George Gershwin—well-known songwriter and one of the U.S.’s most famous composers—working at his piano.
In a career spanning less than two decades, George Gershwin composed some of the best songs ever heard on Broadway and in the movies, brought jazz rhythms into the concert hall, and wrote one of the best-known operas of the 20th century.
Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, in 1898, but spent most of his childhood on the Lower East Side. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants of modest means. When they bought an upright piano for his older brother, Ira, George amazed everyone by picking out tunes on it by ear. Before long, Ira had abandoned the piano and George was having the lessons. At age 15, Gershwin left school to work full time at the popular music publisher Remick’s. Although Remick’s were not interested in the songs that he had composed, Gershwin’s career as a composer was launched in 1916 when another company published his song “When You Want ’Em, You Can’t Get ’Em, When You’ve Got ’Em, You Don’t Want ’Em.”
A year later, Gershwin, now age 19, quit Remick’s and moved to Broadway, where several of his songs were used by Sigmund Romberg and Jerome KERN in their musical comedies. Fairly steady work as a rehearsal pianist and accompanist supplemented Gershwin’s income from his songs. In 1918, George and Ira Gershwin worked together for the first time, writing the rag-influenced “The Real American Folk Song.” Its lyrics (for example, “A rhythmic tonic for the chronic blues”) gave a taste of the verbal dexterity Ira would contribute to their future partnership.
In 1919, Gershwin made another breakthrough, writing all the music for a new show, La La Lucille. None of the show’s songs was especially memorable, but another song Gershwin wrote that year, “Swanee,” became a mega-hit when the singer Al JOLSON used it in his show Sinbad and then recorded it. Within a year, “Swanee” had earned Gershwin $10,000 in royalties.
From then on, his success was assured. He kept busy writing songs for Broadway shows, including, from I92O through 1924, the annual revue George White’s Scandals (“I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” and “Somebody Loves Me”). More hit shows, written in collaboration with Ira, followed in quick succession over the next few years. Among them were Lady Be Good (1924; which included the title song and “Fascinating Rhythm”), Oh, Kay! (1926; “Do, Do, Do” and “Someone to Watch Over Me”), Funny Face (1927; “’s Wonderful”), Strike Up the Band (1930; featuring “I’ve Got a Crush on You” and the title song), and Girl Crazy (1930; “Embraceable You” and “I Got Rhythm”).
The string of triumphs culminated in 1931 with Of Thee I Sing, a satire on American politics. For this, George and Ira collaborated closely with playwrights George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, producing their best-integrated musical yet. The show’s many hit numbers included the title song, “Love Is Sweeping the Country,” and “Who Cares?” Audiences and critics loved the show, and in 1932 it became the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize.
While enjoying his success on Broadway, Gershwin was also making forays into the world of concert music. He was poorly equipped for these attempts: his musical education had been sketchy, and although he could hold a room spellbound with his piano playing, this was restricted to his own music. At times during his career, Gershwin studied music theory and orchestration with well-known teachers, but he lacked the diligence to pursue these studies seriously.
Gershwin’s superficial approach to the more difficult aspects of writing serious music may have stemmed from the amazing ease with which he could compose good tunes. He would simply sit down at the piano, start improvising, and a melody would soon emerge. This ability, together with his mastery of jazz rhythms (and some help from orchestrators), enabled him to compose several 20th-century concert classics.
Rhapsody in Blue (1924) was commissioned by the bandleader Paul WHITEMAN for a concert to show that jazz could be taken seriously. It took Gershwin only three weeks to compose the piece, in its original two-piano form (one piano representing the orchestra). It was then scored for Whiteman’s orchestra by Ferde Grofé. The wailing glissando, or slide, on the clarinet, that opens the piece was suggested by the clarinettist, Ross Gorman; as originally written, the notes were to be played separately. Gershwin approved, and one of the most famous openings in all music was created. Gershwin played the piano at Rhapsody’s premiere, on February 12, 1924, in New York’s Aeolian Hall. The piece brought a standing ovation from the audience.
The following year, Gershwin was commissioned by the Symphony Society of New York to write his Piano Concerto in F. This, too, is full of infectious jazz rhythms and plaintive blues harmonies. It shows Gershwin’s increased confidence, including some use of counterpoint (the interweaving of two or more melodic lines). This time, however, he did most of the orchestration himself.
Gershwin’s first visit to Paris, in 1923, served as the inspiration for An American in Paris (1928). This work evokes the bustling streets of the French capital—complete with toots from four authentic Parisian taxi horns—but also, in its blues passage, a touch of homesickness. Here again, Gershwin displayed a growing familiarity with compositional techniques.
Gershwin tried his hand at a 20-minute jazz opera entitled Blue Monday Blues, which was introduced in the 1922 edition of George White’s Scandals—a musical that appeared annually. A few years later, he read a novel called Porgy, about a crippled black beggar living in Charleston, South Carolina. It was written by a white Southerner, DuBose Heyward. The pathos of Porgy’s story and the life of his neighbours in Catfish Row struck Gershwin as good operatic material. Heyward liked the idea, and the two agreed to collaborate on the project.
It was not until 1934 that Gershwin started writing the music for Porgy and Bess. He composed some of it in a cottage on an island near Charleston, familiarising himself with local black traditions, especially religious music. Heyward wrote the libretto and joined forces with Ira on the words for the songs; those for the magical “Summertime” are Heyward’s own. Porgy and Bess premiered in Boston on September 30, 1935, and, after a short run, opened in New York’s Alvin Theatre on October 10. From the start it aroused controversy. Some critics objected to the “song hits” while other drama critics preferred Gershwin’s musical comedy style to the sung recitative. Others, including Duke ELLINGTON, found its treatment of blacks patronising. The first production was a failure, but the opera has been revived many times and contains some of the best songs Gershwin wrote.
George Gershwin—well-known songwriter and one of the U.S.’s most famous composers—working at his piano.
George and Ira Gershwin moved to Hollywood in August 1936, having signed a contract with RKO to write for the Astaire-Rogers musical, Shall We Dance? (1937), which included the songs “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” and “They Can’t Take That Away from Me”). Between films, George Gershwin performed and conducted his own music, and made drawings and paintings. In the spring of 1937, he was diagnosed as having a brain tumour. On July 11, 1937, he died, leaving songs for a film, The Goldwyn Follies (1938), and a notebook with about 100 unfinished songs.
Eleanor Van Zandt
SEE ALSO:
FILM MUSIC; MUSICALS.
Schiff, David. Gershwin:
Rhapsody in Blue
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997);
Schneider, Wayne. The Gershwin Style
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
An American in Paris;
My One and Only; Piano Concerto in F;
Porgy and Bess; Rhapsody in Blue;
The Works for Solo Piano.