In the summer of 1954 Bernstein worked on two compositions based on philosophical works: Candide, after Voltaire's satire, and Serenade for violin and orchestra, after Plato's "Symposium". In this one of Plato's best-known dialogues, the poet Agathon celebrates his triumph in a tragedy-writing competition. As a part of the celebrations, he hosts a banquet in his house, to which he invites a group of Athenian men. When their hearts are glad with wine, the friends decide that each one of them would speak in praise of Eros – the Greek god of love. The five movements of the Serenade freely depict those speeches. The slow introduction refers to Phaedrus, an Athenian nobleman who speak about the positive influence of Eros on the lover. Bernstein writes a long theme in the solo part, motives from which are elaborated throughout the piece. When the soloist completes the theme, the other strings join, each section in its own turn, with the same material. The second violins, cellos and bases do not complete the theme, and the tempo changes to "allegro marcato". This section is based on Pausanias' speech, where he makes a distinction between heavenly and vulgar love. One can interpret this section's two themes – the first one consisting of short notes played loudly, full of accents, the second is played quietly, moderately, and gracefully – as analogous to the two types of love. In the original dialogue, the next speech should have been Aristophanes'. Plato held a grudge against the comedian who, in his famous "The Clouds", had ridiculed his master, Socrates. The loyal disciple mocks the Comedian with a rather slapstick humor - a bout of hiccups prevent him from speaking, and Eryximachus takes his turn. In the Serenade, however, Aristophanes' movement immediately follows Pausanias'. Aristophanes' speech is probably the Dialogue's most famous. He describes primal times, when all human beings had rounded bodies, with two faces, two pairs of hands and two pairs of legs. After they had planned to scale the heights of Olympus, Zeus punished them and decided to chop them in half, separating each entity into two bodies. Since then, each person searches, and sometime finds, their other half. Bernstein writes that, in the Serenade, Aristophanes does not play the role of clown, but instead that of the bedtime storyteller. Indeed, strings and harp play intimately, as a parent rocking a LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990) S E R E N A D E F O R V I O L I N , S T R I N G S A N D P E R C U S S I O N ( A F T E R P L A T O ' S S Y M P O S I U M ) ca. 34 mins. Phaedrus: Pausanias Aristophanes Eryximachus Agathon Socrates: Alcibiades
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