The raised fourth in Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story

Authors

  • Nicol Viljoen University of the Free State
  • Johann Visagie University of the Free State

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38140/aa.v42i2.1245

Abstract

This article traces the functions and applications of the raised fourth-scale degree in Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story against the background of the work’s precarious positioning between a Broadway musical and a modern opera. It attempts to demonstrate how the raised fourth operates in a variety of ways as a coherent tonal motive with distinctive tragic undertones. While it relates the main songs and musical sequences to one another, it also effects a poignant relationship between the lyrics, music and dramatic action. In this regard it represents a powerful instance of musical symbolism, its tragic quality being closely intertwined with the story’s disturbing theme of gangsterism.

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Published

2010-04-30

Issue

Section

Articles