Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess is an opera with music by George Gershwin and libretto by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on Heyward's novel Porgy and the play of the same name that he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy. All three works deal with African American life in the fictitious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in the early 1930s.

Recordings

:Main article:Porgy and Bess discography

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Days after the Broadway premiere of Porgy and Bess with an all-black cast, two white opera singers recorded highlights of the opera in a New York sound studio, released as Highlights from Porgy and Bess. Members of the original cast were not recorded until 1940, when Todd Duncan and Anne Brown recorded selections of the work. Two years later, when the first Broadway revival occurred, Decca rushed other members of the cast into the recording studio to record other selections not recorded in 1940. These two records were marketed as a two volume LP set "Selections from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess".

Related Topics:
Highlights from Porgy and Bess - Todd Duncan - Anne Brown - Decca - Selections from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess

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Although there was an initial feeling by members of the jazz community that a Jewish piano player and a white novelist could not adequately convey the plight of blacks in a 1930s Charleston ghetto, jazz musicians warmed up to the opera after twenty years. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded an album in 1957 in which they sang and scatted Gershwin's tunes. The next year, Miles Davis recorded a seminal interpretation of the opera arranged for big band

Related Topics:
Louis Armstrong - Ella Fitzgerald - An album in 1957 - Miles Davis - A seminal interpretation - Big band

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Operatic purists have found the most complete recordings to be those produced by the Houston Grand Opera in 1977 and the Glyndebourne album from 1989. These recordings restore the full score of Gershwin's opera, music which had never before been performed in the United States.

Related Topics:
Houston Grand Opera - The Glyndebourne album - 1989

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