George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, NY on September 26, 1898 and died in Hollywood, CA on July 11, 1937. While his career began as a song plugger in New York City’s Tin Pan Alley, he went on to great success on Broadway in the concert hall. His most important stage work was the opera, Porgy and Bess, which remains in the repertory of opera companies, and which enjoys occasional revivals on Broadway. The Concerto in F was composed in 1924-5, partly at the Chautauqua Institution, to fulfill a commission by Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra and had its premiere on December 3, 1925. It is scored for 3 flutes (piccolo), 3 oboes (English horn), 3 clarinets.

The premiere of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on February 12, 1924 in New York’s Aeolian Hall was an event that attracted attention from Tin Pan Alley to Carnegie Hall. Representatives of the latter venue who attended the concert were violinists Fritz Kreisler, Mischa Elman, and Jascha Heifetz. Sergei Rachmaninoff was there, as were conductors Wilem Mengelberg, Leopold Stokowski, and Walter Damrosch. The latter figure was so taken with the work that he offered Gershwin a commission for a concerto for piano and orchestra, with the stipulation that the composer would perform it in New York and on tour. The composer agreed, working during the summer of 1925 at the Chautauqua Institution (from where I am write these notes!) on what he first called his “New York Concerto,” later changing the title to Concerto in F. The work received its first performance in New York City on December 3, 1925 with the NY Symphony Orchestra under Damrosch’s direction.

The commission caused Gershwin to undertake serious study of symphonic composition and orchestration, including taking lessons from Rubin Goldberg, Wallingford Riegger, and Henry Cowell. He later commented about this:

Many persons had thought that the Rhapsody was only a happy accident. Well, I went out, for one thing, to show them that there was plenty more where that had come from. I made up my mind to do a piece of “absolute” music. The Rhapsody,

as its title implied, was a blues impression. The Concerto would be unrelated to any program. And that is exactly how I wrote it. I learned a great deal from that experience. Particularly in the handling of instruments in combination.

Gershwin also provided a brief synopsis of the Concerto in F for the New York Tribune shortly before its premiere. His synopsis is given here, with my own interpolations:

The first movement employs the Charleston rhythm. It is quick and pulsating, representing the young, enthusiastic spirit of American life. It begins with a rhythmic motif given out by the ketteldrums, supported by other percussion instruments and with a Charleston motif introduced by the bassoon, horns, clarinets and violas. . . . Later, a second theme is introduced by the piano.

The second movement has a poetic nocturnal atmosphere which has come to be referred to as the American blues, but in a purer form than that in which they are usually treated. [Especially memorable is the way in which Gershwin uses the muted trumpet and oboe]

The final movement reverts to the style of the first. It is an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping the same pace throughout. [It is a rondo of sorts, that also recalls themes from the first two movements]

Program Note by David B. Levy © 2009/2025