4th of July Series – Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin

Rhapsody-in-Blue1George Gershwin was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer and pianist from Brooklyn, who, along with his lyricist brother, Ira Gershwin, created hallmarks and standards of the American musical repertoire in Broadway, cinema, and on the concert stage. His most popular work, which I wish to highlight here as music worth of your time, is Rhapsody in Blue. Commissioned in the 1920s when jazz was in full swing, band leader Paul Whiteman asked Gershwin to follow up on previous musical experiments which mixed classical musical with jazz but to do so on a grander scale. What he created is one of the great compositions of American music.

The genesis for the composition came to Gershwin as he rode a train to Boston while listening to the rhythm and clang of the engine. That energy translated expertly to sheet music; the busy piano, the banging orchestra, it all sums into a perfect placement of jazz into the classical theatre.