George Gershwin

jazz and classical

He made American jazz at home in the concert hall and the concert hall at home with jazz.

💡 Did you know? Gershwin, like no other, built a bridge between jazz, Broadway and classical concert music.

Brooklyn

The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants; his birth name was Jacob Gershowitz.

💡 Did you know? Gershwin was the son of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire and grew up in New York.

Rhapsody in Blue

Premiered in New York with Gershwin at the piano: the breakthrough of 'symphonic jazz'.

💡 Did you know? The famous wailing clarinet glissando at the start of „Rhapsody in Blue“ was a clarinettist's joke in rehearsal: Gershwin kept it.

Porgy and Bess

Cast entirely with classically trained Black singers: today considered the first great American opera.

💡 Did you know? Gershwin deliberately cast „Porgy and Bess“ entirely with black singers: unusual and bold for 1935.

Summertime

With thousands of cover versions, it is one of the most recorded songs of all time.

💡 Did you know? The lullaby „Summertime“ became one of the most covered songs in music history.

taxi horns

Gershwin bought them himself in Paris: the tone poem also became a hit film musical in 1951.

💡 Did you know? In „An American in Paris“ Gershwin had real Paris taxi horns built into the orchestra to make the street bustle audible.

Ira

The brothers turned out Broadway hit after hit: 'I Got Rhythm', 'The Man I Love', 'Embraceable You'.

💡 Did you know? His brother Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics: the brothers were one of the most successful songwriting duos of their time.

Tin Pan Alley

Ten hours a day he played the latest tunes for customers: the best school of his life.

💡 Did you know? At 15 Gershwin started in „Tin Pan Alley“ as a „song plugger“: playing sheet music all day to sell it.

Swanee

Sung by Al Jolson, the biggest star of the day: more than two million records sold.

💡 Did you know? „Swanee“, sung by Al Jolson, made the young Gershwin rich and famous overnight.

Maurice Ravel

Why become a second-rate Ravel when he was already a first-rate Gershwin?: A similar anecdote is also told of Stravinsky.

💡 Did you know? Ravel reputedly declined Gershwin's request for lessons, asking why he would want to be a „second-rate Ravel“ when he was a „first-rate Gershwin“.

brain tumour

He died in Hollywood after emergency surgery: America mourned as if for a president.

💡 Did you know? Gershwin died at just 38 of a brain tumour: at the height of his fame.

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was a US composer who fused jazz, Broadway and classical music: from „Rhapsody in Blue“ to the opera „Porgy and Bess“.

💡 Did you know? He died at just 38 of a brain tumour, at the height of his creative powers.

Rhapsody in Blue

The wailing clarinet glissando opening fuses jazz and symphony into the sound of 1920s New York.

💡 Did you know? At the 1924 premiere Gershwin partly kept the piano solo in his head and improvised.