George Gershwin

George Gershwin – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Delve into the life of George Gershwin (1898–1937): his journey from Tin Pan Alley to orchestral heights, his blend of jazz and classical, his collaboration with Ira Gershwin, his masterpieces like Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess, and the enduring legacy of his music.

Introduction

George Gershwin was a singular force in American music: a composer and pianist whose work uniquely bridged the worlds of popular song, Broadway, jazz, and concert music. Born September 26, 1898, and passing on July 11, 1937, Gershwin’s career spanned just over two decades. Yet in that brief time, he transformed the musical landscape of the United States by integrating African American idioms, popular forms, and orchestral techniques into something distinctly “American.”

His works—Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, Porgy and Bess, countless Broadway hits—remain central to the canon of American music. In his music, one hears echoes of jazz, blues, classical technique, and theatrical flair. His life story is as dramatic and compelling as some of his compositions, marked by ambition, innovation, intense collaboration, and tragedy.

Early Life and Family

George Gershwin was born Jacob Gershwine (the spelling was later modified) on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York.

The family lived in modest surroundings. In his childhood, George showed little formal academic interest but a growing fascination with music. He began piano lessons relatively late (around age 13) under Charles Hambitzer, who would become a crucial musical mentor.

By his early teens, he was absorbing both the formal techniques of classical composition and the exuberance of popular (especially jazz) idioms. Gershwin later credited Hambitzer for giving him a musical foundation and for broadening his listening horizons.

Youth and Education

At about age 15, Gershwin dropped out of formal schooling and entered the music business as a “song plugger”—that is, someone employed to promote new songs in the publishers’ catalog. Tin Pan Alley, earning modest wages.

His first published song appeared around 1916, and soon he was writing and arranging for the Aeolian Company and Standard Music Rolls.

Gershwin’s early work was rooted in the world of popular song. But his musical ambitions reached beyond Tin Pan Alley: he desired to write works of broader scope and lasting value.

Career and Achievements

Gershwin’s career is often viewed in phases: early popular songwriting, his crossover into orchestral and concert works, and finally his ventures into opera and film.

Tin Pan Alley & Broadway Successes

• In 1919, Gershwin achieved his first major popular success with the song “Swanee,” using lyrics by Irving Caesar. The song became a hit when performed by Al Jolson.

• Throughout the 1920s, George often collaborated with lyricists—including his brother Ira Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva—on Broadway musicals.

• Their musicals produced many enduring standards: Lady Be Good (1924), which included “Fascinating Rhythm”; Oh, Kay! (1926); Funny Face (1927); Strike Up the Band; Girl Crazy (1930), which introduced “Embraceable You” and “I Got Rhythm.”

• In 1931, Of Thee I Sing became the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, demonstrating Gershwin’s ability to create works that were both popular and artistically serious.

These popular and theatrical successes gave Gershwin the financial freedom and public reputation to pursue more ambitious musical projects.

Fusion into Orchestral & Concert Works

Gershwin’s most revolutionary contributions lie in how he merged the popular and the classical:

• In 1924, he composed Rhapsody in Blue, for piano and orchestra, which was premiered by Paul Whiteman’s orchestra with Gershwin himself as soloist. Orchestrated by Ferde Grofé, Rhapsody in Blue became emblematic of the possibility of bridging jazz and concert idioms.

• He followed with Concerto in F (1925), An American in Paris (1928), and Second Rhapsody (1931).

• An American in Paris, a tone poem, tried to evoke the atmosphere of Paris in 1920s through musical gestures and urban soundscapes. Its premiere in 1928 had mixed reviews but over time joined the orchestral repertoire.

• Gershwin was deeply drawn to the idea that American music must reflect the times and the people. He often said that “true music must reflect the thought and aspirations of the people and time. My people are Americans. My time is today.”

Porgy and Bess & Opera

Perhaps his most ambitious work is the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), co-created with Ira Gershwin (lyrics) and DuBose Heyward (libretto).

Though initially met with mixed reviews and controversy, Porgy and Bess has since become a core work in both opera and American musical theater repertoires. Its songs, like Summertime, remain among the most recorded in American music.

Gershwin also spent time in Hollywood, writing film scores and blending his theatrical/popular sensibility with cinematic demands.

Historical Milestones & Context

To understand Gershwin’s significance, one must see him in the context of early 20th-century American culture:

• The Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance were flourishing, and Gershwin tapped into the energy of jazz, blues, and African American musical traditions, while bringing them into larger concert and theatrical forms.

• At a time when the “serious” world of European classical music often looked down on jazz, Gershwin boldly straddled both domains and thereby helped redefine what American concert music could be.

• His approach aligned with a broader movement in American arts: synthesizing immigrant, African American, and European traditions into a new, cosmopolitan American voice.

• Gershwin’s musical achievements influenced later composers (e.g. Leonard Bernstein), Broadway styles, jazz musicians, and film composers.

His works bridged popular appeal and artistic ambition in ways that scholars often compare to Stravinsky or Ravel in terms of cultural impact, though Gershwin’s idiomatic palette was uniquely American.

