Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin (1898-1937) / Arr. Ferde Grofé

THE STORY

Already successful as a Broadway composer and songwriter by his early 20s, George Gershwin had an aching desire to compose and perform “big compositions” for the concert hall. So, when his friend, the dance band leader Paul Whiteman, called him in January of 1924 asking for an extended work for piano and dance orchestra, he quickly set to work on his “American Rhapsody.” Working furiously to finish the piece for Whiteman’s February concert at Aeolian Hall in Manhattan, Gershwin delivered the score with only days to spare.

In the early 1920s, American composers were beginning to wonder what a decidedly American music would sound like. For many, American music had resided too long in the shadows of European tradition. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was his attempt to answer this question, resulting in a work unlike anything yet composed for the American concert hall—featuring blue notes, jazzy syncopation, sliding pitches, and melodies that recall Gershwin’s career as a writer of popular music.

Gershwin himself considered the work a “musical kaleidoscope of America” capturing the essence of urban American life with all its bustle, blues, and cosmopolitan flair. With the composer at the piano, the work had its premiere just over just over one hundred years ago on February 12, 1924. Rhapsody in Blue was an immediate success: as critic Deems Taylor put it, Gershwin had created “something that had not hitherto been said in music.”

LISTEN FOR

• The screaming glissando of the opening clarinet ascent that dramatically introduces the first theme
• Gershwin’s virtuosic piano part, which often requires rapid leaps, deft finger work, and a nuanced sense of timing and touch
• Gershwin’s navigation of his many catchy themes, often taking unexpected turns into new material before reprising familiar melodies

INSTRUMENTATION

Solo piano; oboe, clarinet, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, celesta, strings