George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898, and died in Hollywood, California on July 11, 1937. The first performance of the Rhapsody in Blue took place at Aeolian Hall in New York City, on February 12, 1924, with the composer as soloist and Paul Whiteman conducting the Palais Royal Orchestra. 

In addition to the solo piano, Rhapsody in Blue is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, three horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, suspended cymbal, cymbals, glockenspiel, triangle, bass drum, tam-tam, and strings. Approximate performance time is sixteen minutes.

George Gershwin composed Rhapsody in Blue at the request of bandleader Paul Whiteman. Whiteman planned to stage a concert in New York to demonstrate that American jazz “had come to stay and deserved recognition.” After much persuasion by Whiteman, Gershwin agreed to compose a rhapsody for piano and orchestra he conceived of as “a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America – of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, of our metropolitan madness.” Gershwin composed the work at a furious pace, completing it in about three weeks.

George Gershwin planned to title his new composition American Rhapsody. But Ira Gershwin, inspired by an exhibition of paintings by the American painter James McNeill Whistler –including Nocturne in Gold and Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Whistler’s Mother), suggested Rhapsody in Blue.

On February 12, 1924, a capacity audience filled New York’s Aeolian Hall to hear Paul Whiteman’s concert, entitled, An Experiment in Modern Music. As the concert progressed, the attention of the audience began to flag. Olin Downes reported for the New York Times: “Then stepped upon the stage, sheepishly, a lank and dark young man – George Gershwin. He was to play the piano part in the first performance of his Rhapsody in Blue for piano and orchestra.”

From the start of the audacious clarinet solo, the audience was spellbound. Here was a work that offered a beguiling synthesis of the classical tradition – long believed to be the province of European composers – and America’s own music, jazz. When the majestic final chord sounded, the audience erupted with an ovation described by critics as “tumultuous,” “wild and even frantic.” 

From that day, George Gershwin became recognized not only as an important composer of Broadway and popular melodies, but a force to be reckoned with in classical music. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue remains one of the most beloved and performed concert works by an American composer.

The Rhapsody in Blue opens with the famous clarinet solo that journeys from its brazen ascent to the introduction of the first of several themes that appear during the course of the work. The pianist enters, soon embarking on a solo turn. In the spirit of the work’s title, the Rhapsody in Blue is a rather free-form piece that offers diverse and often virtuoso treatments of the thematic material by the soloist and orchestra. 

Toward the latter portion of the work, the orchestra introduces a majestic theme, capped by some jazzy commentary from the horns. From there, the Rhapsody in Blue proceeds to a brilliant climax, concluding with a final statement of the opening clarinet theme.