George Gershwin

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For other uses of Gershwin, see Gershwin (disambiguation).

George Gershwin (September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer. He was born Jacob Gershowitz in Brooklyn, New York to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, the second of four children. George wrote most of his works together with his elder brother lyricist Ira Gershwin. Gershwin composed both for Broadway and for the classical concert hall. He also wrote popular songs with success.

Many of his compositions have been used on television and many are recognized jazz standards; the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald recorded many of the Gershwin's songs on her 1959 Gershwin Songbook (arranged by Nelson Riddle), and the very greatest singers and musicians have recorded Gershwin songs, most notably Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Judy Garland, Nina Simone and countless others.

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Biography

In 1910, the Gershowitzs had acquired a piano for Ira's music lessons, but younger brother George took over, successfully playing by ear. He tried out various piano teachers for two years, then was introduced by Max Rosenzweig to Charles Hambitzer, who acted as George's mentor until Hambitzer's death in 1918. Hambitzer taught George conventional piano technique, introduced him to music of the European classical tradition, and encouraged him to attend orchestral concerts. (At home following such concerts, young George would attempt to reproduce at the piano the music he had heard). He later studied with classical composer Rubin Goldmark and avant-garde composer-theorist Henry Cowell.

His first job as a performer was as a piano pounder for Remick's, a publishing company on Tin Pan Alley. His 1916 novelty rag "Rialto Ripples" was a commercial success, and in 1918 he scored his first big national hit with his song "Swanee". 1916 was also the year he started working for Aeolian Company and Standard Music Rolls in New York, recording and arranging piano rolls. He produced dozens if not hundreds of rolls under his own and assumed names (pseudonyms attributed to Gershwin include Fred Murtha and Bert Wynn.) He also recorded rolls of his own compositions for the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano of M. Welte & Sons, Inc. of New York City, the inventor and first producer of reproducing pianos.

In 1924, George and Ira collaborated on a musical comedy, Lady Be Good. It included such future standards as "Fascinating Rhythm" and "The Man I Love." This was followed by Oh, Kay! (1926); Funny Face in (1927); Strike Up the Band (1927 & 1930); Girl Crazy (1930), which introduced the standard "I Got Rhythm"; and Of Thee I Sing (1931), the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize. "I Got Rhythm", interestingly, was accepted as a Jazz Standard, and its chord progression has incredible significance in Jazz. These chord changes known as "Rhythm changes" have been frequently adopted in Jazz literature.

Gershwin stayed in Paris for a short period of time where he wrote "An American in Paris". This work received mixed reviews. Eventually he found the music scene in Paris too supercilious and left for America to do more work. Though he hugely admired the French style of music - and did until the day he died - Gershwin was thoroughly American to the core. He could be generous, warm, and a friend-in-need to anyone, but he was also vain and more than just a little egotistical. His friend and champion, the concert pianist Oscar Levant once asked him: "George, if you had it to do all over again, would you still fall in love with yourself?"

It was in Hollywood, while working on the score of The Goldwyn Follies, that George Gershwin collapsed and, on July 11, 1937, died during surgery for a brain tumour at the age of 38. He was interred in the Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Gershwin had a ten-year affair with composer Kay Swift. Swift was a frequent consult of Gershwin; he named the musical Oh, Kay after her. Posthumously, Swift arranged some of his music, transcribed some of his recordings, and collaborated with Ira on several projects. He had also had an affair with Simone Simon.

Image:Gershwin best 800.jpg Gershwin died intestate, and all his property passed to his mother. He is interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.The Gershwin estate continues to bring in significant royalties from licensing the copyrights on Gershwin's work. The estate supported the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act because its 1923 cutoff date was shortly before Gershwin had begun to create his most popular works. The copyrights on those works expire in 2007 in the European Union and between 2019 and 2027 in the United States of America.

