The son of poor Jewish immigrants in lower Manhattan, George Gershwin was a natural-born pianist and left school at 16 to become a pianist with a Tin-Pan Alley firm, plugging their new songs. He soon commenced writing songs himself, eventually teaming up with his brother Ira as lyricist to become one of the most successful teams of song and musical comedy writers on Broadway. They created a string of immensely successful musicals from Lady be Good in December 1924 to Let ‘em Eat Cake in October 1933. The opening night of a George Gershwin musical comedy was a social and media event with Gershwin himself usually leading the orchestra.

A great composer’s discards are often the next generation’s treasures. Gershwin always tried to give the impression that his musical powers were innate and that he never had to study music. In reality he was a student all his life, albeit always with private tutors. In 1919 he composed the Lullaby for String Quartet, probably as an exercise in his private composition and harmony studies. For a few years it was occasionally performed by Gershwin’s friends, but never in public. Three years later he incorporated part of the melody into an aria for a one-act opera, Blue Monday, which closed after one performance. Finally tiring of the piece, he left the manuscript on his brother Ira’s shelf where it was discovered in 1963 by harmonica player Larry Adler. Adler made a transcription for harmonica and string quartet that became very popular. In 1967, the Juilliard String Quartet premiered the original version and recorded it in 1974. Conductor and pianist Jeff Manookian prepared the string orchestra version.

Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
Wordpros@mindspring.com
www.wordprosmusic.com