George Gershwin is one of the giants of American music, unique in that he was both a brilliant writer of popular songs ("Swanee," "I Got Rhythm," "They Can't Take That Away From Me") and of more serious music, including "Rhapsody in Blue," "An American in Paris," and "Porgy and Bess." Now, in The George Gershwin Reader, music lovers are treated to a spectacular celebration of this great American composer. The Reader offers a kaleidoscopic collection of writings by and about Gershwin, including more than eighty pieces of superb variety, color, and depth. There is a who's who of famous commentators: bandleader Paul Whiteman; critics Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and Brooks Atkinson; fellow musicians Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Alec Wilder (who analyzes the songs "That Certain Feeling" and "A Foggy Day"), Leonard Bernstein, and the formidable modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg (who was Gershwin's tennis partner in Hollywood). Some of the most fascinating and important writings here deal with the critical debate over Gershwin's concert pieces, especially "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris," and there is a complete section devoted to the controversies over "Porgy and Bess," including correspondence between Gershwin and DuBose Hayward, the opera's librettist (a series of excerpts which illuminate the creative process), plus unique interviews with the original Porgy and Bess--Todd Duncan and Anne Brown. Sprinkled throughout the book are excerpts from Gershwin's own letters, which offer unique insight into this fascinating and charming man. Along with a detailed chronology of the composer's life, the editors provide informative introductions to each entry. Here then is a book for anyone interested in American music. Scholars, performers, and Gershwin's legions of fans will find it an irresistible feast.
Author(s): Robert Wyatt, John Andrew Johnson
Edition: 1St Edition
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 368
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
I. PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST......Page 16
2 Frances Gershwin Godowsky: "George Gershwin Was My Brother" (1962)......Page 18
3 Kay Swift: "Did you ever feel that a composer resembled his music?" (ca. 1970)......Page 21
4 Oscar Levant: "Variations on a Gershwin Theme" (1939)......Page 22
5 Verna Arvey: "George Gershwin Through the Eyes of a Friend" (1948)......Page 35
6 "Gershwin Bros." (1925)......Page 40
7 Isaac Goldberg: "Childhood of a Composer" (1931)......Page 42
II. THE GROWING LIMELIGHT (1919–1924)......Page 52
8 George Gershwin: Letter to Max Abramson (1918)......Page 54
9 Dolly Dalrymple: "Pianist, Playing Role of Columbus, Makes Another American Discovery: Beryl Rubinstein Says This Country Possesses Genius Composer" (1922)......Page 56
10 George Gershwin: Letter to Ira Gershwin (February 18,1923)......Page 57
11 "Whiteman Judges Named: Committee Will Decide 'What Is American Music'" (1924)......Page 59
12 Paul Whiteman and Mary Margaret McBride: "An Experiment" (1926)......Page 60
13 Olin Downes: "A Concert of Jazz" (1924)......Page 64
15 James Ross Moore: "The Gershwins in Britain" (1994)......Page 67
16 Ira Gershwin: "Which Came First?" (1959)......Page 72
III. FAME AND FORTUNE (1924–1930)......Page 78
17 Philip Furia: "Lady, Be Good!" (1996)......Page 80
18 Ira Gershwin: Letter to Lou and Emily Paley (November 26,1924)......Page 87
19 Alec Wilder: "That Certain Feeling" (1972)......Page 90
20 Carl Van Vechten: "George Gershwin, An American Composer Who Is Writing Notable Music in the Jazz Idiom" (1925)......Page 92
21 Samuel Chotzinoff: "New York Symphony at Carnegie Hall" (1925)......Page 97
22 Lawrence Gilman: "Mr. George Gershwin Plays His New Jazz Concerto" (1925)......Page 100
23 "Paul Whiteman Gives 'Vivid' Grand Opera; Jazz Rhythms of Gershwin's '135th Street'" (1925)......Page 102
24 George Gershwin: "Our New National Anthem" (1925)......Page 104
25 George Gershwin: "Jazz Is the Voice of the American Soul" (1926)......Page 106
26 George Gershwin: "Does Jazz Belong to Art?" (1926)......Page 109
27 George Gershwin: "Mr. Gershwin Replies to Mr. Kramer" (1926)......Page 113
28 Abbe Niles: "The Ewe Lamb of Widow Jazz" (1926)......Page 116
29 Carleton Sprague Smith: "d'Alvarez-Gershwin Recital" (1927)......Page 117
30 Allen Forte: "Someone to Watch Over Me" (1990)......Page 118
31 "George Gershwin Accepts $100,000 Movietone Offer: Fox to Pay That Sum for Film Version of Musical Comedy—Composer Gets Bid of $50,000 for Rhapsody in Blue Rights" (1928)......Page 122
