George Gershwin
The great musical border crosser of the 20th century, George Gershwin excelled in the fields of concert music and popular song alike. The son of Jewish immigrants from Russia, he was born Jacob Gershvin in Brooklyn on September 26, 1898. His father ran a great variety of small businesses, and George, in the words of The New Grove Dictionary of Music, "excelled at street sports." He also studied the piano and was introduced to the European classics by his teacher Charles Hambitzer.
Gershwin immersed himself in popular music after dropping out of school in 1914 and getting a job as a salesman for the music publisher Remick. He was influenced by ragtime and stride piano music, and as a songwriter enjoyed his first hit in 1920 with "Swanee," recorded by the leading vocalist of the time, Al Jolson. Gershwin and his brother Ira became one of the great creative teams in the history of music, each attuned to the considerable subtleties of which the other was capable. Their 1924 musical Lady, Be Good gained wide familiarity thanks to its hit song, "Fascinating Rhythm." George Gershwin also wrote works for the concert hall: Rhapsody in Blue (1924), best known in an orchestration by Ferde Grofé; the Piano Concerto in F of 1925; and 1928's An American in Paris have been audience favorites since their respective premieres. Probably Gershwin's most famous work was the uncategorizable Porgy and Bess; "folk opera" was an early attempt at description. Set among Black residents of Charleston, South Carolina, Porgy and Bess includes the song "Summertime," heavily recorded by both popular and classical artists.
Gershwin continued to write popular songs and musicals; 1930 brought the successful show Girl Crazy and its catchy yet strikingly complex hit number "I Got Rhythm." The 1932 show Of Thee I Sing was especially notable for its crackling political satire. Gershwin went to Hollywood in 1936 to write for the RKO film studio. In early 1937 he began to complain of headaches, but doctors chalked his symptoms up to stress. In reality he was suffering from a brain tumor; he died on July 11, 1937.
The question of Gershwin's status as a classical composer is a live and productive one. Some observers have pointed out the strong resemblances between his popular and concert idioms, and it is certainly true that for all his studies of the classics over the years, Gershwin rarely wrestled with the problem of large-scale form, which one might regard as classical music's most definitive quest. His concert pieces consist of sequences of great melodies -- perhaps expected in a piece called a "rhapsody" but less impressive for music aspiring to the status of "concerto" or even "tone poem," as An American in Paris was classified. Yet it was not only the American public that loved Gershwin's concert works. They were widely performed in Europe, where they shaped the jazz inflections that began to creep into the music of such composers as Maurice Ravel. Even the proponents of the difficult 12-tone system admired Gershwin's music: Gershwin hobnobbed with Alban Berg in Paris and played tennis with Arnold Schoenberg in Hollywood. "It seems to me beyond doubt that Gershwin was an innovator," Schoenberg wrote, and perhaps history will judge Gershwin as the first harbinger of a new music neither classical nor popular, drawing techniques from many sources and forms of musical knowledge. Who could ask for anything more?
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
Ähnliche Künstler
-
George Gershwin, Vol. 1
Jazz - Erschienen bei Documents am 01.01.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: An American in Paris (Recorded 1944) (Live)
New York Philharmonic, Artur Rodzinski
Klassik - Erschienen bei New York Philharmonic am 08.12.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F Minor - Rhapsody in Blue - An American in Paris
Henry Adolph, Philharmonia Slavonica, George Rider
Klassik - Erschienen bei Int - Bertus am 03.10.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mr. Gershwin
Klassik - Erschienen bei The 45 Classic Music am 01.03.2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Porgy And Bess Act 3
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Foyer am 01.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin Plays Gershwin
Klassischer Jazz & New-Orleans-Jazz - Erschienen bei Blue Pie Records USA am 01.01.1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Want You To Stay Here
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Sunny Side of the Street am 12.06.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
George Gershwin Vol.10
Jazz - Erschienen bei Documents am 01.09.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great George Gershwin Collection, Vol. 8
Jazz - Erschienen bei Top Tracks am 30.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great George Gershwin Collection, Vol. 4
Jazz - Erschienen bei Top Tracks am 30.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
George Gershwin Collection, Vol. 1: I Got Rhythm
Jazz - Erschienen bei Firefly Entertainment am 01.10.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great George Gershwin Collection, Vol. 10
Jazz - Erschienen bei Top Tracks am 30.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great George Gershwin Collection, Vol. 5
Jazz - Erschienen bei Top Tracks am 30.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
George Gershwin Vol.6
Jazz - Erschienen bei Documents am 01.09.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milonga for Three
Klassik - Erschienen bei Nilento Records am 01.01.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
George Gershwin Vol.9
Jazz - Erschienen bei Documents am 01.09.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Got Rhythm, The Music of George Gershwin: Vol. 8
Jazz - Erschienen bei Lumi Entertainment am 01.10.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great George Gershwin Collection, Vol. 6
Jazz - Erschienen bei Top Tracks am 30.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Coastal Communities Concert Band - Tribute to the Broadway Stage
Coastal Communities Concert Band
Klassik - Erschienen bei Tresona am 01.01.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Masters of the Roll – George Gershwin
Klassik - Erschienen bei James Stewart Music am 17.07.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo