Bernstein: Serenade
Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade composed for violin, string orchestra, harp and percussion was inspired by Plato’s Symposium, which was written about love. The work was presented in Venice, conducted by the composer, Isaac Stern’s violin solo in 1954. The play, which is a musical composition of dialogues in praise of love told in the legendary banquet, follows the original order. Every consecutive speaker starts with the previous speaker’s words’ virtues and mistakes in Plato’s work. Accordingly, the new musical elements are developing or shading the previous movement’s materials by Bernstein.
The following participants of the dialogue are talking: I. Phaedrus and Pausanias; II. Aristophanes; III. Eryximachus; IV. Agathon;
Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade composed for violin, string orchestra, harp and percussion was inspired by Plato’s Symposium, which was written about love. The work was presented in Venice, conducted by the composer, Isaac Stern’s violin solo in 1954. The play, which is a musical composition of dialogues in praise of love told in the legendary banquet, follows the original order. Every consecutive speaker starts with the previous speaker’s words’ virtues and mistakes in Plato’s work. Accordingly, the new musical elements are developing or shading the previous movement’s materials by Bernstein.
The following participants of the dialogue are talking: I. Phaedrus and Pausanias; II. Aristophanes; III. Eryximachus; IV. Agathon;