An analysis of unifying melodic and motivic elements in Leonard Bernstein's Mass

Abstract

Leonard Bernstein’s music is characterized by the dichotomy of stylistic eclecticism and melodic unity. Mass is his largest work in both length and in number of performers. It combines many aspects of his compositional style that had previously appeared in separate works. Particularly notable is the way that Bernstein achieves cohesion through such a vast piece of music. Different perspectives on melodic and motivic development have been espoused throughout the twentieth century, and many of them apply to Mass. Schoenberg’s motivic variations within Gottlieb’s melodic integration and segmentation provide the most insight, but isomelism, set theory, and thematic transformation also contribute to understanding the work’s melodic identity. Mass is the work most representative of Bernstein’s compositional style, as evidenced by the unity found throughout the variety of genres it contains.