Symphony No. 3 (Bernstein)

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Symphony No. 3
Kaddish
by Leonard Bernstein
The composer in the 1950s
Text	Kaddish; narration by Leonard Bernstein
Composed	1963 (1963)
Dedication	Memory of John F. Kennedy
Performed	December 9, 1963 (1963-12-09)
Movements	three
Scoring	soprano narrator boys' choir mixed choir orchestra

Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish" is a programmatic choral symphony by Leonard Bernstein, published in 1963. It is a dramatic work written for a large orchestra, a full choir, a boys' choir, a soprano soloist and a narrator. "Kaddish" refers to the Jewish prayer that is chanted at every synagogue service for the dead but never mentions "death."

The symphony is dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22, 1963, just weeks before the first performance of the symphony. Leonard Bernstein wrote the text of the narration himself, but struggled with his own motivation for the aggressiveness of the text.