A Review of the Life and Music of George Gershwin

In this research paper I will analyze the life and work of the composer George Gershwin. Gershwin was active in the early twentieth century writing musical comedies and operas, many of which were the product of the collaboration with his brother Ira. I hope to clarify the style of Gershwin, and also bring to light some of the events in his life that led to his being a successful composer.

George Gershwin was born “Jacob Gershwine” on September 26, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York to Morris and Rose Gershwin. George was the second child born to the couple, the oldest being Israel Gershwin, who was born two years before George. Two other children were born into the family, Arthur and Francis. Although the name recorded on his birth certificate is “Jacob”, he soon became known as George to his family and friends.

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When George was 12 years old, his parents bought his older brother a piano and after Ira (Israel) showed no interest in the piano, George started to merely play around on it and his parents noticed his great talent and signed him up for lessons, during which his abilities grew significantly. As his interest in music took shape, he looked to his older brother for advice. All of the Gershwin children took an interest in music and performing, but, as young children tend to do, George preferred the input of his older brother over that of his younger siblings. Ira recommended that George take inspiration from composers such as Irving Berlin, and he did. Although his piano lessons were mainly in the field of classical music, he became greatly influenced by the jazz style that was quickly rising to popularity.

When George was a teen he found work in New York’s “Tin Pan Alley” as a song plugger. In 1918 he was hired by Harms, Inc. along with Irving Caesar and in 1919 his song “Swanee” was released. Al Jolson used Swanee in his musical “Sinbad” which helped boost the popularity of the song and George.

Gershwin was highly influenced by the other composers of his era such as Joserome Kern, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. He combined the classical and jazz styles of these musicians to create some of his most popular pieces, and even wrote an opera in the style of jazz.

After leaving traditional school, Gershwin studied under Joseph Schillinger, who was responsible for the creation of the “Schillinger System of Musical Composition”. According to Schillinger, every component of music should have a specific purpose, and the musical piece as a whole should have a certain emotional meaning. Also under the guidance of Schillinger were musicians Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. At the time of Schillingers death he was writing a book on his method of composition, but he died before it could be completed. As a result of poor communication, and the lack thereof in some instances, there is no clear explanation of the entire process of composition that Schillinger taught.

George Gershwin was mainly a composer of stage musicals, but he did venture into other fields during his life. He started making piano rolls, then playing in nightclubs, and after this he got a job playing sheet music for companies before it was released. He got his start in Broadway as a rehearsal pianist and in his later years he worked with his brother Ira writing songs for numerous popular Broadway musicals. He wrote the musical “Girl Crazy” which involved many musicians that would later become huge influences, including Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. All of these had been working under Loring “Red” Nichols at the time, who also played in the orchestra pit during the show. He also wrote “An American in Paris” which would later be turned into a film starring Gene Kelly. During his time writing music for Broadway he also toured to Europe, his younger sister Frances accompanied him on these tours.

Gershwin wrote the music for “Oh, Kay!” and “Porgy and Bess”, both became huge hits on Broadway and the latter was adapted into a film starring Sammy Davis Jr.. He wrote the songs “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” (Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald), and “Lady Be Good” (Ella Fitzgerald). Over the course of his career George Gershwin composed over 500 songs.

In 1936 Gershwin began complaining of headaches, stomach aches, and other problems including depression. When he went to his doctors they sent him away after finding nothing wrong. However, in the next year he experienced two cases of losing consciousness, briefly, and began to report the smell of burning rubber, which caught many people’s attention. Not too long after this his headaches became debilitating and more frequent, nevertheless he continued to write the music for which he had become so popular. As his headaches continued to grow, he visited numerous doctors and still nothing could be found. Finally a nurse was hired to take care of George at home, but he still grew worse. He began having severe mood swings and episodes of losing his balance and coordination, which greatly affected his ability to play the piano. On one occasion, when he was staying with his brother Ira and his wife, he grew extremely feeble and once again Ira took him to the hospital and this time a tumor was found in his brain. He went into emergency surgery to try to lessen the size of the tumor but he never came out of unconsciousness. He died on the eleventh of July, 1937 at 10:30 am. “For a man as brilliant as he with a recurring tumor, life would have been terrible; it would have been a slow death.” (Walter Dandy). Walter Dandy was the neurosurgeon that was initially asked to perform the procedure, and here he is explaining that Gershwin’s life would be one that was slowly wasting away if he did not have the surgery immediately.

Lady Be Good has a string and brass introduction followed by interchanging dialogue between a man and a woman. As the dialogue moves on the brass section begins to play, and the man's speaking turns into singing. Altogether, this is a jazz piece, however, the string section plays a part typical to that of an opera setting. The instrumentation provides punctuation to the statements made by the characters, and closely follows the singing choruses. The piece is overall contradictory. During the choruses and bridge the singers carry a classical tune while the orchestra carries a jazzy tune, and vice versa during the verses. You can easily tell how carefully the music is planned to compliment the lyrics. The instrumental breaks are played mainly in forte, which morph into a fanfare that falls into the main melody once again.

Rhapsody in Blue is introduced in pianissimo with a crescendo to mezzo piano, another crescendo to mezzo forte followed by a brief fortissimo with a return to mezzo piano. There is an intricate melody played on piano with string accompaniment. In the opening the right hand on the piano plays an upwards scale while the left hand plays a succession of deep defining chords. As the music reaches high points the brass section can be heard and they bring a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Further into the piece the brass section carries the melody with accompaniment by piano and high pitched brass members. An audible forte tuba keeps time, and is heard clearly in strategically placed sections to add to the suspense. There is a brief period where the string section carries the melody with the piano, this is quickly followed by a return to the brass section playing fortissimo. There is a quick build up and immediately after there is a piece played by the piano and a muted trumpet, obviously influenced by jazz. Woodwinds end the segment and lead into another build up that subsequently leads into a section played by the brass family that is classical in style, but the fact that it is played by primarily brass members adds a hint of jazz. This morphs into another section played by brass that is mezzoforte and has string accompaniment. During this time flutes and piccolos are heard quite briefly as well as the piano playing high pitched tremolos similar to those heard in the opening of the “Spinning Song”. There is a very slow build up that includes the piano playing in an obvious jazz style that concludes with a surprising forte after a period of pianissimo. The piece nears an end with the piano, flute, and strings playing in what in my opinion would be most closely compared to the style of Scott Joplin. There is quite a lengthy piano piece with tempo ranging from adagio to vivace. Finally there is a big finish with a forte brass section and string accompaniment. All in all this piece is very exciting.

My favorite of all the musical works I reviewed was Rhapsody in Blue. I was quite surprised when I listened to it, actually. I had previously heard and enjoyed the version of this song played by Glenn Miller, and was expecting to hear something similar, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I did hear. Rhapsody in Blue is also a lot more lengthy than the other pieces composed by Gershwin, and I enjoy that and can appreciate the time and effort that went into composing something this grand. Overall, I have a deep admiration for George Gershwin's style, and am thankful for his ability to blend together classical and jazz music to make his own mark on the history of the American music industry.

In this paper I have explored the work of George Gershwin, and have learned a lot about his life and style. Gershwin showed exceptional talent in the field of musical composition, and many of his works remain popular after over half a century. There is no doubt in my mind that this man was a huge influence on later musicians, especially in that he created a whole new style of composition. George Gershwin was truly a great composer, and his legacy will be here I’m sure for a very long time.