Legacy and Influence

Though Gershwin’s life was short, his influence has been long and wide:

1. Standard Repertoire & Performances
   Works like Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F, An American in Paris, and Porgy and Bess are performed regularly by orchestras, opera houses, and ensembles worldwide. His songs remain deeply embedded in the American Songbook.

2. Recording and Popular Culture
   Many of Gershwin’s songs and orchestral works have been recorded and adapted countless times. Singers, jazz instrumentalists, film composers, and popular artists continue to reinterpret his melodies.

3. Institutional Honors

   • The Broadway theater bearing his name, the Gershwin Theatre, was renamed in 1983 in honor of George and Ira Gershwin.

   • The Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, established by the U.S. Library of Congress, honors musical contributions in the spirit of George and Ira Gershwin.

   • His estate and papers are archived (for example, by the Library of Congress), supporting scholarship and performance of his works.

   • In 1998, on the centennial of his birth, he was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize to honor Of Thee I Sing.

4. Scholarly & Cultural Study
   Gershwin’s music and life are frequently studied in musicology, cultural studies, American studies, and jazz studies. His blending of genres, his identity as an American Jewish composer, and his cross-domain ambition make him a compelling subject for analysis.

Gershwin’s legacy is not just in the notes he left behind but in the possibility he opened: that American popular music and classical music could coexist, that the vernacular and the grand could merge, and that a composer could speak to both the people and posterity.

Personality and Talents

Gershwin is often remembered as ambitious, audacious, curious, and a musical experimenter. Some key traits and strengths:

• Musical synthesis: He had a gift for absorbing diverse musical influences—jazz, blues, popular song, European classical—and recombining them into his own idiomatic language.

• Melodic gift: Gershwin’s melodies are memorable, singable, and emotionally expressive. Many are so familiar they feel like folk songs.

• Sense of rhythm & jazz sensibility: He understood syncopation, swing, and the rhythmic vitality of jazz, and deployed those elements in his orchestral writing.

• Boldness and ambition: He moved from Tin Pan Alley to writing concert works and opera in a relatively short time. He took risks—venturing into new forms and contexts.

• Collaborative spirit: He maintained a long, fruitful collaboration with his brother Ira, whose lyricism matched George’s musical flights.

• Work ethic and prolific output: Despite a short life and relatively compressed career, Gershwin was remarkably productive across genres.

On the flip side, he also faced health issues (ultimately a brain tumor) and the pressure of bridging two musical worlds. His early death at 38 robbed both American music and world music of a continuing journey of evolution.

Famous Quotes & Lyrics

While Gershwin was not primarily known as a quotable philosopher, a few remarks and lyrical lines stand out.

Notable Quotes

• “True music must reflect the thought and aspirations of the people and time. My people are Americans. My time is today.” (often attributed to Gershwin)

• When he inquired about studying with Maurice Ravel, the composer reportedly responded (or inspired the idea): “Why become a second-rate Ravel when you're already a first-rate Gershwin?” — a telling affirmation of Gershwin’s individuality.

Memorable Lines from His Songs

Because so many of Gershwin’s creations are in the realm of song, many “quotes” come from lyrics:

• “Summertime, and the livin' is easy” — from Porgy and Bess

• “I got rhythm, I got music / I got my man — who could ask for anything more?” — from I Got Rhythm

• “Our love is here to stay” — from Love Is Here to Stay

• “They can’t take that away from me” — from They Can’t Take That Away from Me

• “Stairway to the stars, all because of you” — from Stairway to the Stars

These lines have entered the common musical consciousness and are often quoted or repurposed by later artists and listeners.

Lessons from George Gershwin

From Gershwin’s life and work, a few timeless lessons emerge:

1. Don’t confine yourself to a single genre.
   Gershwin’s strength was in crossing boundaries—bringing elements from jazz, blues, theater, and classical traditions—and creating something new. His example encourages artists to explore and combine.

2. Be authentically rooted in your time and place.
   He believed that music should reflect the present and the people. He turned American idioms—jazz, blues—into art music. In doing so, he created a distinctly American musical voice.

3. Collaborate wisely.
   His partnership with Ira was perhaps his greatest artistic asset. Their balance—George’s music and Ira’s lyric—was synergistic and long-lasting. Creative partnerships, when respectful and aligned, can magnify individuality.

4. Pursue ambition, but stay grounded.
   Moving from song plugger to opera composer shows aspiration. But he never completely abandoned accessibility. His works retain wide emotional appeal.

5. Legacy often begins before you think you’re finished.
   Gershwin died young, at the height of his powers. Yet his compositions continue to live, be reinterpreted, adapted, and studied. The seeds he planted in American music grew far beyond his years.

Conclusion

George Gershwin was a bridge-builder—between jazz and classical, popular and serious, Broadway and concert hall. Though he lived only 38 years, the ripples of his work have echoed through generations.

His melodies climb into consciousness so easily that one might forget the craft behind them. His daring to integrate idioms, to write works of wide appeal without sacrificing musical ambition, marks him as one of America’s great musical innovators. In Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, Porgy and Bess, and countless songs, Gershwin gave voice to an American musical identity in formation.

Explore his scores, listen to performances, dive into the many arrangements and reinterpretations—George Gershwin’s music offers continual discovery, reminding us that creativity is about boundaries crossed, traditions honored, and new paths forged.