Maria (West Side Story song)

"Maria" is a song from the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story, sung by the lead character Tony. The music was written by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The song was published in 1956.

"Maria"
Song
Published	1956
Genre	popular song/operatic recitative and aria[1]
Composer(s)	Leonard Bernstein
Lyricist(s)	Stephen Sondheim

Overview

"Maria" is sung by the male lead Tony when he learns the name of the girl he has fallen in love with at the dance in act 1, and who has been pulled away from him by her protective brother Bernardo, is "Maria".^[2] The name "Maria" is spoken or sung in the song 30 times. The musical motif is announced frequently in the latter part of the preceding dance scene^[3] and is continued in the introduction of the following balcony scene. The song was originally composed in E-flat major (following an 8-bar introduction in B major).^[1] In the 1961 and 2021 film adaptations, both introduction and chorus were lowered by a whole step.^{[citation needed]}

After Tony speaks her name once, the song opens with a recitative ("The most beautiful sound I ever heard") of eight bars which repeats her name ten times, before an aria begins after a key and tempo change. The tessitura of the aria rises slowly from the initial B²–G♯³ culminating in a B♭⁴ (with an ossia on G⁴). The aria ends on a sustained G⁴.

The song is widely known for its use of the melodic interval of a tritone in the main theme. This is also a major motif throughout the other songs in the musical. The song is an example of the use of Lydian mode, which is the same as the major scale but with an augmented fourth.

Uses

Bernstein used "Maria" for his 1992 Concert Suite No. 1 from West Side Story.^[4]

Lin-Manuel Miranda used a line from its text and that line's melody for the 2017 song "Almost Like Praying" to support relief efforts in Puerto Rico in response to Hurricane Maria.^[5]