The cathedral dean who asked Bernstein for “a hint of West Side Story”
In 1964, the dean of an English cathedral wrote to Leonard Bernstein with an unusual request. Walter Hussey wanted a new choral work for the Chichester festival — and, only half-joking, he added that many of them would be delighted if it carried “a hint of West Side Story.”
Bernstein took him at his word.
Listen to the restless music beneath the men’s voices in the second movement of Chichester Psalms, and you’re hearing melodies he had cut from the Prologue of West Side Story — now carrying Psalm 2, “Why do the nations rage.” The Sharks and Jets, hiding inside scripture.
The rest is pure joy. Chichester Psalms bursts open — “Awake, psaltery and harp!” — and tumbles into “Make a joyful noise,” in a galloping, off-balance meter you can’t sit still to. At its center, a single high voice floats the shepherd’s psalm, serene above the storm. And it closes not with a shout but a whisper — a prayer to dwell together in unity.
It’s all sung in Hebrew, by the most American of composers — the man who gave us On the Town, the New York Philharmonic, and yes, West Side Story. We can’t think of a better way to open a season we’re calling I Hear America Singing.
Around it, we’ll gather the sound of a country finding its voice — shape-note hymns, spirituals, and songs from William Billings to today — building all afternoon toward those final, hushed bars.
On the Program
- Pennsylvania — Jeremiah Ingalls
- An Anthem, for Thanksgiving — William Billings
- All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name — arr. James Mulholland
- Steal Away — spiritual, arr. Nicholas White
- Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal — arr. Alice Parker
- Sing Me to Heaven — Daniel Gawthrop
- Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing — arr. James Mulholland
- Chichester Psalms — Leonard Bernstein