George
Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1898. He had a
normal kid's experiences in the New York tenements, until the age of
ten years. Up until that time, born of Yiddish-Russian-Lithuanian
emigré parents, he and his elder brother, by two years, Ira, had run
with their boyhood friends, roller-skated and misbehaved.
This is just a bunch of random kids playing stickball in Hells' Kitchen, circa 1910
It
is to be noted that up until he heard a friend, Maxie Rosenzweig's
violin recital, that he cared nothing for music at all, but
afterward, he decided he wanted to learn to play piano. His parents
had bought a piano for Ira to practice his lessons on, but it was his
sister Frances who initially earned money, and then left the music
business to marry and raise a family. Another brother, Arthur,
followed both Ira and George into the music business and began to
play and compose songs.
I had forgotten about these until researching this article; the good ol' player piano!
George
wanted to take formal lessons, but was frustrated in his endeavors to
find a good teacher for himself for two years. He was finally
introduced to Charles Hambitzer, the pianist in the Beethoven
Symphony Orchestra. Until Hambitzer's death in 1918, he mentored
Gershwin. Hambitzer taught Gershwin conventional piano technique,
introduced him to European classical tradition and encouraged him to
attend orchestral concerts. As a matter of course, Gershwin later
studied with the classical composer Rubin Goldmark, who also taught
Aaron Copland, and avant-garde composer-theorist Henry Cowell, thus
formalizing his musical training.
When
Gershwin left school at age 15, he became a “song plugger” in Tin
Pan Alley, working for the publishing firm Jerome H. Remick and
Company, where he earned $15 a week. His first published song was
“When You Want Em, You Can't Get Em, When You've Got Em, You Don't
Want Em” which sounds like either half the song, or the hook, right
there. It was published in 1916, when George was 17 years old, and it
earned him $0.50. His 1917 novelty song “Rialto Rag” was a
commercial success and his third published song, “Swanee” was a
certified hit, with words by Irving Caesar. Al Jolson, of the first
“talkie”, “The Jazz Singer” and a famous Broadway singer,
heard it and included it in one of his shows.
You can listen to this on youtube. You can listen to EVERYTHING on youtube!
During
several years working and recording piano rolls under his own name
and several pseudonyms, George was collaborating with his brother Ira
and they were turning out some wonderful hits: the stage musical
comedy, “Lady Be Good” which contained the tunes “Fascinatin'
Rhythm” and “Oh, Lady Be Good”. They also created “Show Girl”
and “Girl Crazy”, which gave us “Embraceable You” and “I
Got Rhythm” debuted by Ginger Rogers. In 1931, they wrote and
produced “Of Thee I Sing” which won a Pulitzer Prize.
I've seen just about every movie that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers ever made together, and loved them. Not just because of the jazz, but because of the beauty of these two dancing.
But
let's back up a few years. In 1924, Gershwin wrote “Rhapsody In
Blue” a serious classical work for orchestra and piano. It was
orchestrated by Ferde Grofé and premiered by Paul Whiteman's concert
band in New York. It proved to be his most popular work.
In
the mid-20s, Gershwin stayed in Paris for a brief period, trying to
persuade Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Ravel to take him on as a pupil
(Nadia Boulanger was still alive and teaching when I went to college;
every composition student in university was trying to get a
Fulbright to go and study with her!) but both declined. They were
afraid that rigorous classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced
style. Ravel had the most perfect answer for Gershwin: “Why become
a second-rate Ravel, when you're already a first-rate Gershwin?”
Why indeed.
Maurice Ravel's (Composer of "Bolero") Birthday Party. Maurice is sitting at the piano. George Gershwin is far right.
While
there, George wrote “An American in Paris” which opened to mixed
reviews at Carnegie Hall on December 13, 1928. It did grow in
popularity, however, and became a mainstay of both European and
American orchestral repertoire. I've even heard a Russian
interpretation of it. It sounded like a bunch of people who had never
heard jazz in their lives, which is odd, because Shostakovich wrote
jazz, although he got in trouble for it, so that may explain the
rather stilted and cardboard-like interpretation that I heard, since
this was in pre-glasnost days.
Nadia Boulanger, American composer, conducter and pedagogue. She taught Aaron Copland, Quincy Jones, Philip Glass and other Americans. She is also one of the first women to have conducted the New York Philharmonic. She taught almost up to her death at age 92, in 1979.
Of
course, Gershwin's magnum opus “Porgy and Bess” remains one of
the most popular in opera literature today. Although I've not played
this opera, I've played most of the songs from it and they are
heavenly. Everything from “Summertime” to “I Got Plenty O'
Nuthin'” and “It Ain't Necessarily So”. Gershwin's influences
crop up in Leonard Bernstein's compositions, most notable “West
Side Story”. Bluesy and brooding, exuberant and hopeful, it is
America.
Gershwin's "Concerto in F" for piano and orchestra. Enjoy
I
have played the three “big” orchestral pieces by Gershwin and by
far my favorite is the “Concerto in F”. Reminiscent of “Slaughter
on 10th Avenue”, it is gritty, wrenching and soulful.
The “Rhapsody in Blue” and the “Concerto” are abstractions,
while “American in Paris” is more programmatic and is my least
favorite to listen to and play. But, I defy anyone to not hold their
breath, when they hear that lone clarinet opening, and that glissando
that is the prelude to the entire orchestra joining in for “Rhapsody
in Blue.”
I
won't say much more about Gershwin's career; it is known that he died
way too young of a brain tumor. He was 38. His many friends were
devastated. The author John O'Hara said, “George Gershwin died on
July 11, 1937, but I don't have to believe it if I don't want to”.
That kind of sums it up for me as well.
