Beautiful! "Somewhere" has always been one of my favorite pieces of music mainly because, as a gay kid growing up in the 1950s, I totally resonated with the aspiration of a time and place for us, someday, somewhere. I never knew this was a ballet in the original production, and sung by Reri Grist offstage. Amazing! And not to forget that Bernstein, Robbins and Sondheim were themselves gay and perhaps composing to express their own aspirations.

When you are so good at what you do your phone in song becomes the emotional center of the whole show.

Thanks very much for this. I found it because I'm a Sondheim fan, but your use of the Beethoven, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky elements frankly blew me away. It's still Bernstein's song, but I can appreciate it more now knowing about those.

@songbookstation7396

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Mike! It's really an amazing song, and glad you enjoyed learning more about it in the video. Appreciate the comment too!

@tedzaremba1412

2 жыл бұрын

So Bernstein took these melodies from the 3 classic composers to create Somewhere? Bernstein must have had extensive knowledge of the classics. Just trying to visualize all this.

@colleenwood2487

2 жыл бұрын

I especially loved Tchaikovsky's progression.

@AnonYmous-ry2jn

2 жыл бұрын

How about the most obvious antecedent….Schumann About Strange Lands and People (Von fremden Ländern und Menschen) kinderscenen op._15: it’s all about reclaiming a child’s innocent dream of a perfect world, a place of perfect love and acceptance implicitly very far from the brutality and cruelty of the real circumstance. Not only is the music nearly exactly the same as Bernstein’s, Schumann’s explicit programmatic content matches precisely the programmatic content of the West Side Story theme.

@martinez-shaffer

Жыл бұрын

@@colleenwood2487 Yes!!

Brilliant analysis, without detracting from WSS creators. Like a wedding, "something old, something new, something borrowed." It takes genius to make it sound fresh.

The Beethoven, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky connection was truly mindblowing. I've known and listened to all the pieces mentioned dozens of times and never made the connection. Genius!

@ejb7969

2 жыл бұрын

I always thought the slow movement of Bruckner's 6th Symphony (also conducted by Bernstein) was the source, but the connection was always somewhat unsatisfying because it only explained the 1st phrase, and the rhythm was different in the second measure. Yours is so much better! It explains almost everything - most notes and all the rhythm.

@AnonYmous-ry2jn

2 жыл бұрын

How about the most obvious antecedent….Schumann About Strange Lands and People (Von fremden Ländern und Menschen) kinderscenen op._15: it’s all about reclaiming a child’s innocent dream of a perfect world, a place of perfect love and acceptance implicitly very far from the brutality and cruelty of the real circumstance. Not only is the music nearly exactly the same as Bernstein’s, Schumann’s explicit programmatic content matches precisely the programmatic content of the West Side Story theme.

So great to have Mme Grist acknowledged as the first singer to sing this song!

@canadeeana

2 жыл бұрын

gorgeous work! thank you so much! i remember my young teenage girl loving this incredible vocalizing of "Somewhere"! I so wanted to be a singer! Alas, was not to be!! I will watch and listen to your classes! Thank you, again! Tears touch my eyes hearing this masterpiece.♥️

Hearing the song while seeing the original choreography is intensely moving. Thank you. (Reri Grist made her operatic debut a little while after West Side Story and had an international opera career, one of the first African Americans to do so. I saw her at the Salzburg Festival in 1967; she was wonderful. I think it's significant that Bernstein chose a Black soprano to sing "Somewhere". The song resonates is so many ways, for so many people, and always will.

@elizabethcorkhill4803

3 ай бұрын

😅

@elizabethcorkhill4803

3 ай бұрын

Bbb😅v😅v😅😅g😅😅v😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅 BB😮😢😮😢😅😅😅😅

also idk why but "Let's find a house in Scarsdale" got a chuckle out of me.

@tracer740

2 жыл бұрын

pssst ... me too but don't tell anybody, please?

I could say this is my all time favorite

What a perfect way to show how this magnificent song was built. To realize what was behind the song makes it even more beautiful. Thank you.

Finally, a WSS musical analysis that isn't just "look, there's a tritone! And there's another tritone!"

