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Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin

Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin. By: Mike McCann. George Gershwin Bio. Born in 1898 as Jacob Gershvitz to Russian Immigrant Parents Not a real musical intuition until age 12 Dropped out of High School (1914) to join a Tin Pan Alley publishing firm

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Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin

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  1. Rhapsody in BlueGeorge Gershwin By: Mike McCann

  2. George Gershwin Bio • Born in 1898 as Jacob Gershvitz to Russian Immigrant Parents • Not a real musical intuition until age 12 • Dropped out of High School (1914) to join a Tin Pan Alley publishing firm • Left job in 1917 to work as a rehearsal pianist • Really saw first success with Swanee • Died young in 1938 as a result of a brain tumor

  3. Gershwin’s Musical Accomplishments • Swanee (1919) • Rhapsody in Blue (1924) • Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra (1925) • An American in Paris (1928) • Porgy and Bess (1935)

  4. Rhapsody in Blue • Came to be rather randomly • Paul Whiteman and Aeolian Hall • FerdeGrofe and Ross Gorman • Last second finish

  5. Musical Elements • Instrumentation • Depending on the performance: Piano, Clarinet, Saxophone(s), Violin, French Horn, Trumpet, Tuba, and others • Main instruments are clarinet and piano • Harmonic Shifts and Changes in rhythm

  6. Musical Elements (cont.) • Forceful playing • Improvisation • Joy of Playing

  7. Listening • Almost irregular sections • A-establishes the theme of the piece • Bridge from intro to theme…short and cheerful • B-theme from introduction with clarinets backing • C-Jazz theme, dynamic shifts…gives piece a lot of excitement • B-piano enters on a much lower note

  8. Listening (cont.) • A-piano provides the “bluesy” theme • C-piano shifts to provide jazz theme from earlier • D-warm version of the theme • Piano then plays repeated notes, as they get faster with each note • D-main orchestra rejoins piano following solo

  9. Listening (cont.) • A-piano plays part A in what almost seems like an angry tone • B-played again with repeated notes • A-conclusion that incorporates whole orchestra with piano to theme exciting ending

  10. Pop Culture • New York City • Brian Wilson • Woody Allen • Fantasia • Olympics

  11. Critics • Leonard Bernstein: “not a composition at all, but a string of terrific tunes, stuck together with a thin paste of flour and water” • Arthur Schwartz: “more intuition than tuition” • Originality • American?

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