend the premiere; Nixon had this decision described in the press as an act of courtesy to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, because he felt the formal opening "should really be her night".Alex Ross, "The Bernstein Files", The New Yorker News Desk, August 10, 2009
Other major performances
Much of the original cast reunited in a production at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in July 1972.
The European première of Mass was performed in July 1973 at Vienna's Konzerthaus with a cast consisting of students from Yale University, a choir from Vienna, and the Yale Symphony Orchestra, all conducted by John Mauceri. Mauceri, a protégé of the composer who studied at Tanglewood, was then a faculty member at Yale, and director of the student orchestra. He conducted the piece at Yale in the fall of 1972, at which time the composer elected to take the cast and orchestra abroad. Bernstein's Amberson Enterprises sponsored the production, which used amateur performers because of union restrictions on taking the Kennedy Center cast abroad. Michael Hume, the son of The Washington Post music critic Paul Hume, sang the role of the Celebrant. Ted Libby, later a music critic for The New York Times and The Washington Post, was a member of the Street Chorus, as was the television actor Robert Picardo.
The Yale/Vienna production was filmed for television by ORF, the Austrian broadcasting system, under the direction of Brian Large, a producer of live music films. To date, this production has not been released on video, though it was broadcast several times in the United States by PBS, in its "Theatre in America" series. The producers of the PBS biography, Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note, used clips from the film because no other high quality footage could be found. The design, direction and flavor of the production are redolent of the 1960s and 1970s, when Godspell, Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar used similar anarchical styles to present counter-culture themes on stage.
On March 11 and 12, 1974, a fully staged performance of Mass was presented at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Under the direction of Richard Wright, this Florida premiere performance featured Robert Terry Whidden portraying the Celebrant, with choreography by Sharon Brooks.