Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue is a composition by George Gershwin which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.

Related Topics:
George Gershwin - Classical music - Jazz

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Rhapsody in Blue was commissioned by Paul Whiteman for a 12 February 1924 concert entitled "An Experiment in Modern Music," which took place in Aeolian Hall in New York City. The event has since become historic specifically because of its première of the Rhapsody in Blue.

Related Topics:
Paul Whiteman - 12 February - 1924

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Paul Whiteman's "orchestra" was a very popular dance band. Whiteman styled himself "The King of Jazz". (This appellation, applied to Whiteman's band of all-white musicians playing from written arrangements, would be questioned today, but in the 1920s the word jazz was used loosely to cover a broad range of contemporary popular music). Gilbert Seldes, in his book The Seven Lively Arts, was one of the first to treat popular culture in a serious way, and "jazz" was starting to be seen as a significant American contribution to musical culture. Whiteman undertook to present what for the most part was an ordinary set of dance-band numbers in a concert hall under the trappings of high culture. Dance-band numbers were presented under headings such as "True Form of Jazz" and "Contrast: Legitimate Scoring vs. Jazzing." The reception was lukewarm until Rhapsody in Blue was played. It was performed by Whiteman's band with an added section of string players, and George Gershwin on piano (partially improvising his piano solo). It was an instant success. Whiteman adopted it as his band's theme song, and opened his radio programs with the slogan "Everything new but the Rhapsody in Blue".

Related Topics:
Gilbert Seldes - The Seven Lively Arts - Popular culture - High culture

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Two audio recordings exist of Gershwin performing the piece with the Whiteman Orchestra, and a piano roll captured his performance in a piano-solo version. The Paul Whiteman Orchestra performs the piece in the 1930 film King of Jazz featuring Ferde Grofé on piano.

Related Topics:
1930 - King of Jazz - Ferde Grofé

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Rhapsody in Blue was orchestrated by Whiteman's arranger, Ferde Grofé, originally for the instrumental complement of Whiteman's band, then later for full symphony orchestra. Since the mid-20th century it has usually been performed by classical orchestras playing the expanded arrangement. In this form, it has become a staple of the concert repertoire. It is one of the pieces, like Dvorak's "New World" symphony, which has direct popular appeal while also being regarded respectfully by classical musicians. Classical commentator Ethan Mordden refers to Gershwin's sense of development and structure as "immature" but "not all that inferior to that of the average conservatory graduate." He characterizes the Rhapsody as "taut, incisive, expertly defined in what it is that had not been before." For a professional pianist or even an advanced student, the piece is generally not technically difficult.

Related Topics:
20th century - Dvorak - New World - Ethan Mordden

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In the 1990s, interest in the original arrangement has revived. Reconstructions of it have been recorded by Michael Tilson Thomas and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and by Maurice Peress as part of a reconstruction of the entire 1924 concert.

Related Topics:
Michael Tilson Thomas - Los Angeles Philharmonic - Maurice Peress

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Whiteman's clarinettist, Ross Gorman, showed Gershwin a virtuoso maneuver by which he could produce a smooth, unbroken multi-octave glissando. Such a glissando opens the Rhapsody in Blue. There seem to be few classically-trained clarinettists who can perform this correctly, and it is a weak spot in many recordings by symphony orchestras.

Related Topics:
Clarinet - Ross Gorman - Octave - Glissando

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Whiteman had asked Gershwin if he wanted to write a "jazz-influenced concert piece" for the Aeolian Hall concert. Gershwin accepted it, but forgot about the assignment. On January 3, 1924, George's brother, Ira, shocked him by showing him a story in the New York Tribune announcing that Gershwin was "at work on a Jazz concerto" to be premiered that February 12. He hastily set about composing a piece, and on a train journey to Boston, the ideas of Rhapsody in Blue came to his mind. Later he wrote:

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:It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattly-bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer—I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise... And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper—the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end. No new themes came to me, but I worked on the thematic material already in my mind and tried to conceive the composition as a whole. I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, our metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston I had a definite plot of the piece, as distinguished from its actual substance.

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In three weeks, Rhapsody in Blue was born. However, due to the lack of time, Gershwin did not write out the piano part, only the band parts. As a result, he improvised some of what he was playing. He didn't write out the piano part until after the performance. So we really don't know what the original Rhapsody really sounded like.

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Rhapsody in Blue has often been interpreted as a musical portrait of New York City, evoking the mood of skyscrapers by night and jazzy urban bustle. It is used to this effect in Woody Allen's film Manhattan and the Disney film Fantasia 2000; in 1991 the female barbershop quartet Ambiance recorded an a cappella version of Rhapsody in Blue with lyrics describing scenes in New York life.

Related Topics:
New York City - Woody Allen - Manhattan - Disney - Fantasia 2000 - Barbershop quartet - Ambiance - A cappella

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One of the most impressive presentations of Rhapsody In Blue occurred at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The open-air performance of this American piece by 84 pianists playing baby grand pianos was televised live to the world.

Related Topics:
1984 Olympic Games - Los Angeles - Baby grand pianos

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United Airlines has used "Rhapsody in Blue" in its radio and television advertising throughout much of the 1990s and into the twenty-first century; the airline says that the piece has been its official theme for over twenty years. An electronic version of the piece is played as passengers move through the underground walkway between United's two main concourses at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The music is accompanied by "dancing" multi-colored lights above the walkway. Additionally, a highly-regarded group of animated ads that has been running in the past two years (2004-2005) have used different versions of Rhapsody in Blue as their backgrounds; indeed, the piece composes all of the audio in the ads, save a one sentence tag line at the end read by Robert Redford.

Related Topics:
United Airlines - Chicago - O'Hare International Airport - Robert Redford

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Brian Wilson was reportedly heavily influenced by this music, and the SMiLE project can almost be thought as a direct offshoot of the concept, with its three movements and unmistakably American song structures. During the film "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE" Brian Wilson is shown playing the introduction of Rhapsody in Blue on the piano, then directly segueing into the SMiLE song "Heroes and Villains".

Related Topics:
Brian Wilson - SMiLE - Segue

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The copyright on Rhapsody in Blue expires in 2007 in the European Union and between 2019 and 2027 in the United States of America.

Related Topics:
Copyright - European Union - United States of America

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