Composed: 1924
Premiered: 1924, New York
Duration: 16 minutes

Gershwin was the original and greatest American “crossover” artist. His gifts won him fame and fortune both in popular and classical music. While still a teenager, he landed a job in the music publishing business, resulting in a solid grounding in popular taste. By the early 1920s, he was earning a healthy income from composing for the pop song market. For several years, he had also been taking private instruction in classical techniques. Sooner or later, these two streams were bound to merge. In 1922, he contributed a one-act opera, Blue Monday, to a Broadway revue. It impressed Band leader Paul Whiteman. He and Gershwin discussed the idea of a jazz-flavoured piano concerto, without setting a firm date for launching it. The following year, Whiteman decided it was time to show off the growing popularity of jazz by staging a formal concert. Without telling Gershwin, he published a newspaper article stating that Gershwin’s “jazz concerto” would be premièred by Whiteman in four weeks’ time!

The premiere of Rhapsody in Blue took place in New York in February 1924. Even though it came at the end of a long, varied program, it was still received with overwhelming enthusiasm. This irresistible blend of freewheeling '20s jazz and daredevil, Liszt-like classical virtuosity remains one of the most beloved and most frequently performed all American compositions.

Program Note by Don Anderson © 2023