ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- ´This quatrain was a Christmas present from Paul Simon. Gratias. L.B.´ That note is on a boisterous, booming little trope in Leonard Bernstein´s ´Mass.´
And here´s the Simon text it refers to:
Half the people are stoned / And the other half are waiting for the next election. / Half the people are drowned / And the other half are swimming in the wrong direction.
That passage cinches the curious cacophony that to this day can eclipse the genius of Bernstein´s theater piece.
This is the sweeping performance work ´for singers, players and dancers´ commissioned to open the Kennedy Center in Washington. One of the most fashionable and powerful Beltway audiences assembled in the last century is said to have sat silent for three minutes after the composer´s voice shuddered across the seats from a quad system: ´The Mass is ended. Go in peace.´ They then gave it a 30-minute standing ovation.
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