| Opening Prayer | |
|---|---|
| Composition byLeonard Bernstein | |
 The composer and conductor in 1971 | |
| Related |
|
| Occasion | Reopening ofCarnegie Hall |
| Performed | 18 December 1986 (1986-12-18): Carnegie Hall, New York City |
| Scoring |
|
Opening Prayer is a composition forbaritone and orchestra, written for the reopening ofCarnegie Hall in 1986. ComposerLeonard 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 hisJubilee Games in 1988, and in their expansion to theConcerto for Orchestra in 1989, calling the movement nowBenediction.
Leonard Bernstein had a close connection toCarnegie Hall. He made his debut there on 14 November 1943, stepping in forBruno Walter on short notice. As the orchestra's first American conductor and conducting theNew York Philharmonic for the first time, the event was widely publicised and made him well known.[1] Bernstein appeared at the hall until 1990 in more than 430 events as pianist, conductor, composer and educator.[1] When the hall was reopened after restoration in 1986, Bernstein received the first commission for the opening celebrations.[1] He set a Hebrew benediction for baritone and orchestra.[2][3] The text is thePriestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26), which serves to conclude the liturgy of traditional morning services,[2] in English:
The music began as a piano miniature, part of13 Anniversaries, from No. 12 dedicated to Aaron Stern.[5] Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premiere[1] on 15 December 1986, withKurt Ollmann as the baritone soloist.[4] The long concert began with piano pieces by Chopin played byVladimir Horowitz, had six songs sung by Frank Sinatra in the middle, and ended with the final movement from Mahler'sResurrection Symphony, conducted byZubin Mehta.[6]
Bernstein used the music later as amovement of hisJubilee Games. He wrote that work first in two movements for the 50th anniversary of theIsrael Philharmonic. He addedOpening prayer as a middle movement in a revised version for the first performance in the United States in which he conducted the orchestra atAvery Fisher Hall in 1988.[7] When he expandedJubilee Games further in 1989, then called Concerto for Orchestra, he added a different second movement and movedOpening Prayer, now called Benediction, to the final position of four:[2][8]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
