Run Time: Approx. 20 minutes

Commissioned by Walter Hussey, Dean of Chichester Cathedral in Sussex, Chichester Psalms was premiered in 1965 with Bernstein leading the New York Philharmonic and the Camerata Singers, before receiving its English premiere at Chichester Cathedral. Hussey offered Bernstein free reign in his writing, but he did note that he thought “many of us would be very delighted if there was a hint of West Side Story in it” (West Side Story written in 1957.) Bernstein was happy to comply and added to the work music from West Side Story’s prologue.

Before the premiere, Bernstein—well known for his whimsy—published the following poem in The New York Times, reflecting on the unexpected tonality he had settled on in his composition, and considering the possibility that it may “sicken” supporters of more modern, avant-garde music.

For hours on end, I brooded and mused

On materiae musicae, used and abused;

On aspects of unconventionality, 

Over the death in our time of tonality, …

Pieces for nattering, clucking sopranos

With squadrons of vibraphones, fleets of pianos

Played with forearms, the fists and the palms — 

And then I came up with the Chichester Psalms.

These psalms are a simple and modest affair,

Tonal and tuneful and somewhat square,

Certain to sicken a stout John Cager

With its tonics and triads in E-flat major,

But there it stands — the result of my pondering,

Two long months of avant-garde wandering —

My youngest child, old-fashioned and sweet. 

And he stands on his own two tonal feet.

Despite Leonard Bernstein’s assertion that Chichester Psalms is a “simple and modest affair,” the work is anything but. With its challenging harmonies and intricate rhythmic meters, this composition is a complex challenge for orchestra and chorus. Bernstein, born into a Jewish family, believed that singing brought one closer to God, and this spiritual connection can be deeply felt in the work. Set entirely in Hebrew, the text is extracted from the Old Testament. Each movement includes a complete psalm plus a fragment of another.