Bernstein’s ‘Mass’ gets an encore performance
Ravinia Festival’s historic 2018 revival enjoying robust afterlife
It was one of the most remarkable musical events of 2018: The Ravinia Festival’s historic revival of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass.”
Incredibly, Bernstein’s magnum opus never had received a professional performance in the Chicago area (though Northwestern University presented it in 2009).
So Ravinia was gambling on several fronts, starting with the massive forces that president/ CEO Welz Kauffman and conductor Marin Alsop needed for a fully staged production: They enlisted no less than the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Children’s Choir, Highland Park High School Marching Band and the choral ensemble Vocality — more than 200 performers in all, convened as part of last year’s celebration of the Bernstein centennial.
Because of the demands of staging the piece, “Mass” had enjoyed few revivals in recent years, meaning the general public had scant acquaintance with it. Kauffman and Alsop had reason to wonder whether anyone would show up.
What’s more, “Mass” was born in controversy. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had invited Bernstein to present a world premiere for the 1971 opening of the Kennedy Center, in Washington, and the composer — as always — pushed beyond expectations and musical conventions. Rather than write something wholly celebratory for a cultural shrine to one of America’s most culturally astute presidents, John F. Kennedy,
Bernstein instead penned an opus that extolled faith but also profoundly questioned it. In the era of civil rights battles and Vietnam War protests, the composer unflinchingly reflected the troubled tenor of that time.
Despite these obstacles, and others, Ravinia’s “Mass” proved a critical and popular success, so much so that the festival on July 20 will present an encore performance to be filmed for a national television broadcast in 2020 (details to be announced). Though other companies around the world also performed “Mass” last year to celebrate Bernstein’s 100th, Ravinia’s production is one of the few to enjoy such a robust afterlife.
When did Kauffman and Ravinia decide to do all this?
“Almost immediately after the performance last summer — not within seconds, but within weeks,” says Kauffman.
“It just felt like it was the right thing to bring back because it was so good, but also because it’s a mysterious piece to a lot of people. Just letting folks know what it was all about takes some time.”
Indeed, “Mass” stands apart from a centuries-long history of sacred works, in that it embraces text from the Roman Catholic Mass but also encompasses Broadway-style tunes, Hebraic chant and shades of folk and rock music, all driven by a symphonic accompaniment pulsing with nervous jazz rhythm (the text is by Bernstein with composerlyricist Stephen Schwartz).
The piece pivots on the role of a Celebrant who proclaims his faith at the start of “Mass” but soon faces increasingly sharp resistance from a Street Chorus (hence the comparison to the street protests of the era). Eventually the Celebrant undergoes a spectacular crisis of faith that can be interpreted as a larger, metaphorical comment on life in America — then and now.
Daringly, Bernstein also included contemporary commentary from the Street Chorus. Ravinia refreshed the piece last summer by encouraging the choristers to recite their own letters of protest.
Their words were as devastating as they were topical.
“Dearly beloved,” said Alexander Birch Elliott, delivering text he penned with director Kevin Newbury.
“We have people in power who are using hate, fear and lies to separate us from each other and from the ideals for which our country has come to stand. As a person in a position of privilege and opportunity, I now realize that we have the power — and more importantly — the responsibility to act as both a sword and a shield for those persons facing oppression from their own government.”
The audience response was thunderous, as it was for another letter:
“Dear brothers and sisters,” said Isabel Santiago, reciting a text inspired by those suffering at our border with Mexico.
“Please help us. We are desperate parents. We are not criminals. We were not prepared for this nightmare we face here. It’s been more than a month without our children. They are living in places with strangers, and each day it’s more painful than the last. They no longer recognize our voices. They cry and feel abandoned and unloved.”
Explains Kauffman, “Though Lenny never actually said it to anyone, the people closest to him believe he would have wanted the letters to be different each time.”
That approach clearly brings urgency to each production, could make the upcoming performance still more timely and points to the enduring value of “Mass,” despite those early negative reviews.
“For me, it’s an apex of Bernstein — not only the composer, but the community activist, the politically conscious citizen of the world,” Alsop, a Bernstein protégé, told me last year.
“Maybe that’s why I love it, because it’s about him, not just as the great musical genius he was, but as a human being.”
Bernstein, who died in 1990 at age 72, was wounded by critical barbs “Mass” suffered, leaving Alsop unable to draw much commentary from him about it.
“I tried to steer him toward talking about the piece a few times, and I had the feeling that it was like one of your children that nobody was supposed to talk about anymore,” she told me last year. “I think he was extremely wounded by the critical response and the lack of understanding for what he was trying to do.”
Isn’t that always the case when artists try to lead us beyond the commonplace? The musical eclecticism that defines Bernstein’s “Mass” and colors so much of the rest of his work was stigmatized half a century ago but practically has become routine today, composers of various genres borrowing from each other’s musical languages, to the benefit of anyone with open ears and sensibilities.
Those who saw “Mass” last year will be heartened to know that baritone Paulo Szot will return as the Celebrant, his performance as compelling musically as it was charismatic dramatically, while Alsop again will be at the podium. Her work last time underscored not only an affinity for Bernstein’s stylistically multifaceted writing but an ability to find a through line in a work packed with far-flung dramatic incidents.
Will this year’s staging be very different from last year’s?
“I really don’t think so,” says Kauffman, “though maybe that’s naïve, because every live performance is different.
“There will be the natural things that happen when people do things again: which is growth and understanding.”
If indeed the revival builds on last year’s achievements, this could be a “Mass” well worth preserving, as the TV broadcast promises to do.
Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” will be performed at 8 p.m. July 20 at the Ravinia Festival, Lake Cook and Green Bay Roads, Highland Park; $25-$90 tickets; $15 lawn; 847266-5100 or www.ravinia.org.