Music 1010 By Melanie Jenkins Background Born September 29 1898 Parents Rose and Morris Gershwin Religion Jewish Hobbies Roller Skating Played Hooky from School Petty Thief The Beginning ID: 544198
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "George Gershwin" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
George Gershwin
Music 1010By Melanie JenkinsSlide2
Background
Born: September 29, 1898Parents: Rose and Morris Gershwin
Religion: Jewish
Hobbies: Roller Skating
Played Hooky from School
Petty ThiefSlide3
The Beginning
Heard student playing violinInterest in music began
Learned to play
piano in
secret
Parents bought piano for his brother Ira
Lessons with Charles Hambitzer who praised himSlide4
Jobs
Dropped out of school at 15Jerome H. Remick
& Company – salesman
Tin Pan Alley – 3 years
Highly Skilled Composer
“When You Want ‘
Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em”
“
Swanee
” – First real fameSlide5
Rhapsody in Blue
Paul Whiteman asked him to write a jazz numberConcert “An Experiment in Modern Music”
Declined because he was busy with other work
Newspaper announced he was writing for it
3 weeks to put it together
Rhapsody
in BlueSlide6
Cont.
Riding on a trainJazz music didn’t have to be in strict time
Worked straight through for 3 weeks
Brother Ira suggested a melody George had played
Ira came up with the name
Slide7
Cont.
George played piano part at the concertImprovised where not finished
Clarinetist turned opening into glissando, George liked it
5 curtain callsSlide8
Listening Guide
“Rhapsody in Blue (LP Version), The Piano Rolls”
0:00 – Long piano
trill,
ascending in a
glissando,
main theme, slow, mezzo
forte. Binary, quadruple meter
0:26 – A short second theme is introduced (B
),
alternates between themes A and B,
alternating piano/forte
1:10 –
Build
up to a
crescendo, descends,
then slows to a moderate
pace, soft
(piano
)Slide9
Listening Guide
1:34 – Theme A, variation
, loud and soft alternating,
fast
to slow
2:09 – Theme
B, quadruple complex meter,
soft to
forte
2:39 – Return to Theme A
,
fast, mezzo
forte
3:08 –
Variation
on Theme
B,
quick and
hurried,
fast, medium loud.3:30 – Theme A, fast, then slow,
reverts
to loud and fast,
slows down.Slide10
Listening Guide
4:14 – Theme B variation, quick, and softer. The tempo
slows, notes
ascend .
Slower, notes
continue to
climb.5:21
–Theme B, much
slower ,
piano, speeding up
5:58 –
Key change, alternates
between fast and slow
6:36 –
Slower
, soft (
p
), swings.
6:50 –
Theme
A
variation,
complex meter.7:50 –
Glissando
,
tempo slows ,Theme B, speeds up.Slide11
Listening Guide
8:29 – Rhythm swing,
then returns to the original rhythm.
Tempo increases,
forte
9:03 –
Quick glissando up and
down,
and back
up, inverted arch.
9:20 – Theme
A,
slow
and low. Thoughtful
.
10:04 – The music
ascends
10:40 –
Theme B, another
variation.
10:56 – Still Theme B,
alternating
slow and fast, soft and loud
11:36 –
Complicated
series of quick notes, impression of raindrops. Increasing intensity,
lower notes in the left
hand, climbing higher.Slide12
Listening Guide
12:28 – Glissando
racing up the piano
keys, louder
12:32 –
Variation
on Theme A. Very fast tempo,
ascending
.
13:03 – Theme B, ascends, faster. 2
more
glissandos,
then
slows.
13:28 – Theme B starts
swinging, rocking
back and forth.
13:56 – Theme A
returns,
very slow tempo, continues until the end.Slide13
Gershwin Brothers
Close to brother IraNever more than a house away
1924 – working together; Ira the lyricist
Broadway musicalsSlide14
Compositions
Fascinating RhythmOh, Lady Be GoodThe Man I Love
Someone to Watch Over Me
They Can’t Take That Away From Me
Strike Up the Band
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
An American in Paris
Embraceable YouSlide15
Awards
Pulitzer“Of Thee I Sing”Slide16
Influences
Claude DebussyPiotr Tchaikovsky
Igor Stravinsky
Maurice Ravel – wanted to meet Gershwin
Gershwin asked Ravel to teach him
Ravel: “It is better to be a first-rate Gershwin than a second-rate Ravel”.Slide17
Opera
Read book “Porgy”Teamed with author DuBose
Hayward
Seven years later wrote “Porgy and Bess”
Folk Opera
One of the most important American compositions of centurySlide18
Illness
1937 – Severe headaches and strange smellsThought to be due to stress
Friends and family thought it was an act
Headaches progressed, trouble chewing
Problems playing his own music
Coma – Cedars of Lebanon, brain tumor
Died July 11, 1937Slide19
Future Works Planned
String QuartetBallet
2
nd
OperaSlide20
Bibliography
http://www.findfast.org/composers/facts-about-gershwin.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/george-gershwin/about-the-composer/65/
www.gershwin.com
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/george-gershwin-mn0000197918
http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/greatcomposers/gershwin.html
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/articles/gershwin/biography.php
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006097/
http://www.biography.com/people/george-gershwin-9309643
George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait,
by Walter
Rimler
Gershwin: His Life and Music,
by Charles Schwartz, (1979
)
Various images from the Internet, Google, and clip art