Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

A study of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue as musical work, historical event and cultural document.

David Schiff (Author)

9780521559539, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 September 1997

136 pages, 1 table 17 music examples
21.5 x 13.9 x 0.9 cm, 0.165 kg

'… a most convincing interpretation of this surprisingly complex work and provides a welcome and stimulating addition to the Cambridge handbook series'. Music and Letters

The Rhapsody in Blue (1924) established Gershwin's reputation as a serious composer and has since become one of the most popular of all American concert works. In this richly informative guide David Schiff considers the piece as musical work, historical event and cultural document. He traces the history of the Rhapsody's composition, performance and reception, placing it within the context of American popular song and jazz and the development of modernism. He also provides a full account of the different published and recorded versions of the work and explores the many stylistic sources of Gershwin's music. The book also contains an extended discussion of Paul Whitman's Experiment in Modern Music, considers the influence of the Rhapsody on other works (e.g. the music of Duke Ellington) and examines the traditions and institutions of Jewish cultural populism.

1. Introduction: the one and only
2. Identity
3. Instruction manual (instead of an analysis)
4. Ingredients
5. Inception: the Aeolian Concert Hall
6. Interpretations
7. Influence
8. Invisibility: ideology and reception
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH]