George Gershwin

The Man and His Music

By Anita Horváth

George GershwinSeptember 26,1898 - July 11,1937

Family

• Parents: Russian Jewish immigrants

• Lived in New York

• Second child out of four

Family 2.

His parents: Morris and Rose

Gershwin

Family 3.

George and Ira Gershwin

His teachers

• Charles Hambitzer (George’s mentor

until his death,1918)

• Rubin Goldmark (classical composer)

• Henry Cowell (avant-garde

composer-theorist)

Henry Cowell

Early career

• „Song plugger” for Remick’s

• 1917. „Rialto Ripples”„Rialto Ripples”

• 1919. first big national hit with his

song „Swanee”„Swanee”

Early career 2.

• 1916.started working for Aeolian

Company and Standard Music Rolls in

New York

• Recording piano rolls – his own

compositions and others’ as well

Most important works

• 1924. Rhapsody in BlueRhapsody in Blue

• 1928. An American in Paris An American in Paris

• 1935. Porgy and BessPorgy and Bess - „folk opera”

Rhapsody in BlueRhapsody in Blue

Porgy and BessPorgy and Bess

The Broadway Years:1924-1929.

• in 1924 he collaborated with his brother on a musical comedy, „Lady „Lady

be Good”be Good”

• „Lady be good” was followed with

„Tip-Toes”„Tip-Toes” , „Oh Kay” , „Strike Upon „Strike Upon

the Band”the Band” , „Funny Face”„Funny Face”

Funny FaceFunny Face

Audrey Hepburn and Fred AStaire

His Jazz inspired classical music 1925-1931.

• „„Piano Concerto in F Major”Piano Concerto in F Major” /1925/

• „„Preludes for Piano”Preludes for Piano” /1926/

• „„An American in Paris”An American in Paris” /1928/

• „„Second Rhapsody”Second Rhapsody” /1931/

Pulitzer Prize

• „„Strike up the Band”Strike up the Band” , „Let ‘Em Eat „Let ‘Em Eat

Cake”Cake” , and „Of Thee I Sing”„Of Thee I Sing” were

dealing with social issues of the time.

• „„Of Thee I Sing”Of Thee I Sing” – the first comedy

ever to win a Pulitzer Prize

Influence

• Maurice Ravel

• Alban Berg

• Dmitri Shostakovich

• Igor Stravinsky

• Darius Milhaud

• Arnold Schoenberg

Many of his compositions have

been used on television and in

numerous films, and many

became jazz standards.

The jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald

Louis Armstrong

Bing Crosby

Frank Sinatra

Julie Andrews

Barbara Streisand

Sting

Privacy

• Had a 10-year

affair with

composer Kay Kay

SwiftSwift

• „„Oh Kay”Oh Kay” was

named for her

He also had an affair with the

actress Paulette Goddard

Death

• He died in brain

tumor in 1937

• He is burried in

Westchester Hills Westchester Hills

CemeteryCemetery, New

York

Sources

• www.wikipedia.com• www.maurice-abravanel.com/1267-0

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