Prelude, Fugue, And Riffs
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''Prelude, Fugue and Riffs'' is a "written-out" jazz-in-concert-hall composition composed 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 ...
for a
jazz ensemble Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, hymns, m ...
featuring solo
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
. The title points to the union of
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
and
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
: Prelude (first movement) and
Fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...
(second movement) – both
baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
forms – are followed immediately without a pause by a series of "
riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...
s" (third movement), which is a jazz term for a repeated and short melodic figure. It features: * brass and rhythm in the first movement, * saxophones in the second movement, and * the entire ensemble plus solo clarinet in the third movement first with backing from the
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
then by the entire ensemble. Completed in 1949 for
Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roo ...
's
big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
as part of a series of commissioned works – that already included
Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...
's '' Ebony Concerto'' – it was never performed by Herman, possibly because his orchestra had disbanded at that time. Instead, it received its premiere on Bernstein's ''Omnibus'' television show, ''The World of Jazz'' on October 16, 1955.From the liner notes of the Deutsche Grammophone Bernstein-Schmidl recording The soloist for the work's TV premiere was Al Gallodoro; he is seen in the preserved 1955 video playing alto saxophone and then the clarinet solo passages. Some sources instead credit
Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...
, to whom the work was dedicated upon its publication. In 1952 Bernstein revised the score from its original instrumentation for a more conventional pit orchestra, and the work was then incorporated into a ballet sequence in the first draft of the
musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...
''
Wonderful Town ''Wonderful Town'' is a 1953 musical theatre, musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical tells the story of two sisters who aspire to be ...
''. The revised version of ''Prelude, Fugue and Riffs'' did not survive and the majority of the music was cut from the final version of the ''Wonderful Town'' score with the exception of a few phrases in the musical's numbers "Conquering the City" and "Conversation Piece". It later was transcribed for clarinet and orchestra by
Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...
.


Discography

Recordings by Leonard Bernstein *
Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...
. ''Benny Goodman Collector's Edition'', CBS MK 42227 *
Peter Schmidl Peter Schmidl (10 January 1941 – 1 February 2025) was an Austrian clarinetist. Life and career Schmidl was born in Olomouc, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on 10 January 1941. He studied clarinet with Rudolf Jettel at the University of Mus ...
. ''Bernstein Conducts Bernstein'',
Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
447952-2 GLB, (1949), (p) 1992 Recording of big band version *
Wolfgang Meyer Wolfgang Meyer (13 August 1954 – 17 March 2019) was a German clarinetist and professor of clarinet at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe. He worked internationally as a soloist, in chamber music ensembles, and in jazz, with a repertoire from early mu ...
. ''Homage to Benny Goodman'', EMI Classics 7243 5 56652 2 5 (1998), (p) 1998 Recordings available on CD *Michael Collins. ''The Jazz Album'', EMI CDC 7 47991 2 *Harmen de Boer. ''Bernstein/Copland/Gershwin/Stravinsky'', Chandos CHAN 9210 (1993), (p) 1993 *
Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...
. ''Benny Goodman Collector's Edition'', CBS MK 42227 *
Wolfgang Meyer Wolfgang Meyer (13 August 1954 – 17 March 2019) was a German clarinetist and professor of clarinet at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe. He worked internationally as a soloist, in chamber music ensembles, and in jazz, with a repertoire from early mu ...
. ''Homage to Benny Goodman'', EMI Classics 7243 5 56652 2 5 (1998), (p) 1998 *
Peter Schmidl Peter Schmidl (10 January 1941 – 1 February 2025) was an Austrian clarinetist. Life and career Schmidl was born in Olomouc, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on 10 January 1941. He studied clarinet with Rudolf Jettel at the University of Mus ...
. ''Bernstein Conducts Bernstein'', Deutsche Grammophon 447952-2 GLB, (1949), (p) 1992 *
Richard Stoltzman Richard Leslie Stoltzman (born July 12, 1942) is an American clarinetist. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his early years in San Francisco, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is pa ...
. ''Copland/Corigliano/Bernstein'', RCA Victor Red Seal RD 87762 (1988), (p) 1988 * John Bruce Yeh. ''Stravinsky/Bernstein/Gould/Babin/Shaw'', Reference Recordings RR-55CD (1993), (p) 1993


References


External links


''Prelude, Fugue and Riffs''
work details
Score
Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...

''Prelude, Fugue & Riffs''
the newsletter of the Leonard Bernstein Office {{Authority control Compositions for clarinet and orchestra Concertante works by Leonard Bernstein Preludes (music) Fugues 1949 compositions Music dedicated to ensembles or performers Music commissioned by Woody Herman Jazz compositions