Part One:

A - The Prologue introduces the four characters, Quant, a second generation Irish-American, Malin, a medical intelligence officer with the Canadian Air Force, Rosetta, employee at a department store, and Emble, serving in the Navy. After a duo for clarinets, a descending flute scale leads into

B - The Seven Ages, where discussion is depicted in seven variants of material already heard. After a tranquil piano solo, soloist and orchestra exchange motifs, then strings have a lyrical theme. A perky scherzo precedes a restless Prokofiev-like idea, before a pensive piano theme and some plaintive woodwind activity. A descending piano sequence leads into

C - The Seven Stages, seven further variations representing the four characters as they engage in a variety of relationships. After a stern passacaglia, a waltz section reintroduces the soloist for a syncopated passage, an incisive fugato and an ironic moto perpetuo. The passacaglia theme returns as an orchestral chorale, the piano re-entering to effect a brusque close to the first part.

Part Two:

A - The Dirge relates the four protagonists as they take a taxi-ride to Rosetta's apartment, meanwhile regretting the absence of a spiritual 'father figure' in their lives. Opening with a subdued but intense twelve-note row, the music gradually becomes more impassioned, before leading into

B - The Masque, a scintillating scherzo in which the four characters throw an increasingly reckless party, piano accompanied by harp, celesta and percussion. This fades out as

C - The Epilogue starts with the four characters leaving their past behind them for something more spiritual, as represented by solo trumpet. The music builds as a slow but implacable chorale, taking in a piano cadenza which reviews earlier themes, and reaching a climax of hard-won triumph. As first performed and recorded, the piano was silent in this climax, but Bernstein revised the work in 1965, so that the personal, and likely autobiographical, perspective of the soloist is present right through to the close.