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Music

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Musical style and influence

Gershwin was influenced very much by French composers of the early twentieth century. Upon meeting composer Maurice Ravel, Gershwin asked him of the possibility of becoming a student of composition under the master. Ravel is said to have replied, "Why should you be a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?" Ravel was already quite impressed with the ability of Gershwin, commenting, "Personally I find jazz most interesting: the rhythms, the way the melodies are handled, the melodies themselves. I have heard of George Gershwin's works and I find them intriguing." (Mawer 42) The orchestrations in Gershwin's symphonic works often seem similar to those of Ravel; likewise, Ravel's two piano concertos evince an influence of Gershwin. He also asked Igor Stravinsky for lessons; when Stravinsky heard how much Gershwin earned, he replied "How about you give me some lessons?"

Gershwin's own Concerto in F was criticised as being strongly rooted in the work of Claude Debussy, more so than in the jazz style which was expected. The comparison didn't deter Gershwin from continuing to explore French styles. The title of An American in Paris reflects the very journey that he had consciously taken as a composer: "The opening part will be developed in typical French style, in the manner of Debussy and the Six, though the tunes are original." (Hyland 126)

Gershwin was intrigued by the works of Alban Berg, Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud and Arnold Schoenberg. Russian Joseph Schillinger's influence as his teacher of composition was substantial in providing him with a method to his composition. After the posthumous success of Porgy and Bess, Schillinger claimed he had a large and direct influence in overseeing the creation of the opera; Ira completely denied that his brother had any such assistance for this work. In analysis, Schillinger's student Vernon Duke found that while many of Gershwin's works certainly were reviewed by Schillinger, Porgy does not seem to be one of them. The indirect influence of his study with the teacher was apparent in the opera's even more clear orchestrations but it is characteristically Gershwin in ways that Schillinger would not have approved of. (Hyland 167)

What set Gershwin apart was his ability to manipulate forms of music into his own unique voice. He took the jazz he discovered on Tin Pan Alley into the mainstream by splicing its rhythms and tonality with that of the popular songs of his era.

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Classical works

Note: All orchestral/operatic pieces are orchestrated by Gershwin unless otherwise specified.

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Musical theater credits

Note: All works are musicals produced on Broadway unless specified otherwise.

Works featuring original Gershwin songs for shows by other composers

  • 1916 - The Passing Show of 1916 - "Making of a Girl" co-composed with Sigmund Romberg, lyrics by Harold Atteridge
  • 1918 - Hitchy-Koo of 1918 - "You-Oo just You", lyrics by Irving Caesar
  • 1918 - Ladies First - "(The Real) American Folk Song (is a Rag)", lyrics by Ira Gershwin and "Some Wonderful Sort of Someone", lyrics by Schuyler Greene
  • 1919 - Good Morning, Judge - "I was so young (you were so beautiful)", lyrics by Irvine Caesar and Alfred Bryan and "here’s more to the kiss than the x-x-x", lyrics by Irving Caesar
  • 1919 - The Lady in Red - "Some Wonderful Sort of Someone", lyrics by Schyler Greene and "Something about Love", lyrics by L. Paley
  • 1919 - The Capitol Revue - "Come to the Moon", lyrics by L. Paley and Ned Wayburn, "Swanee", lyrics by Irvine Caesar
  • 1920 - Dear Mabel - "We’re pals", lyrics by Irving Caesar, first performed in Baltimore
  • 1920 - Ed Wynn's Carnival - "Oo, how I love you to be loved by you", lyrics by L. Paley
  • 1920 - The Sweetheart Shop - "Waiting for the Sun to Come Out", lyrics by Ira Gershwin
  • 1920 - Sinbad - "Swanee" (as performed by Al Jolson)
  • 1920 - Broadway Brevities of 1920 - "Lu Lu" and "Snowflakes", lyrics by Arthur Jackson and "Spanish love", lyrics by Irving Caesar
  • 1920 - Piccadilly to Broadway, songs unpublished
  • 1921 - Blue Eyes, songs unpublished
  • 1921 - Selwyn's Snapshots of 1921, songs unpublished
  • 1921 - The Perfect Fool - "My Log-Cabin Home", lyrics by Irving Caesar and Buddy De Sylva, "No One Else but that Girl of Mine", lyrics by Irving Caesar
  • 1922 - The French Doll - "Do it again!", lyrics by Buddy De Sylva
  • 1922 - For Goodness Sake - "Someone" and "Tra-la-la", lyrics by Ira Gershwin
  • 1922 - The Dancing Girl - "That American Boy of Mine", lyrics by Irving Caesar
  • 1922 - Spice of 1922 - "The Yankee Doodle Blues", lyrics by Irving Caesar and Buddy De Sylva
  • 1923 - Little Miss Bluebeard (play) - "I won’t say I will but I won’t say I won’t", lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Buddy De Sylva
  • 1923 - Nifties of 1923 - "At Half Past Seven", lyrics by Buddy De Sylva, and "Nashville Nightingale", lyrics by Irving Caesar
  • 1926 - Americana of 1926 - "That Lost Barber Shop Chord"
  • 1930 - 9:15 Revue
  • 1936 - The Show is On - "By Strauss"
    • Revived in 1937

