SOMETHINGS COMING By Leonard BERNSTEIN From WEST SIDE

SOMETHING’S COMING By Leonard BERNSTEIN From WEST SIDE STORY

“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) Context & Background GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Quick Background – Context (Bernstein) Bernstein was born in America in 1918 He was a highly skilled musician, pianist, conductor, broadcaster and composer. Bernstein’s first musical was On Bernstein had a wide range of musical tastes, but particularly Jazz (which is evident in West Side Story, as well as Latin American rhythms, as his wife was from South America) The Town.

Context (Musicals) n Musicals came from lighter versions of opera, such as Opera Comique or Operetta (Gilbert & Sullivan) n Broadway – New York Musical Theatre hub from 1920 s onwards n Musicals – singing, dancing and acting n The style of the musical is normally reflective of the genre of the time (i. e. West Side Story is based on Jazz harmony, Jazz being a prominent genre of the 1930 s-1950 s, when Bernstein was around). n Orchestras provide accompaniment and incidental music/underscoring (background music – like the opening scene (prologue) in West Side Story) n Some musicals are made into films – some films are made into musicals. n Some pop songs are collated to make musicals (Moulin Rouge, Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You)

Context (West Side Story) n West Side Story was composed in 1957 and made into an award winning film in 1961. n Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for the musical (librettist/lyricist/composer – Sweeny Todd) n Based on the tragic love story of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet n Maria (Juliet) and Tony (Romeo) n Jets (Capulets) and Sharks (Montagues) n Famous balcony scene is mirrored on the stairs of a New York apartment fire escape n The themes (racism, immigration, love, tragedy, rivalry) are still as relevant today as they were when Bernstein composed the musical. n Revolutionary – not about happy, sweet things (like Rodgers & Hammerstein) – West Side Story is a story of doomed love, extended dance scenes, underscoring, use of tritone n Something’s Coming is sung by Tony – solo character song sung quite early on in the musical n Excited about the future and sings it before he meets Maria – dramatic irony

“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) MELODIC INTERVALS GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

‘Something’s Coming: Melody Listen to the song and look at your scores: n What is the key of the piece? D Major (2 sharps) n What type of ‘voice’ (soprano, alto, tenor bass) is Tony? Tenor n What is the first note that Tony sings? D n What is the vocal range (lowest note to highest note of the melody line)? 10 th (E to G) n Is the melody line syllabic or melismatic? Syllabic – one note per syllable n Is the melody diatonic or chromatic? Diatonic melody

Something’s Coming: Melody n Strong opening melody (questions) falling from tonic to dominant (D to A) n Bar 8 -9: first melodic tritone heard in the n Bar 17: Melodic tritone “soon as it shows” melody line (D to G# - the tritone has so far been heard harmonically in the accompanying riff pattern)

‘Something’s Coming: Melody What is a Tritone? A tritone is an interval spanning three whole tones, also known as “diabolus in musica”: the devil in music. It is also known as a diminished fifth or an augmented 4 th. F-B is a tritone. This is because F-G is one whole tone, G to A is one whole tone and A-B is one whole tone = an interval of 3 whole tones, which is a TRITONE

Something’s Coming: What is an interval? An interval is the distance between 2 notes. TASK: Identify the intervals. You have 5 minutes.

“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) MELODY GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Something’s Coming: Melody n Bar 17 -18: “shows” sung on a blue note, C natural n Melody until bar 20 is based on opening riff (melody & n Word painting – bars 21 -24 “It may come cannonballing down through the sky”) and bars 128 -136 (long notes and leap on “the air is humming” reinforced by tremolo and harmonic strings in accompaniment) n Bar 31 -39: “Me” sung on sustained E – highest and (flattened 7 th in D Major) rhythm) longest note of the piece so far

Something’s Coming: Melody n Bars 44 & 48: Melodic Tritones (now F# to C – music n Bar 48: B flat – blue note (flattened 7 th in C Major) n Bars 72 -105: Lyrical melody with sustained notes - n Bar 83: “Down” highest note of the piece (top G) – has modulated to C Major) contrast to the syncopated, syllabic and driving rhythms heard in the piece up until this point ironic

Something’s Coming: Melody n Bar 89: C natural – blue note (flattened 7 th in D major) n Bar 144: Melody returns to the opening melody - n Bar 144 -145: Tritone (D to G#) n Bar 153: Tritone – last melodic tritone n Bar 153 -end: Tony’s last note is a C natural “Blue note” returning back to the beginning of the piece – the vocal melody ends in the air, unfinished, like Tony’s future

“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) STRUCTURE GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Structure Broadly, the structure of the piece is: n n n Introduction: Bars 1 -3 (bar 3 is repeated ad lib) Section A: Bars 4 -39 Section B: Bars 40 -105 Section B 1: Bars 106 -140 (shortened version of B) Section A 1: Bars 141 -157 (shortened version of A) Outro: Bar 158 (slow fade out)

Something’s Coming: Melodic Themes There are three melodic themes in Something’s Coming. n Theme A – opening melody based on the riff n Theme B – “it may come cannonballing. . . ” etc bar 21 n Theme C – “Around the corner. . . ” bar 73 ANALYSIS ACTIVITY: Listen to the song and list the order of the sections next to the bar numbers on your worksheet. Transfer the information to your scores using a pencilhighlight “THEME A, THEME B, OR THEME C” depending on which theme you think it is.

