A WHITE HOUSE CANTATA
(Scenes from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue)

Program Note by Charlie Harmon

A White House Cantata is a concert adaptation of the musical play 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This powerful piece of musical theatre was the result of the collaboration of Alan Jay Lerner and Leonard Bernstein from 1972 to 1976. In concert form, the strength of the music and lyrics appears first and foremost, showing two of America’s most talented men of the theatre writing at the peak of their powers.

The White House Cantata presents solely the historical scenes from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. These scenes concern the presidents of the United States from Washington to Theodore Roosevelt, their wives (the first ladies), and the staff of servants at the White House. Even as pure history, there is ample room in this story for theatrical entertainment.

At the outset, George Washington convinces the contentious Congressional delegates of his choice of location for a new capital city. When they querulously protest to the president by calling his name, the delegates inadvertently find they have christened this new city Washington! Musically, this is a catchy march, peppered with motifs heard throughout the rest of the score.

Another example of the entertainment value of an historical situation is the occupation of the city of Washington by British troops during the War of 1812. Alan Jay Lerner envisioned a state dinner, food cooked and ready to be served, as President James Madison abandons the White House. The British troops pounce on this feast with equal abandon, and after a few bottles of Madeira, they sing “To Anacreon in Heaven” (appropriated during the War of 1812 by the Americans as “The Star-spangled Banner” to words by Francis Scott Key). Sated, the troops then smash the furniture, set the White House ablaze, only to see the flames sputter in a torrential downpour (which is historically accurate). The music? A delightful “Sonatina” constructed of a Sonata-Allegro, a Minuet (with the drinking song as its trio), followed by a Rondo Allegro con brio; the entire number is based on “To Anacreon in Heaven” in the most brilliant eighteenth-century style.

It is a tribute to the work habits of Alan Jay Lerner that his research into American history inspired such theatrical moments. But Lerner went beyond mere research. What he invented, such as the food on the table in the scene described above, was entirely plausible, even if not historically verifiable.

Clearly, the authors delighted in their collaboration. There is a great economy of musical ideas, reflecting the intensity of writing in the lyrics. This astonishing quality belies the quantity of music in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is safe to say that Leonard Bernstein wrote more music for this work than for any other. There were numerous revisions in the first few performances of the original work. Whole scenes were written, discarded, replaced by other scenes. Choosing from this vast mine of material in order to have a coherent full length concert work meant making some necessary cuts.

For instance, “We Must Have a Ball” ended the first act in the original production with a string of 19th-century ballroom dances. Choreographed to heighten the imminent division of the United States into the Union and the Confederacy, this music included a “Schottisch,” “Polonaise,” “Polka,” “Hornpipe-Quadrille,” and a “Landler,” as well as an extension of the underlying Waltz. For concert, this number retains an ending Mr Bernstein wrote that keeps solely to the Waltz.

Throughout the score, the strength of the music is such that Mr Bernstein borrowed repeatedly for some of his later works. There is engaging reuse of a trio from “The President Jefferson Sunday Luncheon March” in a similar March, “The BSO Forever” in his Divertimento for Orchestra (1980). The “Prelude” appears in Songfest (1977) set to an emotionally stirring text by Walt Whitman. Listeners familiar with the opera A Quiet Place (1983) will hear similar passages in “This Time.”

A White House Cantata contains virtually all the music written for the historical scenes in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But there were other scenes as well. The subtitle of the original work was “a musical about the problems of housekeeping,” and the word “housekeeping” was meant both literally and figuratively. The historic episodes presented in the musical play concerned periods in the first century of the United States when the office of the presidency was in jeopardy, or when  the White House itself was about to be physically destroyed.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (which, by the way, is the street address for the White House) alternated those assaults on the presidential office with a story concerning slavery in the United States. One pair of white actors played all the presidents and first ladies from George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, to Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, while another pair of black actors depicted the presidential servants Lud and Thomaseena (whose name suggests she could be the daughter of Thomas Jefferson). To bind these contrasting stories, a play-within-a-play had these same performers occasionally step outside of their historical roles to portray themselves as actors rehearsing the musical play. The authors' intention was to symbolize democracy as a process always in rehearsal, striving to perfect itself. 

For those interested in the convoluted history of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there is a well-researched essay by Erik Haagensen, titled “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, The Show That Got Away,” in the Fall 1992 issue of the magazine Show Music.

All the music in A White House Cantata uses the original orchestrations, by Mr Bernstein, Hershy Kay and Sid Ramin. As is often the case with the financial and spatial constraints of a Broadway pit, there are noticable differences from a standard symphonic orchestration. Violas are absent, and the celli are divisi throughout. The keyboard plays a prominent role, in this case doubling piano, harpsichord, calliope, organ, harmonium, and an “eerie sound” on an electronic keyboard. The guitar player likewise doubles on banjo and electric guitar. For concert performance, the woodwind parts have been reconfigured from the standard five reed books of Broadway, with their intricate doublings and rapid changes of instrument. This reconfiguration to symphonic woodwinds increases the number of wind players from five to as many as thirteen!

Retaining the original orchestrations enables the wit and astonishing beauty of the lyrics to shine with their intended clarity, while preserving all the colorful details in this richly rewarding score. A White House Cantata places this overlooked piece of American musical theatre at long last before the concert-going public.

Copyright © 1997 by Charlie Harmon

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