32 George Gershwin: Letter to Mabel Schirmer (1928)......Page 123
33 Deems Taylor: "An American in Paris: Narrative Guide" (1928)......Page 125
34 Olin Downes: "Gershwin's New Score Acclaimed" (1928)......Page 127
35 George Gershwin: "Fifty Years of American Music… Younger Composers, Freed from European Influences, Labor Toward Achieving a Distinctive American Musical Idiom" (1929)......Page 129
36 George Gershwin: "The Composer in the Machine Age" (1930)......Page 134
37 Mary Herron Dupree: " 'Jazz,' the Critics, and American Art Music in the 1920s" (1986)......Page 138
IV. MATURITY (1930–1935)......Page 146
38 George Gershwin: "Making Music" (1930)......Page 148
39 Robert Benchley: "Satire to Music" (1930)......Page 152
40 John Harkins: "George Gershwin" (1932)......Page 153
41 Arthur Ruhl: "Of Thee I Sing, Kaufman-Ryskind Musical Comedy Satire at the Music Box" (1931)......Page 158
42 "A Music Master Talks of His Trials" (1932)......Page 160
43 Catherine Parsons Smith: From William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions (2000)......Page 162
44 Richard Crawford: "George Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm' (1930)" (1993)......Page 171
45 Allan Lincoln Langley: "The Gershwin Myth" (1932)......Page 187
46 William Daly: "George Gershwin as Orchestrator" (1933)......Page 190
47 Olin Downes: "George Gershwin Plays His Second Rhapsody for the First Time Here with Koussevitsky and Boston Orchestra" (1932)......Page 192
48 George Gershwin: Letter to Rose Gershwin (June or July 1932)......Page 193
49 Alexander Woollcott: "George the Ingenuous" (1933)......Page 194
50 George Gershwin: Letter to Emily Paley (1934)......Page 199
51 George Gershwin: Letter to Ira Gershwin (1935)......Page 200
52 Frederick Jacobi: "The Future of Gershwin" (1937)......Page 201
V. PORGY AND BESS......Page 206
53 Joseph Swain: From 'America's Folk Opera" (1990)......Page 208
54 George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, Selected Correspondence (1932–1934)......Page 216
55 "George Gershwin Arrives to Plan Opera on Porgy" (1933)......Page 226
56 Brooks Atkinson and Olin Downes: "Porgy and Bess, Native Opera, Opens at the Alvin: Gershwin's Work Based on DuBose Heyward's Play" (1935)......Page 228
57 George Gershwin: "Rhapsody in Catfish Row: Mr. Gershwin Tells the Origin and Scheme for His Music in That New Folk Opera Called 'Porgy and Bess' " (1935)......Page 232
58 Todd Duncan: From an Interview by Robert Wyatt (1990)......Page 236
59 Anne Brown: From an interview by Robert Wyatt (1995)......Page 243
VI. LAST YEARS: HOLLYWOOD (1936–1937)......Page 252
60 Edith Garson: "Hollywood—An Ending" (1938)......Page 254
61 Isabel Morse Jones: "Gershwin Analyzes Science of Rhythm"(1937)......Page 259
62 Nanette Kutner: "Radio Pays a Debt" (1936)......Page 261
63 Alec Wilder: "A Foggy Day" (1972)......Page 265
64 George Gershwin: Letters to Zenna Hannenfeldt (1936)......Page 266
65 George Gershwin: Letters to Mabel Schirmer (1936–1937)......Page 269
66 George Gershwin: Letter to Emily Paley (1937)......Page 274
67 George Gershwin: Letter to Henry Botkin (1937)......Page 275
68 George Gershwin: Letter to Rose Gershwin (1937)......Page 276
70 George A. Pallay: Letter to Irene Gallagher (1937)......Page 278
VII. OBITUARIES AND EULOGIES......Page 284
71 Report in Variety (1937)......Page 286
72 Arnold Schoenberg: "George Gershwin" (1938)......Page 288
73 Olin Downes: "Hail and Farewell: Career and Position of George Gershwin in American Music" (1937)......Page 289
74 Irving Berlin: "Poem" (1938)......Page 293
75 Jerome Kern: "Tribute" (1938)......Page 294
76 "Gershwin Left $341,089 Estate to His Mother; 'Rhapsody in Blue' Appraised at 'Greatest Value' and Opera Rights of 'Nominal Interest' to the Residue" (1938)......Page 295
77 Ira Gershwin: Letter to Rose Gershwin (1937)......Page 296
VIII. AS TIME PASSES......Page 300
78 "Music by Slide Rule" (1944)......Page 302
80 Vernon Duke: "Gershwin, Schillinger, and Dukelsky: Some Reminiscences" (1947)......Page 304
81 Leonard Bernstein: "Why Don't You Run Upstairs and Write a Nice Gershwin Tune?" (1955)......Page 308
82 Duke Ellington: "George Gershwin" (1973)......Page 315
83 Wayne Shirley: "George Gershwin: yes, the sounds as well as the tunes are his" (1998)......Page 316
Chronology......Page 324
Selected Bibliography......Page 340
Credits......Page 348
A......Page 350
B......Page 351
C......Page 352
D......Page 353
G......Page 355
H......Page 357
J......Page 358
L......Page 359
M......Page 360
N......Page 361
P......Page 362
R......Page 363
S......Page 365
T......Page 367
W......Page 368
Z......Page 369
