Conference Agenda

Leonard Bernstein, an avowed tonalist, frequently characterized atonality as a “crisis” in twentieth-century music due to its tendency to alienate public concert audiences. Bernstein nonetheless incorporated atonal elements alongside tonal ones into his own works in a wide variety of genres throughout his career. Just as tension and resolution are conveyed in tonal language through the juxtaposition of dissonance and consonance, Bernstein employed atonality as an expressive foil to tonality in communicating textual or programmatic narratives through his music. Although this is frequently acknowledged in existing scholarship, less widely recognized is the association in Bernstein’s songs between atonality and childhood, which seems to have held both narratological and strategic implications for Bernstein.

This talk provides close analyses of three Bernstein songs with troubled child protagonists. “I Hate Music!” (from the cycle of that title) expresses a child’s petulant distaste for classical music and its culture while conveying her own unabashed unmusicality through the atonal melodies she enthusiastically sings instead. In “Little Smary” from Arias & Barcarolles, Bernstein used atonality to express a girl’s traumatized response to the loss of her favorite toy. And in “The Pennycandystore Beyond the El” from Songfest, a young boy experiences the earliest glimmers of sexual awakening, a disorienting experience conveyed musically through tonal disorientation. In addition to conveying the darker elements of each child’s experience, atonality evokes aspects of childhood more generally, such as rebelliousness, impetuousness, and a tendency to wander freely and daydream.

Bernstein’s employment of atonal elements served not only narrative but strategic purposes. Gravely concerned about the future of music and its institutions, Bernstein recognized the necessity of attempting to engage public audiences with contemporary music. In these songs, he infused atonal, sometimes serial, procedures with narrative and musical elements that would be relatable to the public: childhood, tonality, jazz. For Bernstein, the tension between tonality and atonality represented something deeper: a tension between accessibility and elitism. His engagement with atonality here speaks to his mission to bridge gaps: not only between tonality and atonality, but between the vernacular and highbrow—ultimately, between people.