WARNING! This article contains spoilers for Maestro (2023)!
Summary
- Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper, is a biopic based on the life and career of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein.
- The film focuses on Bernstein's relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre, and explores his contributions to music and involvement in humanitarian causes.
- The soundtrack of Maestro includes some of Bernstein's most famous compositions, such as "Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs" and the Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish."
The inspiration for Bradley Cooper's new movie, Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), but it also highlights the life and career of the larger-than-life 20th century musical figure.
Bernstein earned numerous awards over his career as an acclaimed conductor, composer, and pianist, including a remarkable 16 Grammy Awards. He even became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958, a feat recognized throughout Maestro's story. On top of his valued contributions to music, he was also involved in many humanitarian issues, such as the Civil Rights Movement and HIV/AIDS research. Throughout his career, which spanned almost five decades, Bernstein's musical compositions included operas, film scores, symphonies, and musicals, with some of his creations being part of Maestro's soundtrack.
15 "Prelude, Fugue, And Riffs"
Composed in 1949
Prelude, Fugue and Riffs is a jazz composition and one of Bernstein's best works, which he composed in 1949. It was originally written for the Woody Herman band, but by the time Bernstein completed the work, the band had broken up (via Leonard Bernstein Office). The first time it was aired was in 1955 on a television show Bernstein hosted called The World of Jazz. Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue and Riffs is one of his most frequently performed concert works.
14 "Serenade After Plato’s Symposium"
Completed in 1954
Serenade After Plato's Symposium is a half-hour-long composition for solo violin, strings, and percussion, which was inspired by the philosopher Plato's work The Symposium. It's one of Bernstein's most melodic compositions, dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation (via Leonard Bernstein Office). Bernstein conducted the premiere of Serenade After Plato's Symposium with violinist Isaac Stern and Orchestra Del Teatro La Fenice in 1954.
13 "Divertimento For Orchestra"
Completed in 1980
Divertimento, also known as Divertimento for Orchestra, consists of eight pieces, which was finished in 1980 as a way to honor the 100th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The famous composer created Divertimento two years after the death of his wife in 1978, a time when Bernstein worked on many compositions he didn't complete, but Diviertimento was an exception. Following its original completion in 1980, Bernstein revised the piece in 1983 and changed its ending. The composer then added further alterations in 1987 and 1988, shortly after the time of Maestro's ending.
12 "Symphony No.3, ‘Kaddish’"
Completed in 1963
Leonard Bernstein's famous composition Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish" is among his most dramatic works, which is intended to consist of a narrator, choir, soprano soloist, and a large orchestra when performed. The musical work's title, Kaddish, is a reference to the Jewish prayer of the same name that is chanted as a mourning ritual at synagogue services. The composition by the 45-year-old Bernstein was aptly dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's memory, as he had died only weeks before the symphony's first performance in 1963. Part of the symphony also made it into Bradley Cooper's Maestro as the final song.
11 "On The Waterfront"
Completed in 1955
Among Berstein's greatest accomplishments related to his work as a film composer, which included the score to the Best Picture Oscar-winning movie On the Waterfront (1954). The movie, starring Marlon Brando and directed by Elia Kazan, was Bernstein's only film score not adapted from a stage play with songs. Bernstein's work paid off, because, among the film's Academy Awards nominations, it received an Oscar nod for Best Music Score, but the film didn't win in that category. The Maestro soundtrack also includes snippets of the Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront.
10 "Symphony No.1, 'Jeremiah'"
Completed in 1942
Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah was the work that established Bernstein as an important symphonist, and marked the introduction of a theme that would continue to inspire many of his works thereafter. Including three movements ("Prophecy," "Profanation," and "Lamentation"), Jeremiah is named after the major Hebrew prophet and includes texts from the Hebrew Bible for the latter section. The premiere of this work came in 1944, shortly after Bernstein's conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic after covering for Bruno Walter – the event that kicks of Maestro's tale. As depicted in Maestro, Bernstein didn't have a good relationship with his father, but the two reconciled after his overwhelming reception at Carnegie Hall, leading him to dedicate Jeremiah to his father, Sam.
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9 Chichester Psalms
Completed in 1965
While Bernstein was on a sabbatical from his position as the New York Philharmonic's Music Director in 1965, the Dean of the Cathedral of Chichester, Walter Hussey, asked Bernstein to write a piece for the Cathedral’s 1965 music festival. Chichester Psalms was his first piece after 1963's Symphony No. 3 Kaddish, and although it was intended for the festival, the three-movement choral composition premiered first at the Philharmonic Hall in New York City. The second movement made it in Maestro's end credits.
8 Wonderful Town
Completed in 1953
Leonard Bernstein wrote the score for the 1953 musical Wonderful Town, and he did so on very short notice. It reunited him with his old friends Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who wrote the lyrics. The musical, adapted from the book My Sister Eileen, opened on Broadway on February 25, 1953, and won five Tony Awards. Wonderful Town includes elements of his earlier piece, Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, and is ed as one of his lightest and most frequently performed compositions.
7 Trouble In Tahiti
Completed in 1951
Another of the real Leonard Bernstein's most famous compositions is Trouble in Tahiti, a one-act opera consisting of seven scenes with an English libretto written by Bernstein. Whereas Wonderful Town is one of his lightest, Trouble in Tahiti is the darkest among the composer's works. Inspiration hit him while he was on his honeymoon with Felicia Montealegre, and the opera tells the story of a day in the life of an unhappy young couple. It was based on his relationship with his parents, though he changed his mother's name in the opera from Jennie to Dinah. The interlude of the 1952-premiering opera also makes it into Netflix's Maestro.
6 On The Town
Completed in 1944
In one of Maestro's most memorable fantasy scenes, at which time young Leonard Bernstein is courting Felicia Montealegre, the couple watches performances of his composition On the Town before Bernstein himself s in and dances. On the Town was Leonard Bernstein's first hand at musical theater, born from a ballet called Fancy Free. It tells the story of three sailors on 24-hour leave in New York City, which is ed as a loving ode to the city that Bernstein called home.
The composer's friends, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, wrote the lyrics, with Paul Feigay producing the show. The musical was an instant hit on Broadway, although Bernstein was relatively unknown at the time. Several musical numbers from On the Town are featured in Bradley Coopr's Maestro, including "Lonely Town," "New York, New York," and "Carried Away."
