Bernstein starting composing Dybbuk in 1972, planning
to celebrate the 25th anniversary in 1973 of the founding of the state
of Israel. Not for the first, or last time, other commitments including
foreign tours interrupted his plans. On May 16th 1974, Dybbuk opened New
York City Ballet's spring 1974 season. The ballet renewed the partnership
with Jerry Robbins which had started in 1944 with Fancy Free and reached
its commercial zenith in 1957 with West Side Story. Along the way the two
collaborated on Facsimile and Wonderful Town and Robbins adapted Bernstein's
Symphony No. 2 (Age of Anxiety) and Serenade for ballet.
Like much of Lenny's non-theatre works, Dybbuk
was based on a theme within his Jewish roots. Dybbuk is a Hebrew word meaning
disembodied spirit, a spirit from a dead person which invades a living
person. The ballet was loosely based on S. Ansky's 1920 play of the same
name.
The ballet was warmly received, with Newsweek
calling it 'the loving handiwork of inspired men' and the composer Ned
Rorem calling it Bernstein's 'best music to date'. However it failed to
stay in NYC Ballet's repertoire.
Wanting to be compositionally 'hip', Bernstein
used a mathematical sequence in his composition akin to
twelve tone, but based on the principle that the twenty two letters of the
hebrew alphabet had a numerical value. Rather fanciful arithmetic including
the addition of the letters of the ballet's heroine Leah and the number
of saints put on earth to do good deeds, Bernstein worked on achieving
eighteens and thirty sixes within the octave range. I like Dybbuk and despite
the mathematical intentions I find it a very colourful tonal piece.