Music and a Fictive Dream Blog

 Title of song: A place for us


Composer song writer: Leonard Bernstein

Year composed and written: 1957

Origin: United States of America

Soundtrack: Westside Story (Broadway Musical)


Intro

West Side Story


1. A short summary

Tony and Maria's Love Story

The story behind the song is an adaptation of the classic Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. Two teenage characters, Tony and Maria who happened to live in the city of New York, but from separate sides of the city. Maria, was a girl who was new and had just moved to New York with her family from Puerto Rico, While Tony was a native of New York. They fell in love at first sight with each other after they meet each other at a dance on the dance floor at a dance. But both of their families forbid them from seeing and being with each other because they were from two different cultures, and yet were like from two different worlds. Tony was involved in a street gang called " The Jets, "and his life was being threatened by the opponent gang "The Sharks." Maria was very in love with Tony, and did not want to lose him, or be without him, and both of them were plotting to run away together so that their love between each other could be sacred and could last forever. However, this particular story has instead of a happy ending it ends in tragedy.


2.The Instruments

The elements: The three instruments that were heard in this piece were the violin, flute, and the oboe.

When the violin in this piece is being played, it sounded soft and soothing, and it  made me think of sitting in a field of wildflowers alone, and just daydreaming of a mysterious place.


The flute when being played sounded sweet and romantic, and it made me imagine what it would be like to fall in love for the first time, and never wanting it to come to an end.


The oboe while being played sounded more dramatic, and made me think of watching a daytime soap opera on television, and caught up in suspense, and wondering what might happen next.


3.The deeper message

According to Carol J. Oja in her essay, " An out and out plea for racial tolerance: West Side Story,  Civil rights and immigration politics,"   When it was first performed on Broadway in 1957, "West Side Story became very popular for artistic reasons, and because it also addressed many social issues such as racism, gang violence, immigration, and police altercations." (Oja)


4.Opinion

Westside Story is one of my favorite musicals, and  "A Place For Us" is one of my favorite songs from it, because it tells a story about two lovers being in love, and wanting to live and be together forever, and not knowing as being so young and have differences  between each other, how they both can possibly make that happen. To me it's like a opera, fairy tale, and a romantic novel all combined into one. 


5.Photo image





  6.                                                               Work cited

Oja, Carol J. "An Out and Out Plea for Racial Tolerance: West Side Story,  Civil rights and                     Immigration Politics,"  google arts and culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/story/an-out-and-     out-plea-for-racial-tolerance-west-side-story-civil-rights-and-immigration-politics-carnegie-                hall/9AVByxXwWyd8Kg?hl=en. Accessed November 17, 2022


Link: Arts and Culture

"West Side Story. " You Tube, Movieclips 30 July,2013https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SQ4ogstDVE.


Link: Movieclips

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