"One Hand, One Heart" is a song from the musical ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

'' by

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

and

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

. It is a duet sung between Maria and Tony while they have a make-believe wedding, as seen in the stage version and 1961 film, while in the 2021 film, they sing it as they pledge their love to one another inside a church at

The Cloisters The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art ...

as part of their date. Larry Kert and

Carol Lawrence Carol Lawrence (born Carolina Maria Laraia; September 5, 1932) is an American actress, appearing in musical theatre and on television. She is known for creating the role of Maria on Broadway theatre, Broadway in the musical ''West Side Story ( ...

introduced it in the 1957 Broadway production. __TOC__

Analysis

The tune was originally composed for an unused song in ''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

'', called "One". The original tune comprised just a single

dotted note In Western musical notation, a dotted note is a Musical note, note with a small dot written after it. In modern practice, the first dot increases the duration (music), duration of the original note by half of its note value, value. This makes a ...

per bar, which Sondheim was loath to write lyrics for, as he would have to write all single syllable words, so he wrote lyrics making fun of the tune to persuade Bernstein to give him the extra notes. Sondheim later wrote of the final product: Philip Brophy analysis the song's context within the musical:

Notable recordings

* Larry Kert and

– for the album '' West Side Story (Original Broadway Cast)'' (1957) * Jim Bryant and

Marni Nixon Margaret Nixon McEathron (February 22, 1930 – July 24, 2016), known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films. She was the singing voice of leading actresses on the s ...

– '' West Side Story (Original Sound Track Recording)'' (1961). *

Vic Damone Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop music, pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My ...

– a single release in 1963. *

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

– included in her album '' On Stage and in the Movies'' (1967) * Vince Hill – for his album ''Edelweiss'' (1967). *

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". On 1 December ...

and

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Catalan operatic tenor from Spain who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, ...

– for the album ''Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story'' (1985) *

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

– for his album '' Lovescape'' (1991) *

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

and

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...

– '' Back to Broadway'' (1993) *

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

(with Joe Jackson) – for her album '' It's Like This'' (2000) *

Ansel Elgort Ansel Elgort (born March 14, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film '' Carrie'' (2013). He gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic d ...

and

Rachel Zegler Rachel Anne Zegler ( ; born May 3, 2001) is an American actress and singer. She gained wide recognition for playing María in Steven Spielberg's musical adaptation ''West Side Story (2021 film), West Side Story'' (2021), winning the Golden Glo ...

– '' West Side Story (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' (2021)

References

External links

* , Nathan Pacheco, Clara Hurtado Lee, American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic, Kayson Brown conducting (2021) {{authority control Songs from West Side Story Songs with music by Leonard Bernstein Songs written by Stephen Sondheim 1957 songs Male–female vocal duets