Works Vocal My Twelve-Tone Melody (1988)

Overview

Composed in honor of Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday, Bernstein mixes a twelve-tone row with a distorted version of two Berlin songs "My Russian Lullaby" - remembered nostalgically from LB's youth - and "Always".

Lyrics

Irving Berlin, I'm sorry.
Irving Berlin, forgive me.
Each night you'll hear me croon this twelve-tone lullaby.
This dreadful little tune.
When baby starts to cry.
(Irving Berlin, forgive me.)
I only want to celebrate you,
without having to imitate you;
and certainly not to irritate you...
Spoken: You see, I did set that rhyme, after all.
So please accept this dodecaphony,
This nasty little waltz,
This plaintive piece of schmaltz,
My twelve tone melody.
(Irving Berlin, I'm sorry.)
Not a simple scale;
Not a major third;
NOT ANOTHER WORD, but ALWAYS.

Related Works
Piccola Serenata
I Hate Music!
La Bonne Cuisine

Details

(1988) 2 min
Text
Leonard Bernstein
World Premiere:
May 11, 1988. Sung by LB in horor of Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday/Carnegie Hall, NY
Scoring
voice and piano

Purchasing Licensing Information

To perform My Twelve-Tone Melody, please contact Boosey & Hawkes. For general licensing inquiries, click here.

To purchase sheet music for My Twelve-Tone Melody, please visit our store.

Media

Publicity photo of Irving Berlin taken by his early music publishing company for promotion.
Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons

 
 
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