Hartford Symphony Orchestra - Copland & Bernstein - Leonard Bernstein (Born August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts Died October 14, 1990 in New York City)

Leonard Bernstein (Born August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts Died October 14, 1990 in New York City)

Fancy Free (1944)

World Premiere: April 18, 1944
Last HSO performance: November 10, 2013
Instrumentation: 2 flutes with 2nd doubling piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, timpani, piano, snare drum, bass drum, cymbal, sus. cymbal, woodblock, cowbell, triangle, strings
Duration: 25’

Leonard Bernstein was 25 years old when he came to national prominence. On his birthday, August 25, 1943, he was named assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic; on November 14th he substituted at short notice for the ailing Bruno Walter in a nationally broadcast concert that made him an overnight sensation. At that same time, he received a commission from New York’s Ballet Theatre to compose the score for his first ballet, Fancy Free, a production which would also mark the début of Jerome Robbins as a choreographer. Oliver Smith created the decor and Kermit Love designed the costumes. The composer summarized the plot of the ballet: “From the moment the action begins, the ballet is strictly young America of 1944. The curtain rises on a street corner with a lamppost, a side-street bar and New York skyscrapers picked out with a crazy pattern of lights, making a dizzy backdrop. Three sailors explode on the stage; they are on shore leave in the city and on the prowl for girls. The tale of how they meet first one, then a second girl, and how they fight over them, lose them and in the end take off after still a third, is the story of the ballet.” Fancy Free, conducted by the composer, was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on April 18,1944. It was a smash. “Architecturally the work is a gem,” wrote Robert Lawrence, “the perfection of its individual numbers matching the skill with which they have been joined.” The ballet was played 99 times in New York that year, and Bernstein and lyricists Adolf Green and Betty Comden made its premise (though not its music) into the musical On the Town, which opened on Broadway on December 28, 1944. Bernstein derived an orchestral suite from the complete score of the ballet, and conducted its first performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on
January 14, 1945.

Fancy Free is set in a deserted street in lower Manhattan in 1944. It is night. Three sailors on shore leave burst onto the scene, joking and joshing, ready for fun. They enter a bar and order three beers, but soon return to the street, where a pretty brunette passing by captures their attention. They tease her, she seems interested, and two of the boys strut away on her arms, leaving the third sailor on his own. Just as he heads back into the bar, another girl, an alluring redhead, appears and accepts his invitation to join him for a drink. They dance a Pas de Deux of mounting intensity that signals their mutual attraction. Their reverie is broken by the return of the other sailors with the brunette. The boys learn, without much surprise, that the two girls are old friends. They all stroll into the bar together, where they settle on a dance competition, judged by the girls, to decide which two of the three sailors will have companions for the evening. The first sailor does a boisterous Galop, the second a lyrical Waltz, and the third a sinuous Latin Danzón. The contest settles nothing, however, and the sailors resort to a brawl to decide the matter. The girls stalk out of the bar, and disappear into the night by the time the boys have finished their fight. The trio is suddenly struck by the humor of their situation — they have beaten each other up in vain — and they share a friendly drink before strolling back into the deserted street. A tempting blonde saunters by. The boys hesitate for only a moment before following her off into the city lights.