THE STORY BEHIND: Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"

Title: Rhapsody in Blue

Composer: George Gershwin (1898-1937)

Last time performed by the Rhode Island Philharmonic: Last performed October 20, 2018 with Bramwell Tovey conducting and soloist Aaron Diehl. In addition to a solo piano, this piece is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, three horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, three saxophones, timpani, percussion and strings.

The Story: On January 4, 1924, Ira Gershwin showed his brother George a news report in the New York Tribune about an upcoming concert, put together by jazz bandleader Paul Whiteman, “tracing the history of jazz.” The report concluded with the words: “George Gershwin is at work on a jazz concerto.” This was certainly news to Gershwin, who was then in rehearsals for the Broadway show, Sweet Little Devil. Gershwin contacted Whiteman to refute the Tribune article, but Whiteman eventually talked Gershwin into taking the job. A month later, the world experienced Rhapsody in Blue for the first time.
         
During that short month, Gershwin found inspiration for the new piece on a train ride from New York to Boston: “It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattlety-bang that is often so stimulating to a composer. . . . And there I suddenly heard—and even saw on paper—the complete construction of the rhapsody, from beginning to end. . . . I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America—of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston I had a definite plot of the piece.”
         
Like most rhapsodies, this work is largely freeform, with much of the solo piano part written so as to sound like it is being improvised on the spot. “Blue” refers to his masterful blending of blues and jazz elements into an orchestra context. The result is an exciting, fast-paced piece that could only have been written in America.
         
Incidentally, the iconic opening clarinet glissando (a slide from a low pitch to a high one) which has been used in countless commercials, films and radio programs since the 1920s, was not originally part of Gershwin’s concept for the piece. During a warm-up before rehearsal one day, he happened to hear Whiteman’s clarinetist Ross Gorman play one and was so taken by it that he immediately decided to add it in. Ironically, it has now become the most recognizable aspect of the piece.

Program Notes by Jamie Allen © 2024 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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