I guess it's true when they say "A good composer does not imitate; he steals." I've always loved Bernstein's music, haha.

@philipkuttner7945

2 жыл бұрын

It was Igor Stravinsky who said this. And he did! The Rake's progress is filled with ideas from Mozart.

@jabpoke

2 жыл бұрын

Bernstein famously told Michael Tilson Thomas, only steal the good stuff.

@jaimhaas5170

2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering why nobody here was saying this. At least you had the guts. I often listen to old Star Trek music and wonder how Speilburg got away with stealing the music for his movie "Jaws".

Ohhhhhhhhmygod I can’t believe I caught onto something like this! I studied the Emperor Concerto at A-Level music, and had just the year before performed as Riff in a school production of WSS; I brought up the similarity of the motif with my music teacher (also the orchestra conductor) and she told me that I was completely off-base! Vindicated after 21 years…!

Fascinating. I didn't know the singer was a black opera singer until I saw 4:35 her and heard her sing. She has a beautiful voice. Reri Grist has had a standard-setting career in opera. All of this is amazing to have happened in the 1950s. Kudos to her and to Leonard Bernstein.

That was really good. Leonard Bernstein once famously said, "It is impossible to write music that doesn't sound like something else." This is certainly no exception.

I was enthralled by your brilliant exposition of this beautiful song, long a favourite of mine. I do wonder, though, how much Lenny was consciously aware that he was combining these fragments. I now have even more respect for Sondheim"s mastery of the English language. Thank you, a most informative and entertaining post.

Fascinating! I'm a Sondheim and Bernstein fan and this was wonderful to watch particularly now, trying to come to terms with Sondheim's passing.

I saw the West Side Story movie in 1961. "Somewhere" is sung by artists today and it moves me no matter who sings it.

When I was a young music student (decades ago), I asked one of my professors what he thought of Leonard Berstein's music. "Not much", he said, "He's an eclectic..." I was very disappointed, because I enjoyed his music, so much. Years later, after composing my own music and conducting and playing in hundreds of concerts, I realized we are all eclectics. We are the product of all we have experienced. Composers have been openly borrowing good ideas from other composers, just as when we do research and write, we filter through the ides we have assimilated and combine them with our own thoughts. I see nothing compromising about the incorporation of the musical thoughts of great composers or great writers or philosophers or anyone, for that matter. It is up to us to use what we have learned honorably (give credit where it is due) and contribute as artistically as we are able. By the way, I enjoyed your presentation very much,

As a ballet dancer I know the music to Swan Lake well. I once got to be part of a stage production of West Side Story at La Scala in Milan, Italy and during rehearsals I would always say those three bars of Somewhere sounds like Swan Lake! I was sure it was Bernstein's inspiration. This confirms it for me and it's so interesting to learn about his other inspirations. There is a big difference between outright plagiarism of a piece of work and being inspired by parts of other people's work. Classical composers have been sampling long before sampling became a thing.

This was such a great analysis and very interesting history! One of the things I love most about the song is just how absolutely simple the lyrics are. Sondheim is a true wordsmith and poet with a large vocabulary, but this song's lyrical simplicity just adds to the timeless aspect of it, in my opinion.

First part: mind blown. Second part: as a singer, I ALWAYS appreciate when songs are singable. So many songs in a variety of genres are difficult simply for what vowels or parts of a word are expected to be sung well on certain notes. It’s a gifted person who can do that well to let the singer’s voice be at its best.

The deconstruction of the Somewhere is brilliantly illustrated and insightful. I never realized this phrases contributed to the main theme. Thank you!

Wow! " I've said repeatedly that I believe teaching is a sacred profession and that art is a form of teaching..." - Stephen Sondheim.

Loved seeing the original cast performing the dance. Very moving…thank you!

Edward Barnes - You're a genius. For over sixty years I have known the song but for the first time you managed to get Leonard Bernstein's mind on how it was created and of course on the lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim's. In one word - thank you

@adscri

2 жыл бұрын

Actually that’s two words.

@rugby8-Philadelphia

2 жыл бұрын

@@adscri .....boooooo 😎😎😎

@philipthomey7884

8 ай бұрын

Bahaha@@adscri

@user-vf5ft8pw6d

6 ай бұрын

Even after these many years, I think Somewhere has yet to find the best singer for it.

What a brilliant analysis, indicating how the mysterious creative process works sometimes. Hail to Leonard Bernstein's imagination aka talent.

I am 67 and heard this song for the very first time at 16. Through all these years it has been one of my favorites. Your analysis only proves that part of their genius came from a solid musical foundation. You made me feel as if I was taken on a voyage exploring the genealogy of this song by its makers. Thank you for enriching our lives.

THANK YOU. this is why LB wouldn’t change one note to accommodate Sondheim’s lyrics. your analysis is so smart and respectful

Thank E.B. for a great, insightful essay. Lenny's music was great, SS's lyrics were great but together they made magic.

That was so interesting. One of my very fave songs of all time. Thank You

This still makes me cry today! Edward Barnes, you are quite the genius.

Winning formula! Please make more

This is like acting out every composer's nightmare. The fear you're merely repeating what you've heard before is constant.

I’ve always felt those bars of Beethoven were just like Somewhere but didn’t think there might be a direct connection. Every composer is influenced by or unconsciously adopts what went before and, inevitably, snatches of music sound like others as there are only so many notes and chords and there are limits as to what can be sung or what works for an audience. West Side Story itself is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet, it’s an age old, universal story of thwarted first love. It is a classic itself in that it both borrows much from great, classical works while at the same time being highly innovative. It’s both cerebral and intellectual, and popular and emotional as well, the fusion of new American and classical European culture.

@jmmarqies1962

2 жыл бұрын

Of course ! tottaly agree with you

I echo all the laudatory comments below. I was 12 years old when the Broadway show opened. We bought the cast album and I must have sung it a million times, knew all the songs by heart. I saw the 1961 movie when it first came out at Radio City Music Hall, and I saw Spielberg's magnificent version the first weekend. But I've never seen it on stage, and I'm so glad you not only gave us the background on the creation of the song, but also included a clip of it being danced to, not sung. That gives a whole different meaning to the song. I have to wonder why the films didn't place it there. Thank you so much for this.

My favorite song from WSS. It never fails to move me...

A wonderful dissection on the song, and very interesting to see a fragment of the original ballet. You can tell Mr. Barnes really loves the source material.

YES!!! ANOTHER reason why these older "musical theatre" composers have it ALL OVER the current bunch... they knew theory inside and out... and they knew the GREAT composers works inside and out... heck... Leonard could play Stravinsky's Petrushka...

Absolutely brilliant analysis. I had noticed the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky melodies before. Your inclusion of the Strauss and the emphasis on the fact that it also includes undeniably Bernstein parts is fascinating. Thank you so much.

My favorite song from my favorite movie, and it’s been that way since I first saw it in 1960. The most beautiful melody ever written

I love this song! RIP Stephen Sondheim & Love this Theatrical Genius

Thanks for this wonderfully executed video. On all levels. I'm a pianist, and the first time I heard the WSS score, in 1961, my ear said: Beethoven #5. Your video presentation was seamless. A total pleasure.

I'm two years late, but this probably showed up in my recs because I've been watching Sondheim stuff nonstop. I don't need to explain why. I LOVE in depth explorations of music like this and this was so well done and enjoyable! New subscriber!

Thank you so much for this wonderful analysis, and the video of the original show. !!!!!!

Edward, an excellent analysis. I have loved this song for decades but your analysis shed some new light . Thank you

Retooled parts from Beethoven, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky? No wonder it sounds beautiful...

@bassavino

2 жыл бұрын

It was a revelation, and I've played Swan Lake dozens of times!

Wow! Wow, wow, wow. Thanks so much for this.

This is the one song i can almost play on the piano , and then i give up so i need to go back to just play 1 minute a day instead of none for months, so it is amazing how well you play all of this and sort out where this comes from , and it encourages me again, The depth of dissection of this one song with your whole deal is , fascinating, fun, stellar incredible wonderful

Edward, you are an excellent teacher. I felt as if this was a logical, cohesive follow through of a “Young People’s Concert at Lincoln Center” hosted by Leonard Bernstein himself. Delightful and informative. Thank you. Be safe, and well!

God bless you. I don't understand how it is possible for someone to make me feel more deeply about this tune/song than I have felt through my entire life since first hearing it - but you have done this. Exquisite.

Bless you. and keep you. This is something else.

Wow! Fascinating. Edward, thank you! So enlightening and informative and helpful. And in a way, validating, or "giving permission" to me. (I'll explain.) I've been composing music for over 40 years, but so often I would hear parts of songs from others in my music and think, "Oh, I stole that part (subconsciously), I'll have to scrap that." I even majored in music in college--in one class I wrote what I thought was a pretty nice melody with a nice classical-sounding arpeggiated accompaniment in the bass. When the class critiqued it, someone said, "That's Neil Diamond's Song Sung Blue, just in a classical style." It was note for note, and I hadn't even realized it! I felt mortified, embarrassed, humiliated. Well, now I think I can give myself a little more freedom and not beat myself up so much and throw so much music away. I've written almost a whole musical, but have not played it for anyone for fear of them saying, "That's just so-and-so..." Thanks for giving me a new sense of belief and confidence. (I'll have to try and remember some of the many things I've scrapped now, too.)

@tomyamartino

2 жыл бұрын

But Song Sung Blue is itself borrowed from (or at least very similar to) Mozart's Piano Concerto 21, middle movement! Maybe that's actually where you got it.

That 's very interesting, thanks a lot for sharing!

This analysis made my evening! Thank you 🙏🏼

Amazing how, with all the notes out there, some melodic fragments come together in a way that the creative mind of one who has worked with those notes in other ways feels them emerge with even greater power and meaning now they they have become something beyond themselves....like people.

Brilliantly exposed & makes me love it all more!!!

Absolutely fascinating..excellent explanation and a real insight into this fabulous song. Thank you

@songbookstation7396

8 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

Every young composer should watch this. It opens your eyes in so many ways.

I just watched this for a second time and love it. I'm sure I will return many times for my "lesson". 💗

Fascinated by this..I’m not a musician but I think sub consciously I definitely was aware of the Tchaikovsky element. Somewhere is my favourite song of all time and I play it at least daily. As a Streisand mega fan, I obviously love her live version with Il Divo best but also like Michael Feinsteins version with the Israel Philharmonic. Thank you for this video…I love it even more now!

Enjoyed your analysis and Ms. Dench’s performance very much!

Plagiarists lifts parts from one artist; great masters steal from several artists; thanks for the background on this music. What a master class on music song composition. Somewhere sounds awesome it comes from amalgamation of several musical geniuses.

That was amazing. Thank you.

Thank you for creating this and sharing it. I loved it. It makes so much sense to me.

As a singer it's wonderful to sing material by composer's and lyricists that is so well thought out. You can immediately see that in the choice of words, muscial phrasing, the placement of the words and the rhythms if they know and considerate these things and of course also the drama and meaning that it supposed to be conveyed. Also many examples where lesser 'Gods' don't. But it's always your job to do something with anything.

So much more moving as it's done in the original production

Swan Lake at 6:30...Bingo. Listening to a mix of movie theme type stuff, Swan Lake came on. Sounded like a line from Somewhere, but could not identify it. "Somewhere" was stuck in my head for three weeks. Finally made the connection yesterday.

Super cool you did this , I love it! Thank you

Thank you for the whole story here. I recognized the LVB connection when I first heard this song during the '57 Broadway production, but never realized that there was so much more to the story.

Not sure why I stopped here, but that was the most informative, clear presentation of how a song is developed....thank you for the education and the desire to know more.

Love this Westside Story & Stephen Sondheim & Leonard Bernstein * Both Genius ☮️👼☮️Somewhere

Edward Barnes, I salute you.

This is a brilliant analysis. I learned so much from it. Many thanks!

Wow, excellently well done. I say that as someone who teaches theory using songs from West Side Story.

I found myself becoming emotional. Like seeing an old friend in a new light. Many thanks.

Excellent analysis

This is a lovely refresher. Most composition students who take analysis courses will come across this piece. Alas Sondheim was embarrassed by the song. I fact so much so that Stephen called it the “Ah” song. As in “there’s A place for us…” because of the issue that one wouldn’t place an ascending melody or emphasis on the A article. Stephen found it very frustrating, because Lenny wanted that tune in the show and Stephen was only in his twenties. There was no way he had a choice. Till the day of Sondheim’s death he felt embarrassed by it.

Thanks very much for this, seeing and hearing the original was beautiful, one of my favourite songs ever, small but perfectly formed

Your incredible presentation brought the musical alive in a new way, and the creative collaboration of genius underpinning it all.

Made me cry ,❤️

Very interesting thanks Edward. I wonder what Bernstein was thinking as he lifted this music....'Copyright is non-existent, and these melodies are just too good not to use' ? Whatever the case, music from 4 great composers makes for great listening!

Fabulous! Thankyou so much for clarifying

Excellent analysis! I have loved this song for most of my live, and now I have learned such a lot about it.

This reminds me of the following passage from Sondheim's "Finishing the Hat": "[T]his was a melody that was . . . hell for a lyricist to set, particularly the opening motif, with its rhapsodic upward leap on the second note. What word is worthy of such a climax at the beginning of the thought? I couldn't, and didn't, solve the problem. In fact, the most unimportant word in the opening line ("a") is the one that gets the most important note. Burt Shevelove was fond of referring to this song as the "a" song. But then, he was a lyricist." Pg. 49

Dude you have an Incredible ear and appreciate you pulling this all together to show how Lenny married these bits to form 'Somewhere'. Without your classical knowledge and fund of piano knowledge most would never know this. Many thanks.

@songbookstation7396

Жыл бұрын

Wow, super flattered and much appreciated!

Fascinating! I am sitting here bawling at seeing the original ballet.

My favorite song of my favorite musical. Thank you for this!

This was great!! Thanks so much! I learned alot!! I'm a pianist/ instructor myself and play this wonderful song all the time!! 🎼😃🎹🎙

.....whenever I listen Bruckner's 6th symphony mov.2........"somewhere" comes to my mind..

That was really terrific. Thank you very much.

Oh, this is brilliant! Who figured this out? Did the lecturer? I have noticed that part of Chichester Psalms echoes a part of the Sixth Symphony of Beethoven. His explanation of the lyrics being so wonderful for the singer is very insightful which I might not have noticed otherwise. I've been singing this since I was 10, a child. Haven't sung it in many years - but when I sing along with the performance, I immediately see how easy Sondheim makes the syllables which are held in the music. It is comfort for the voice.

@AnonYmous-ry2jn

2 жыл бұрын

How about the most obvious antecedent….Schumann About Strange Lands and People (Von fremden Ländern und Menschen) kinderscenen op._15: it’s all about reclaiming a child’s innocent dream of a perfect world, a place of perfect love and acceptance implicitly very far from the brutality and cruelty of the real circumstance. Not only is the music nearly exactly the same as Bernstein’s, Schumann’s explicit programmatic content matches precisely the programmatic content of the West Side Story theme.

WOW THANK YOU FOR THIS! INCREDIBLE!

Great teaching and musical insight! You have explained so much. Thank you.

Brilliantly and flawlessly done. Thank you, Edward.

Have not seen the final video of Robbins' original choreography shown here with the song. Laurents, Sondheim, Bernstein, and Robbins. 64 years now (12/21) since this was made. Classic.

Incredible! Loved your explanation and detailed examples of the Beethoven, Strauss and Tchaikovsky influences upon Bernstein’s composition!!!

Man! thank you so much for this. Probably one of my favorite songs ever. Admittedly I came to it through a recorded Barbra Streisand concert in the 80s, but it sparked a passion for Bernstein and Sondheim.

🎹 So beautiful.

This is SO BRILLIANT! I loved the show and so much wanted to go backstage and get in the minds of these original geniuses. You made my day.