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George Gershwin Essay - 1,351 words

George Gershwin George Gershwin, a famous American composer of the 1920th, belongs to the category of exceptionally gifted
artists, who died young and could not realize many of their plans and ideas. Despite of his short life-time, musical and creative
inheritance of Gershwin is significant: he wrote about thirty musicals and operettas for theater and cinema, and became an author of
many popular songs, which are still being played in our times. Born in 1898 in Brooklyn, New York, in a family of Russian
immigrants of Jewish origin, future music genius Jacob Gershowitz has been demonstrating his talents and endowment since early
childhood. At the age of six he began getting interested in playing piano, which was purchased by the parents for his elder brother,
Ira. For very short period of time George reached incredible progress in playing by ear, and left Ira, who has been receiving lessons
from professional teachers, far behind. The family was rather poor, so, being unable to afford fundamental music education for
George, the parents used the services of cheaper private musicians. At the age 12, George became a student of Charles Hambitzer,
who made the strongest influence on Gershwin.

Hambitzer seriously trained young talent in piano techniques, harmony, orchestration, improvisation, and also made George familiar
with music of progressive European composers of those times. Later on Gershwin studied with a number of other famous composers,
like Rubin Goldmark, Joseph Shillinger, etc, who taught him the basics of composition and artistic arrangement. The first years of
his musical career Gershwin spent playing piano at Remicks Music Publishing House in Tin Pan Alley as a song plugger: a piano
player, who demonstrated the songs to be sold to the producers. This work was an incredible experience for the young composer, and
during this period of time he made first efforts on composing some own songs, similar to the ones he had to perform. In 1916 he
officially published his first composition and took pseudo name George Gershwin. For some time he continued earning money as a
pianist, working on writing more and more songs and even musical comedies.

In 1919 the premier of his first stage musical La, La, Lucille had very good success in Broadway and, a year later, his song from this
musical, Swanee, performed by Al Jolson, brought nationwide fame and popularity to young talented composer. Within the first year,
Swanee exceeded one million copies sold around the country, and it was just the beginning for Gershwin. Together with his brother,
Ira Gershwin, George wrote a great deal of stage musicals and compositions for stage shows and performances of Broadway and
other American theatres. The most famous of those are Lady, be good (1924), Oh, Kay (1926), Girl Crazy (1930), Strike up the Band
(1930), and Of Thee I Sing (1931), which can be characterized with special rhythmic patterns and original intonations. Almost all the
musicals of Gershwin brothers were staged and successfully performed. During whole his musical career, Gershwin used to be
captivated by music of many worlds composers of the beginning of XX century, like Russian Dmitriy Shostakovich and Igor
Stravinsky, Austrian Alban Berg, etc.

But the influence of French masters of composition, like Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel or Darius Milhaud was the most
considerable and the most rooted in Gershwins works. Some of these composers were his mentors, like Stravinsky or Ravel. The
latter used to highly estimate and value musical talent of Gershwin, encouraging his musical advancement by saying "Why should
you be a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?" (Bakers Dictionary) But principal unique musical approach of
Gershwin was in combining elements of jazz and folk with traditional symphonic compositions. First attempt of such creative
experiment was his one act musical opera 135th Street, which, indeed, was not very successful. But the next work in this mixed style,
The Rhapsody in Blue (1924) for piano and orchestra caused shock in American musical world. Despite of its lack of proper form and
numerous repetitions, this composition was an example of exceptional vivid rhythmic and melody. Besides, it included a bouquet of
American national tunes, that is why it become one of the most world
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Essay Tags: new york, musical, composer, composition, american This is an Essay sample / Research paper, you can use it for your research of:
George Gershwin

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