George Gershwin

Music of the early twentieth century brought a new wave of inspiration and innovation.

Composers in the classical genre created many diverse pieces, and its reception had been equally

varied. The same began to take place in the United States as new styles and traditions began to

have a reach beyond the concert hall as the country searched for its musical identity. New styles

began to shape what music in America would sound and look like as musicians and composers

drew on new sources of inspiration. George Gershwin was influential in bridging different genres

of music and helping create what would become some of the most popular pieces in American

popular music.

George Gershwin was both a composer of classical music and writer of popular songs. In

his career, he wrote a list of successful popular songs which would become standards for many

decades later. He was born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. He took up the piano

and, in his studies, learned about the repertoire of the nineteenth century. Gershwin began his

career on Tin Pan Alley as a song plugger and would later go to Broadway as a pianist. Success

began to follow him as he composed many songs such as “Swanee,” some of which sold more

than a million copies (American Masters). He also composed other songs such as “Stairway to

Paradise” and an opera, “Blue Monday,” which he composed in five days. American composers

looked to develop new links with European music and also developed new currents among

American composers. The trends included Ultra modernist, which focused on developing new

musical sources, and the Americanist trend which incorporated national styles into European

music (Hanning p599). As he began to slowly make a name for himself, he encouraged his

brother, Ira, to take up writing lyrics, with whom he also wrote many popular songs.
 Most of Gershwin’s best-known songs featured his brother, Ira Gershwin. Ira was a

talented lyricist who wrote many popular songs that also served in developing George’s growing

popularity. As a composer, Gershwin had started writing for the stage but also moved on to

musicals and social satire. Of Thee I Sing (1931) was a spoof of the American presidential

election and also became the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama (Hanning).

Gershwin found success in many areas of writing and proudly explored mixing different rhythms

and styles of songs, which gave him an edge from other composers.

Gershwin knew how to mix elements of jazz into popular song, how to apply it to

classical pieces, and how to create a new fusion between the two, which served listeners well. He

was not only able to have a good reputation composing popular songs and working on

Broadway, but he also became one of the most famous and frequented American composers in

the classical genre (Hanning, pg 602). Although most would think these two genres are very

distinctive genres, Gershwin saw no stark contrast because he skewed the line between popular

song and classical works. He studied classical piano during his teenage years, following the

works of Chopin and Liszt, taking lessons in harmony and counterpoint as well . He saw the

potential of the emerging styles of jazz and blues and how it could add different flavors and

embellishments to art music (Hanning pg.602). His familiarity with both styles and sounds

helped him create a modern American style of music. He was most successful at merging

otherwise opposite styles and creating something new and fresh. Many of his works continue to

sound and have a lasting influence today.

One of the many popular tunes Gershwin wrote was “I Got Rhythm”, which along with

other tunes, helped skyrocket many artists’ careers. Ethel Merman sang “I Got Rhythm” on Girl
Crazy, an American musical film, and there it became one of the most popular songs of the time.

Although not much different from other Tim Pan Alley songs, it left a lasting impression on the

public, as well as other musicians. “I Got Rhythm” has one verse that maintains the main focus

on the chorus, typical of AABA form.

Jazz musicians became drawn to the tune, and it became heavily used on improvisation.

Jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and others wrote famous

contrafacts of the original, many of which have become standard jazz repertoire, and some of

which have become very well-known such as “Anthropology”. The chorus’s harmonic

progression in “I Got Rhythm” is what inspired many musicians to adopt it to their own jazz

tunes and become common practice in writing. The progression became known as “rhythm

changes,” and is what jazz musicians refer to when playing this style of song.

Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” became one of his most famous compositions in which

he attempted to introduce jazz and classical music (Hanning p.603). It was dubbed a “jazz

concerto” and was scored for solo piano and jazz ensemble. Paul Whiteman led the band in its

premier. It incorporated popular song form as well as blue notes and many other Jazz and Blues

influences. The Rhapsody was received well by the public and encouraged other composers to

begin to experiment in their own music and to incorporate jazz and other popular music into art

form. Rhapsody in Blue elevated his reputation as a composer and helped introduce jazz into the

concert hall. The line between art and popular music was beginning to blur; this music could

eventually be heard in great concert halls but also in small city clubs where musicians and

listeners alike gathered to take in this new music. It allowed for a new style to take a foothold

and have a wide reach on the public.

five themes are the ritornello theme, a stride theme, train theme, love theme and a shuffle theme.

Leonard Bernstein later commented saying it’s “not a composition at all. It's a string of separate

paragraphs stuck together.” The entire piece indeed sounds as though various parts are stuck

together, but when one is taken out, it doesn’t affect the entirety of it. What made this piece have

such a lasting impact was the boldness of Gershwin to be able to string together different musical

elements and still have it sound as one unit. Rhapsodies in their nature are already irregular

compositions in their form. It features one extended movement instead of many separate ones,

like what would be heard in a concerto.

The blending of traditions and musical ideas is part of why Gershwin has such an appeal

and lasting impact. His early death caused by a brain tumor did not allow him to write many

classical pieces, but he did expand and explore much of popular song-writing. Gershwin’s music

was monumental in helping to bring together different styles and merging popular and classical

music together. In the process he also helped shape the musical identity of American music,

much of which is still today highly regarded and considered classic standards of popular music.
 Works Cited

Hanning, Barbara Russano, and Donald Jay. Grout. Concise History of Western Music.

New York: W. W. Norton, 2010. Print.

Government Collection. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

Who could ask for anything more. (2013, September 10). Retrieved April 16, 2021, from
https://smtd.umich.edu/ami/gershwin/?page_id=50