George Gershwin (redirected from Gerschwin)

Gershwin, George 

Born Sept. 26, 1898, in New York; died July 11, 1937, in Beverly Hills, Calif. American composer and pianist.

Gershwin was born into a Jewish family (Gershovich) that had emigrated from Russia. He did not receive a systematic music education, but he took music lessons with C. Hambitzer (piano) and R. Goldmark (harmony). He acquired fame as the composer of jazz songs for the variety stage, operettas, and revues. Later he also turned to instrumental genres and opera.

Gershwin is the most prominent representative of so-called symphonic jazz. His style combines the tradition of improvisational jazz, elements of Afro-American musical folklore, including blues and spirituals, and the characteristic features of the light genre (the so-called Broadway variety stage) with the classical forms of European music—operatic, symphonic, and concert music. In spite of diverse influences, Gershwin’s music is distinguished by its striking originality. His creative work is imbued with satirical features, sharp humor, and the grotesque (for example, the musicals on political themes Strike up the Band and Of Thee I Sing and the symphonic suite An American in Paris).

Among Gershwin’s best works are Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz orchestra (1924) and the opera Porgy and Bess, which was on a theme from the lives of the Negro poor and was the first American national opera (1935). The work is distinguished by the vividness and contrasts of its musical character and by its intense dynamics. Developing the tradition of the ballad opera, Gershwin combined musical conversational dialogues with arias, ensembles, and choruses. The tragic principle is interwoven in the opera with the comic genre—spirituals and lyrical blues alternate with grotesque ragtimes. Porgy and Bess has been successfully performed in theaters in many cities in the world. It has been staged in the USSR since 1945. (The first production was presented by the Ensemble of Soviet Opera.)

REFERENCES

Grigor’ev, L., and Ia. Platek. Dzhordzh Gershvin. Moscow, 1956.
Konen, F. Puti amerikanskoi myzyki, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1965.

V. IU. DEL’SON