Leonard Bernstein, "Profanation," from Symphony No. 1, "Jeremiah"
Profanation from Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah
Leonard Bernstein
Born: August 25, 1918, Lawrence, Massachusetts
Died: October 14, 1990, New York, New York
Composed: 1943
Arranged: Frank Bencriscuitto
Duration: 8 minutes
Jeremiah, Bernstein’s first symphony, was premiered in 1944, with the composer conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Jennie Tourel as mezzo-soprano soloist, with the text coming from the Old Testament’s Book of Lamentations. Profanation, a scherzo, was originally sandwiched in between the symphony’s first movement, Prophecy, and the third, Lamentations. The programmatic element of the movement is based on the traditional Hebrew Haftarah, a biblical selection from the Books of the Prophets read after the parashah in the Jewish synagogue service. The music depicts a general sense of destruction and chaos brought on by pagan corruption in ancient Jerusalem.
Profanation is being presented in celebration of Bernstein’s one-hundredth birthday in 2018.
Leonard Bernstein, Profanation, from Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah
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