Transcript George Gershwin

Music 1010
By Melanie Jenkins
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Born: September 29, 1898
Parents: Rose and Morris Gershwin
Religion: Jewish
Hobbies: Roller Skating
Played Hooky from School
Petty Thief
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Heard student playing violin
Interest in music began
Learned to play piano in secret
Parents bought piano for his brother Ira
Lessons with Charles Hambitzer who praised
him
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Dropped out of school at 15
Jerome H. Remick & Company – salesman
Tin Pan Alley – 3 years
Highly Skilled Composer
“When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em”
“Swanee” – First real fame
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Paul Whiteman asked him to write a jazz
number
Concert “An Experiment in Modern Music”
Declined because he was busy with other work
Newspaper announced he was writing for it
3 weeks to put it together
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Riding on a train
Jazz music didn’t have to be in strict time
Worked straight through for 3 weeks
Brother Ira suggested a melody George had
played
Ira came up with the name
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George played piano part at the concert
Improvised where not finished
Clarinetist turned opening into glissando,
George liked it
5 curtain calls
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“Rhapsody in Blue (LP Version), The Piano
Rolls”
0:00 – Long piano trill, ascending in a glissando, main theme,
slow, mezzo forte. Binary, quadruple meter
0:26 – A short second theme is introduced (B), alternates between
themes A and B, alternating piano/forte
1:10 – Build up to a crescendo, descends, then slows to a moderate
pace, soft (piano)
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1:34 – Theme A, variation, loud and soft alternating, fast to slow
2:09 – Theme B, quadruple complex meter, soft to forte
2:39 – Return to Theme A, fast, mezzo forte
3:08 – Variation on Theme B, quick and hurried, fast, medium
loud.
3:30 – Theme A, fast, then slow, reverts to loud and fast, slows
down.
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4:14 – Theme B variation, quick, and softer. The tempo slows,
notes ascend . Slower, notes continue to climb.
5:21 –Theme B, much slower , piano, speeding up
5:58 – Key change, alternates between fast and slow
6:36 – Slower, soft (p), swings.
6:50 – Theme A variation, complex meter.
7:50 – Glissando, tempo slows ,Theme B, speeds up.
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8:29 – Rhythm swing, then returns to the original rhythm. Tempo
increases, forte
9:03 – Quick glissando up and down, and back up, inverted arch.
9:20 – Theme A, slow and low. Thoughtful.
10:04 – The music ascends
10:40 – Theme B, another variation.
10:56 – Still Theme B, alternating slow and fast, soft and loud
11:36 – Complicated series of quick notes, impression of raindrops.
Increasing intensity, lower notes in the left hand, climbing higher.
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12:28 – Glissando racing up the piano keys, louder
12:32 – Variation on Theme A. Very fast tempo, ascending.
13:03 – Theme B, ascends, faster. 2 more glissandos, then slows.
13:28 – Theme B starts swinging, rocking back and forth.
13:56 – Theme A returns, very slow tempo, continues until the
end.
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Close to brother Ira
Never more than a house away
1924 – working together; Ira the lyricist
Broadway musicals
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Fascinating Rhythm
Oh, Lady Be Good
The Man I Love
Someone to Watch
Over Me
They Can’t Take That
Away From Me
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Strike Up the Band
Let’s Call the Whole
Thing Off
An American in Paris
Embraceable You
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Pulitzer
“Of Thee I Sing”
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Claude Debussy
Piotr Tchaikovsky
Igor Stravinsky
Maurice Ravel – wanted to meet Gershwin
Gershwin asked Ravel to teach him
Ravel: “It is better to be a first-rate Gershwin
than a second-rate Ravel”.
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Read book “Porgy”
Teamed with author DuBose Hayward
Seven years later wrote “Porgy and Bess”
Folk Opera
One of the most important American
compositions of century
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1937 – Severe headaches and strange smells
Thought to be due to stress
Friends and family thought it was an act
Headaches progressed, trouble chewing
Problems playing his own music
Coma – Cedars of Lebanon, brain tumor
Died July 11, 1937
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String Quartet
Ballet
2nd Opera
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http://www.findfast.org/composers/facts-about-gershwin.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/georgegershwin/about-the-composer/65/
www.gershwin.com
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/george-gershwinmn0000197918
http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/greatcomposers/gershwin.ht
ml
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/articles/gershwin/bio
graphy.php
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006097/
http://www.biography.com/people/george-gershwin-9309643
George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait, by Walter Rimler
Gershwin: His Life and Music, by Charles Schwartz, (1979)
Various images from the Internet, Google, and clip art