George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

Where it all began George Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. George had four siblings- older brother Ira (also a famous composer), younger brother Arthur and baby sister Frances. George starting playing piano at the young age of 10.

Early Beginnings As young boys Ira and George lived in the Yiddish Theater district George would occasionally appear as an extra on stage. This is where they got their first taste of musicals and performing arts.

Signs of a Genius George had several different Piano teacher, including his mentor Charles Hambitzer. Gershwin had his first job at the age of 15, as a Song Plugger. Located on the famous Tin Pan Alley. In 1916, he published his first song “When You Want’ em, You Can’t Get’ em, When You’ve Got’ em, You Don’t Want’ em.” He was 17 years of age.

First Hits In 1917, George Gershwin scored his first commercial hit with “Rialto Ripples” and than in 1919, he had his second national hit with song “Swanee.” With words written by Irving Caesar. After hearing it on the radio, famous Broadway star Al Jolson decided to sing it on his show.

Great Collaborations In the late 1910s, George meet a fellow songwriter William Daly- together they wrote two Broadway musicals. “Piccadilly to Broadway” 1920 and “For Goodness Sake” 1922. Daly was a frequent arranger, orchestrator and conductor of Gershwin’s music. Gershwin also worked often with Buddy DeSylva. Together the two created a one- act jazz Opera called “Blue Monday”.

Rhapsody In Blue In 1924, George begin writing his first major classical work- Rhapsody in Blue, for piano and orchestra. This piece would insert elements of jazz to classical music with a taste of ragtime and blues. Rhapsody in Blue premiered in New York City, February 12, 1924. Conducted by Paul Whiteman and his band Palais Royal Orchestra, the show was entitled “An Experiment in Modern Music.” Rhapsody in Blue was the second to last piece played.

Rhapsody in Pop Culture Rhapsody in Blue has become a pop culture theme song. It’s catchy sounds have been in movies- such as Woody Allen’s Manhattan, the Great Gatsby and the Disney film Fantasia 2000. Was featured in the opening ceremonies of the 1984, summer Olympics. Inspired several famous musicians like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Theme song for United Airlines.

Rhapsody in Blue

A Trip to Paris Around the mid 1920’s George Gershwin took a trip to Paris, France to study composition from fine composers Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Ravel but his application was denied. He was rejected- told his jazz style might be compromised by their classical training. Well enjoying the sights and sounds of Paris 1928, Gershwin wrote “An American in Paris.” Which was a commercial failure but was released years later as a musical featuring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron.

George & Ira Join Forces In 1924, Ira and George wrote the stage musical Lady Be Good, which included standards such as “Fascinating Rhythms” and “ Oh, Lady Be Good.” They followed that up with the 1926 musical “Oh, Kay!” and the 1927 musical “Strike up the Band”, which became the UCLA football fight song. They continued to work together writing such musicals as 1929 “Show girls”, 1930 “Girl Crazy” which featured the classic standards “I Got Rhythm” and the debut of Ginger Rodgers singing “Embraceable you.”

Ira Gershwin Ira had his success as well. In 1931, Ira Gershwin along with George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “Of Thee I Sing”, which was the first musical comedy to win. Throughout his career Ira did several scores to films such as 1944 “Cover Girls”, 1945 “Where Do We Go From Here” and his must famous work the 1954 hit “A Star is Born”.

Porgy & Bess George Gershwin’s most ambitious composition was the 1935 “folk opera” Porgy & Bess. Based on the novel Porgy by Dubose Heyward. Porgy & Bess had several amazing and successful songs like “Summertime", "I Got Plenty of Nothin” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So”. Even though it was a commercial failure it is an important musical piece for American Culture and history.

Final Years After the commercial failure of Porgy & Bess Gershwin was commissioned by RKO pictures to do scores for movies. In 1936, he wrote the music for the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers movie “Shall We Dance.” Which had the hit “They can’t take that away from me.” Which was nominated for best song at the 1937 Academy Awards- but did not win.

Illness and Death In early 1937, George Gershwin complained of frequent headaches, he was having problems with coordination and would blackout- even out on stage. After several months in and out of the hospital- they determined that Gershwin had a brain tumor. After an unsuccessful attempt by surgeons to remove the tumor- George Gershwin passed away on July 11, 1937, at the age of 38.