Like almost all musicians on Broadway, George Gershwin (1898–1937) was the son of a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia. Coming to music as a pianist and accompanist and a composer of songs for one-day shows, he very quickly scaled great heights in the profession. His first success as a composer came with his songs – Swanee (1919) in just one year brought him $10,000 (Gershwin composed a total of almost seven hundred songs for numerous musicals and films).
But neither glory nor money turned Gershwin’s head. Unlike many of his show business colleagues, as an established musician he was doing what he had been unable to do in his youth – he began to study composition seriously. Gershwin was lucky enough to discover the magic formula in America: based on jazz and the classical tradition he created the first serious works in a uniquely American style.
Among Gershwin’s masterpieces is the opera Porgy and Bess, while his instrumental music includes Rhapsody in Blue (1924), Piano Concerto in F Major (1925) and the symphonic poem An American in Paris
An American in Paris was written during a trip by the composer to Europe lasting almost four months. The poem was commissioned from Gershwin by conductor Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra. According to Gershwin, his aim was "to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere." |
