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 An American in Paris took place at Carnegie Hall in New York on December 13, 1928, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic. 

An American in Paris is scored for three flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, woodblock, cymbals, bass drum, triangle, two tom-toms, four auto horns, xylophone, glockenspiel, celesta, and strings. Approximate performance time is eighteen minutes.

In March of 1928, George Gershwin departed New York for Europe, with trips to Paris, London, and Vienna. Prior to that time, Gershwin received a commission from conductor Walter Damrosch and the New York Philharmonic for a new orchestral work. Gershwin returned to New York in June, where he completed An American in Paris a month before the work’s premiere. Walter Damrosch conducted the Carnegie Hall concert, which took place on December 13, 1928.

In describing his An American in Paris, Gershwin observed: “This new piece, really a rhapsodic ballet, is written very freely and is the most modern music I’ve yet attempted.” 

An American in Paris opens with music depicting the protagonist strolling throughout Paris (Gershwin went to great time and expense to find authentic French taxi horns for inclusion in the work’s premiere). According to Gershwin: “Our American friend perhaps after strolling into a café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness.” 

But finally, “the homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air, has disowned his spell of the blues and once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant.”