Works interpolating Gershwin songs posthumously:

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Musical films

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Miscellaneous Songs

  • 1916 - When you want ’em, you can’t get ’em, when you’ve got ’em, you don’t want ’em (lyrics by M. Roth)
  • 1919 - The Love of a Wife (lyrics by Arthur Jackson and B. G. De Sylva)
  • 1920 - Yan-Kee (lyrics by Irving Caesar)
  • 1921 - Dixie Rose (lyrics by Irving Caesar and B. G. De Sylva)
  • 1921 - In the Heart of a Geisha (lyrics by Fred Fisher)
  • 1921 - Swanee Rose (lyrics by Irving Caesar and B. G. De Sylva)
  • 1921 - Tomale (I’m hot for you) (lyrics by B. G. De Sylva)
  • 1925 - Harlem River Chanty and It’s a great little world! (lyrics by Ira Gershwin, originally composed for Tip-Toes on Broadway but not used)
  • 1925 - Murderous Monty (and Light-Fingered Jane) (lyrics by Desmond Carter, composed for London production of Tell Me More.)
  • 1926 - I’d rather charleston (lyrics by Desmond Carter, composed for London production of Lady Be Good.)
  • 1928 - Beautiful gypsy and Rosalie (originally composed for Rosalie on Broadway, but not used)
  • 1929 - Feeling Sentimental (originally composed for Show Girl on Broadway, but not used)
  • 1929 - In the Mandarin’s Orchid Garden
  • 1931 - Mischa, Yascha, Toscha, Sascha (originally composed for the musical film Delicious, but not used.
  • 1932 - You’ve got what gets me (composed for the first film version of Girl Crazy.
  • 1933 - Till Then
  • 1936 - King of Swing (lyrics by Al Stillman)
  • 1936 - Strike up the band for U.C.L.A (to the same music as the song Strike Up The Band)
  • 1937 - Hi-Ho! (lyrics by Ira Gershwin, originally composed for Shall We Dance, but not used)
  • 1938 - Just Another Rhumba (lyrics by Ira Gershwin, originally composed for The Goldwyn Follies, but not used)
  • 1938 - Dawn of a New Day
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Commercial Works for Piano

  • 1918 - Rialto Ripples - rag
  • early 1920s - Three-Quarter Blues (Irish Waltz)
  • 1926 - Swiss Miss (arrangement of a song from Lady Be Good)
  • 1928 - Merry Andrew (arrangement of a dance piece from Rosalie)
  • 1932 - George Gershwin’s Song-Book (arrangements of refrains from Gershwin songs)
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Media

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See also

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References

  • Hyland, William G.George Gershwin : A New Biography Praeger Publishers (August 30 2003) ISBN 0275981118
  • Mawer, Deborah (Editor). Cross, Jonathan (Series Editor). The Cambridge Companion to Ravel (Cambridge Companions to Music) Cambridge University Press (August 24 2000) ISBN 0521648564
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External links

Template:Porgy 

{{Persondata
|NAME=Gershwin, George
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Gershowitz, Jacob
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=American composer, pianist, songwriter
|DATE OF BIRTH=September 26 1898
|PLACE OF BIRTH=Brooklyn, New York City
|DATE OF DEATH=July 11 1937
|PLACE OF DEATH=Hollywood

}}

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