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The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

George Gershwin was born in 1898, in Brooklyn, New York. This American composer was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants named Gershovitz, who went to the United States in 1893. George had piano lessons from Charles Hambitzer, and later studied theory and harmony with Edward Kilenyi, and wrote a string quartet for him in 1919. 

He left school at 15 to work as a pianist and 'song plugger' for the publisher Remick. He wrote his first song in 1916, and his first Broadway musical - La La Lucille, in 1919. There then followed a Gershwin New York musical in each of the next 14 years!

George's gift for writing melodies was phenomenal. His songs encapsulated the essence of New York of that period, and many of them have become classics. He also showed that he could compose larger scale works. If you haven't heard Rhapsody in Blue, you must! And his opera Porgy and Bess is one not to be missed. He also composed for films, and possibly hundreds of songs, including: The Man I Love, Embraceable You, I Got Rhythm, 'S Wonderful, Lady Be Good, and Love Walked In. The very popular Summertime is from Porgy and Bess.

The influence of Jazz on 'serious music' has been enormous. And those who built bridges between Jazz and symphonic forms included George Gershwin. Here we have included an instrumental (Band?) arrangement of his marvellous (Jazz) classic (to his brother Ira's words) Fascinating Rhythm, as an example of the developing genre which saw the G&S era move into modern Showtime. Hey! Is that Stephane Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin dropping in occasionally? No, sorry to disppoint, it's just MusicSmiles' First Violin playing his part!

It's a real toe-tapper from George & Ira, isn't it? Feel free . . .

Like to join in with some of Carrie J Bond 's different American music?

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