Bernstein: 'Something's Coming' from West Side Story Revision

Bernstein: 'Something's Coming' from West Side Story

Composed in 1957.

Based on Romeo and Juliet.

Set in New York and features two rival gangs: the Jets (American) and the Sharks (Puerto Rican). Tony(Jet) and Maria(Shark) fall in love.

Something's coming is Tony's first solo.

For a solo tenor and accompanied by a band made up of woodwind, brass, percussion and strings.

To not overpower the singer

• Quiet dynamics.
• Soft timbres (muted trumpets etc).
• A homophone texture.

Melody: Entirely syllabic. 

Three main themes:

• Quiet, syncopated opening theme.
• Loud strident theme in 2/4 beginning at B21.
• Lyrical, slow-moving theme at B73.

The 3 themes alternate a number of times but they are not exact every time.

The metre changes between 3/4 and 2/4.

These changes plus the fast tempo and syncopation maintain the feeling of excitement and anticipation. 

The on-beat bass part and off-beat chords, at the beginning of the piece create cross rhythms.

D major and two contrasting sections in C major.

Tenor's last note is C natural (flattened seventh). It sounds incomplete because the note is unresolved.

Harmony is tonal and jazz-influenced. 

The texture of this song is homophonic.

3 main ideas: 

• Repeated riff that opens the song
• Short, mainly syncopated chords heard in bars 21-26.
• Fast, um-cha accompaniment first heard at bar 32 for the long note on 'me'.