“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) Style & INSTRUMENTATION GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Style & Instrumentation: Analysis n Tony: Tenor Voice n Maria: Soprano Voice n WESTERN INSTRUMENTS: Strings, Brass, Wind (traditional), saxophone, piano, electric guitar, mandolin, celeste, percussion including timpani, glockenspiel, police whistle and drum kit n LATIN AMERICAN INSTRUMENTS: castanets, guiro, maracas

Style & Instrumentation n Instrumentalists double up instruments (play more than one instrument throughout the musical) Instruments are not marked in the score, but note the following: n First 15 bars: clarinets, bass clarinet, pizzicato n End of Bar 17 to Bar 28: Muted trumpets n From Bar 32: Minims in accompaniment played by strings, bass drum (wire brushes on snare and hi hat) clarinets, and brass added for louder section at bar 52

Style & Instrumentation n Bridge *Theme C*: Sustained accompaniment played n Second bridge *Theme C* : high violins tremolo and n Soft dynamics in accompaniment. There were no radio mics in the 1950 s for the stage performers so the accompaniment had to be soft in order for the vocalists to be heard over the music. n For the same reason as above (not to over balance the singer): by high strings and flutes join in “whistling” in bar 82 sustained harmonics on “the air is humming” – Wire brushes on drums – Mutes on trumpets

“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) HARMONY & TONALITY GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Tonality & Harmony n The piece starts in D Major, but it does modulate to C Major and back to D Major n Harmonic tritones in the accompaniment n Jazz Harmony (i. e. bar 1, beat 3 B minor with 11 th – B, D, F#, A C#, E – bar 2 beat 4, D major with added 9 th – D, F#, A, C#, E) n First chord in accompaniment = harmonic tritone (G# enharmonically A flat, flattened 5 th in D major, ‘Blue’ note)

Tonality & Harmony n Ostinato Bass (2 riffs working at the same time in accompaniment) n Bars 21 -26: Orchestra chords punctuate the recitative like, punchy phrase n Bar 32: Piece modulates to C Major n Bars 32 -39: C & G in bass (with E, F# and G minims – F#s suggesting D major, tritones and ‘blue’ note (enharmonic G flat) in C major)

Tonality & Harmony n Bars 52 -72: C Major (52 -58), G Major (59 -62) (repeated a tone higher at bars 63 -73) n Bars 52 -58: F major 6 chord n Bars 59 -62: Minim riff in G Major this time (takes the music back for a repeat “with a click”) n Bar 63 (second time bar) music one tone higher in G Major n Bar 70: Music modulates back to D Major

Tonality & Harmony n Bar 70 onwards: Quaver beats in bassline outline chords of D Major, A major and G major but middle parts of harmony are chromatic (including parallel 4 ths) (bars 77 -81 etc ) n Bar 95: Neopolitan chord (flattened supertonic (E flat in D) in first inversion) – dramatic chord, temporarily out of key n Bars 97 -98: Shift to C Major with a perfect cadence (G-C ) n Bar 98: C major alternating quaver bass against four note minim riff in G major (F sharps) – bitonality (also at bar 106)

“Something’s Coming” from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, 1958) RHYTHM, TEMPO & METRE GCSE Music: Area of Study 2

Rhythm, Metre & Tempo n The piece starts and ends in 3 / 4 but fleets back and forth into 2 / 4 : n n n n n bar 1: 3 / 4 bar 21: 2 / 4 bar 58: 3 / 4 bar 59: 2 / 4 bar 69: 3 / 4 bar 70: 2 / 4 bar 124: 3 / 4 bar 125: 2 / 4 bar 141: 3 / 4

Rhythm, Metre & Tempo n Driving rhythms – sense of urgency and excitement n Syncopated “push” rhythms – accompaniment and riff ‘push’ on third beat of the bar (Tony’s first note comes in with a syncopated push on the 3 rd beat) n Bars 23 -25: syncopated push on “sky” and “eye” and “due” and “true” n Bars 52 -72: mixture of straight rhythms (something’s coming) and syncopated rhythms (I don’t know what it is)

Rhythm, Metre & Tempo n On beat crotchets confirm that “something” is going to happen at the dance – push rhythms indicate uncertainty n Bars 72 -105: fluidity of the melody line is achieved through use of triplets free of 2 beat harmony of accompaniment. Bass plays on beat quavers throughout this section. n Bar 141: Back to ¾ - sense of going back to beginning, also recalling the music from the opening bars 4 -20

SOMETHING’S COMING By Leonard BERNSTEIN From WEST SIDE STORY

West Side Story- what can you remember? n Name the Gangs n Which city does the action take place in? n Name the Romeo & Juliet characters n Who dies first in the story? n When is the story set? n Who sings SOMETHING’S COMING?

Musical facts about SOMETHING’S COMING n Solo song for Tony early on in the story before he meets Maria at the dance n Written in ¾ but it has CROSS RHYTHMS and sounds like it is in 6/8. n Lots of SYNCOPATION (off beat) n D major key n OSTINATI – repeated patterns used a lot in the orchestra

More facts about SOMETHING’S COMING n TRITONE used – also called an AUGMENTED 4 th or DEVIL in music! They sound awkward and help create tension. n Tony starts singing pp- breathless and excited. n Big orchestra used. n Lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim who also wrote musicals later of his own.

Possible GCSE questions on SOMETHING’S COMING 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. When was this composed? Give 2 features of the RHYTHM in this music What sort of voice is TONY? What is the key? Describe the starting dynamics What is a TRITONE and where is one used?

SOMETHING’S COMING By Leonard BERNSTEIN From WEST SIDE STORY