- Date: 1988
- Composer: Leonard Bernstein
- Period: Modern (1910-1949)
Review
The Missouri-born American composer Virgil Thomson was fond of writing musical portraits of his friends. He would invite them to come for an afternoon and sit for their portraits, which Thomson would compose as he watched them. Many of these portraits were eventually published.Leonard Bernstein was influenced by Thomson and created his own portraits, most of which he called "Anniversaries." Counting a set of Four Sabras (i.e., native Israelis), which he wrote in the 1950s, he penned 33 short portrait-like works. They were published in sets, over a period spanning a third of the century.
The first set was Seven Anniversaries (1943), which included representations of Aaron Copland, both Natalie and Serge Koussevitzky, and Paul Bowles. Four Anniversaries (1948) followed, depicting his future wife Felicia Montealegre, John Mehegan, David Diamond, and Helen Coates. Five Anniversaries (1951) included composer Lukas Foss and four of Bernstein's personal friends.
It should be realized that unlike their models, the Thomson Portraits, Bernstein's Anniversaries were usually intended more as tributes than as detailed portraits of the individuals. They are all short and often represent the first appearances of musical ideas that later take their place in more substantial works.
Bernstein did not publish any more Anniversaries until 1988. This final set of Thirteen Anniversaries, contains pieces ranging from half a minute to two and a half minutes in length. They had been written between 1965 and 1988. This final set includes:
1. For Shirley Gabis Rhoades Perle
2. In Memoriam: William Kapell (an American pianist who died young in a plan crash).
3. For Stephen Sondheim
4. For Craig Urquhart
5. For Leo Smit (an American composer)
6. For My Daughter, Nina
7. In Memoriam: Helen Coates (one of Bernstein's most esteemed teachers)
8. In Memoriam: Goddard Lieberson (former executive of Columbia Records)
9. For Jessica Fleishmann
10. In Memoriam: Constance Hope.
11. For Felicia, on our 28th Birthday (and her 52nd)
12. For Aaron Stern
13. In Memoriam: Ellen Goetz ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| American Piano Music | 2005 |
| American Song Recital | |
| Bernstein on Guitar | 1998 |
| Bernstein: Mass; Touches No1-10 |
