An Introduction to America’s Music

408 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II

timing section text comments

0:00 introduction Angular minor chords, over a three-note

repeating fi gure or ostinato in the bass, set

anxious mood.

0:06 verse 1 The Jets are gonna have their

day

Tonight...

Minor mode. Riff and his Jets sing the

opening phrase, Bernardo and his Sharks

answer, and the Jets continue. Bars lasting

only one and a half beats (e.g., “Fair fi ght”)

disrupt the duple meter.

0:24 verse 2 We’re gonna hand ’em a

surprise

Tonight...

Sharks and Jets reverse roles.

0:42 chorus We’re gonna rock it tonight... The two gangs in unison sing the major-mode

chorus melody, which emphasizes blues-tinged

lowered seventh and third scale degrees. Brass

“stings” punctuate phrase endings. After eight

bars on the tonic, shift to the subdominant

(“Well, they began it”), an allusion to standard

blues changes. Stop-time accompaniment with

sharp orchestral chords (“stabs”).

1:07 verse 3 Anita’s gonna get her kicks

Tonight...

Return to the minor mode for Anita’s solo

verse. Marked “sexily,” the score indicates that

she should swing her rhythms, in contrast to

the straight rhythms that have preceded.

1:25 “Tonight”

reprise

a Tonight, tonight

Won’t be just any night...

Shift to major for reprise of “Tonight,” song

from the earlier Balcony Scene, sung by Tony.

The wide intervals and long note durations

create lyricism in contrast to the tense verse

and chorus. Accompaniment uses a subdued

beguine (Latin dance) rhythm.

date: 1957

performers: Original Broadway cast

recording; Carol Laurence (Maria),

Larry Kert (Tony), Chita Rivera (Anita),

and ensemble

genre: Broadway musical ensemble

meter: mostly duple

form: verse and chorus, with interpolated

reprises of aaba song

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• contrast of minor and major modes for
  dramatic tension


• restless rhythms and blues references in
  the gangs’ music


• lyrical, long-arching melody in the lovers’
  music (“Tonight”)


• polyphonic texture of the second
  “Tonight” reprise

Listening Guide 16.5

“Tonight” Quintet, from West Side Story

CD 3.11 LEONARD BERNSTEIN AND STEPHEN SONDHEIM

172028_16_386-411_r3_sd.indd 408 23/01/13 10:56 AM