Cincinnati was the first city to perform Leonard Bernstein’s controversial “Mass" after its 1971 world premiere.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had asked the composer for a piece to open the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., but its blend of Latin Mass, rock ‘n’ roll and the questioning of faith made it a controversial work that offended the Roman Catholic Church. Some cities canceled performances. The FBI warned President Richard Nixon that the Latin text might have coded anti-war messages,…
