{{Short description|Composition for baritone and orchestra}} {{Infobox musical composition | name = ''Opening Prayer'' | type = Composition | composer = Leonard Bernstein | image = Leonard Bernstein 1971-2.jpg | image_upright = 0.9 | caption = The composer and conductor in 1971 | occasion = Reopening of Carnegie Hall | related = {{plainlist| * based on No. 12 of ''13{{nbsp}}Anniversaries'' * part of Concerto for Orchestra "Jubilee Games" }} | performed = {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1986|12|18|df=y}}|location=Carnegie Hall, New York City}} | movements = | scoring = {{hlist | baritone | orchestra }} }} '''''Opening Prayer''''' is a composition for baritone and orchestra, written for the reopening of Carnegie Hall in 1986. Composer Leonard Bernstein set a Hebrew biblical benediction, which concludes a traditional morning service. He derived the music from an earlier piano composition, and later included it in his '''''Jubilee Games''''' in 1988, and in their expansion to the '''Concerto for Orchestra''' in 1989, calling the movement now '''Benediction'''.
== History == Leonard Bernstein had a close connection to Carnegie Hall. He made his debut there on 14 November 1943, stepping in for Bruno Walter on short notice. As the orchestra's first American conductor and conducting the New York Philharmonic for the first time, the event was widely publicised and made him well known.<ref name="Carnegie" /> Bernstein appeared at the hall until 1990 in more than 430 events as pianist, conductor, composer and educator.<ref name="Carnegie" /> When the hall was reopened after restoration in 1986, Bernstein received the first commission for the opening celebrations.<ref name="Carnegie" /> He set a Hebrew benediction for baritone and orchestra.<ref name="Gottlieb" /><ref name="Boosey" /> The text is the Priestly Blessing ({{bibleverse||Numbers|6:24–26|HE}}), which serves to conclude the liturgy of traditional morning services,<ref name="Gottlieb" /> in English: : May the Lord bless you and keep you; : May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; : May He lift up His countenance and give you the blessing of peace.<ref name="Bernstein" />
The music began as a piano miniature, part of ''13 Anniversaries'', from No. 12 dedicated to Aaron Stern.<ref name="DeWald" /> Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premiere<ref name="Carnegie" /> on 15 December 1986, with Kurt Ollmann as the baritone soloist.<ref name="Bernstein" /> The long concert began with piano pieces by Chopin played by Vladimir Horowitz, had six songs sung by Frank Sinatra in the middle, and ended with the final movement from Mahler's ''Resurrection Symphony'', conducted by Zubin Mehta.<ref name="Rockwell" />
Bernstein used the music later as a movement of his ''Jubilee Games''. He wrote that work first in two movements for the 50th anniversary of the Israel Philharmonic. He added ''Opening prayer'' as a middle movement in a revised version for the first performance in the United States in which he conducted the orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in 1988.<ref name="NYTimes" /> When he expanded ''Jubilee Games'' further in 1989, then called Concerto for Orchestra, he added a different second movement and moved ''Opening Prayer'', now called Benediction, to the final position of four:<ref name="Gottlieb" /><ref name="Laird" /> {{Ordered list|type=upper-roman
| Free-Style Events | Mixed Doubles | Diaspora Dances | Benediction }}
==References== {{Reflist|30em | refs =
<ref name="DeWald">{{cite web | last = DeWald | first = Frank K. | url = https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.559756&catNum=559756&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English | title = Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) / Piano Music | publisher = Naxos Records | access-date = 14 August 2018 }}</ref>
<ref name="Gottlieb">{{cite web | last = Gottlieb | first = Jack | url = https://www.milkenarchive.org/music/volumes/view/masterworks-of-prayer/work/yvarekhkha/ | title = Opening Prayer | publisher = Boosey & Hawkes | access-date = 14 August 2018 }}</ref>
<ref name="Laird">{{cite book | last = Laird | first = Paul | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-yzLCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 | title = Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Research | publisher = Routledge | year = 2015 | isbn = 978-1-31-743044-5 | page = 74 }}</ref>
<ref name="Rockwell">{{cite news | last = Rockwell | first = John | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/16/arts/rejuvenated-carnegie-is-again-premier-hall.html | title = Rejuvenated Carnegie is Again Premier Hall | newspaper = The New York Times | page = 19 | date = 16 December 1986 | access-date = 21 August 2018 }}</ref>
<ref name="Bernstein">{{cite web | url = https://leonardbernstein.com/works/view/95/concerto-for-orchestra-jubilee-games | title = Concerto for Orchestra ("Jubilee Games") (1989) | publisher = leonardbernstein.com | year = 2018 | access-date = 21 August 2018 }}</ref>
<ref name="Boosey">{{cite web | url = https://boosey.com/pages/cr/catalogue/cat_detail?site-lang=en&musicid=2271 | title = Bernstein, Leonard: Opening Prayer (Benediction) (1986) 6' | publisher = Boosey & Hawkes | access-date = 14 August 2018 }}</ref>
<ref name="Carnegie">{{cite news | url = http://bernstein.carnegiehall.org/leonardbernstein/carnegiehall.aspx | title = Leonard Bernstein at Carnegie Hall | newspaper = Carnegie Hall | year = 2008 | access-date = 21 August 2018 }}</ref>
<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news | last1 = Henahan | first1 = Donal | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/25/arts/review-music-a-bernstein-premiere.html | title = A Bernstein Premiere | newspaper = The New York Times | page = 3 | date = 25 November 1988 | access-date = 14 August 2018 }}</ref>
}}
{{Leonard Bernstein}} {{Authority control}}
{{italic title}} Category:Songs with music by Leonard Bernstein Category:1986 compositions Category:Orchestral songs