Rhapsody in Blue

[perlovka_blog]

Мощная вещь. Время от времени слушаю, но вот только сейчас прочитала про историю создания:

 

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

Rhapsody in Blue was commissioned by Paul Whiteman for a February 12, 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.

Whiteman had asked Gershwin if he wanted to write a "jazz-influenced concert piece" for the Aeolian Hall concert. Gershwin accepted, but forgot about the assignment. On January 3, 1923, George's brother, Ira Gershwin, 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:

"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."

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.

 

From wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue