George gershwin biography summary of winston

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopediastandards. He tried out various piano teachers for two years, and then was introduced to Charles Hambitzer, who acted as George's mentor until his death in 1918.

While in California, Gershwin began having trouble with headaches and difficulty remembering the scores and certain passages in his compositions. He also wrote popular songs with success. Integrating and harmonizing the profound elements of classical music stylism and the robust sounds of American jazz, Gershwin created a musical style that elevated the life and ideals of the common man to the venues of the elite concert stage, made the music of jazz acceptable to the realms of classical followers, and initiated American music into the concert repertoire.

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. PORGY AND BESS previewed in Boston on September 30, 1935 and opened its Broadway run on October 10.

Gershwin had a long relationship with composer Kay Swift, who later arranged and edited some of his music.

The copyrights on those works expire in 2007 in the European Union and between 2019 and 2027 in the United States of America.

ISBN 0521648564

External links

All links retrieved June 14, 2017.

• Many other incidental sequences from the film were written and orchestrated by Gershwin, among them: Waltz of the Red Balloons and a final extended eight-minute orchestral passage based on the title song with an intriguing coda hinting at Gershwin forging a new musical path.

  Though this initial effort created little interest, “Swanee” (lyrics by Irving Caesar) — turned into a smash hit by Al Jolson in 1919 — brought Gershwin his first real fame.

  In 1924, when George teamed up with his older brother Ira, “the Gershwins” became the dominant Broadway songwriters, creating infectious rhythm numbers and poignant ballads, fashioning the words to fit the melodies with a “glove-like” fidelity.

  
  
  Musical style and influence
  
  Gershwin’s style blended jazz, popular song and classical techniques. Posthumously, Swift arranged some of his music, transcribed some of his recordings, and collaborated with Ira on several projects. 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.

  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 (Hyland 167). George would hear new songs at school and on the radio and then try to duplicate the various melodies and harmonies that he heard at his home on the piano.

  In 1914, Gershwin left high school to work as a Tin Pan Alley song plugger and within three years, “When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em; When You Have ‘Em, You Don’t Want ‘Em,” was published.

  In 1926 Gershwin read PORGY, DuBose Heyward’s novel of the South Carolina Gullah culture, and immediately recognized it as a perfect vehicle for a “folk opera” using blues and jazz idioms.

  He was strongly influenced by early 20th-century French composers; during a meeting with Maurice Ravel, Gershwin asked for lessons, prompting Ravel’s famous reply: “Why be a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?” His orchestral works show clear affinities with Ravel and Debussy, and Concerto in F drew comparisons with French Impressionism.

  Al Jolson sang it in a show called Sinbad and the song took off, selling more than a million copies of sheet music and more than two million phonograph recordings. George Gershwin will continually stand as one of America's most outstanding composers.

  All bios appear as they were submitted in the year of induction or award presentation.