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George Gershwin 1898-1937
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The Life and Music of the Great George Gershwin Abigail Hill, Chamber Choir In September of 1898, Morris and Rose Gershowitz (previously Moishe Gershowitz and Roza Bruskina) welcomed their second child, Jacob Gershwine(which would have been pronounced 'Gershvin') into the world. Preceding him was his older brother Ira, in 1896; born later was Arthur in 1900and Frances in1906. Gershwin came from Russian-Jewish heritage; his grandfather, Jakov Gershowitz, had served as a mechanic for the Imperial Russian Army for 25 years in order to earn his right to free travel and residence as a Jew, and he retired near Saint Petersburg. His son, Moishe, worked as a leather cutter for shoes, and fell in love with Roza Bruskina. However, she moved with her family to New York because of rising anti-Semitism in Russia and changed her first name to Rose. After serving his obligatory military service in Russia, Moishe followed Rose to America and gave his first name as Morris upon arrival. They married on July 21, 1895, when she was 19 and he was 23. After the birth of Ira, the family moved to 242 Snediker Avenue in Brooklyn. For the most part, Ira and George grew up near the Yiddish Theater District, where they frequented the local Yiddish theaters and ran errands for members; George even appeared onstage as an extra. Until the age of ten, George wasn’t interested in music; however, when he heard his friend Maxie Rosenzweig's violin recital, he became intrigued. His parents had bought a piano, originally for Ira; to their surprise and Ira's relief, it was George who played it. George had several piano teaches over the following two years, before he was introduced to Charles Hambitzer. Hambitzer acted as George’s mentor until his death in 1918; teac... ... middle of paper ... ...urope and the United States. He later returned home, seemingly tired of the Parisian atmosphere. In 1935, Gershwin’s most ambitious work, “Porgy and Bess” opened. He called it a “folk-opera,” and it is now one commonly regarded as one of the most significant American operas of the twentieth century. Through this work, he crossed lines and broke barriers, doing what none before him had. “Porgy and Bess” tells the tale of Porgy, a disabled black beggar living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina, and his attempts to rescue Bess from her violent and possessive lover; it deals with themes of drug addiction, prostitution, violence, and murder. It was based on the novel “Porgy” by DuBose Heyward. “Porgy and Bess” contains some of Gershwin's most sophisticated music, including a fugue, a passacaglia, the use of atonality, polytonality and polyrhythm, and a tone row.
Rachel M. Harper’s The Myth of Music intentionally weaves together 1960s era jazz music and a poor African American family via metaphor and allusion to show a deep familiar bond between father and daughter.
On September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York the legend was born. George Gershwin the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. George sparked his interest in music when his mom and dad bought a castoff piano for George’s older brother, Israel. At the age 15, Gershwin dropped out of school, and began playing in New York night clubs. He spent his day and nights playing pianos for demanding customers. After three-years of playing tunes for customers, he transformed into a highly skilled and amazing composer. To earn extra cash on the side, Gershwin worked as a rehearsal pianist for Broadway singers. Soon after that Gershwin published his first song “When You Want 'Me, You Can't Get 'Me, When You've Got 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em". At the time it was published, Gershwin was only 17 years of age, the song earned him $5. In 1917, Gershwin created a novelty rag, called “Rialto Ripples”, which was a commercial success. By 1919 he recorded and accomplished his first national hit song called “Swanee”. A famous Broadway singer, Al Jolson, heard Gershwin’s performance of “Swanee” at a party and decided to sing it in one of his shows. That’s when George Gershwin’s career really took off. Between1920 to 1924, Gershwin put on a show for an annual production put on by George White. George White was a composer, musical dir...
Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow, was originally published in 1975, and later became a musical that premiered at the Toronto Centre for the Arts in 1996. The story illustrates three families’ journeys in the changing society of America during the 1920s. Each family is in a different position of society. One family is rich and white and lives in the exclusive upper class neighborhood of New Rochelle, NY. Their lives are sheltered and privileged. Another family is African American. They live in Harlem, which was populated only by African Americans at the time. The main character in this family that we follow, Coalhouse, is a Ragtime piano player. The next family represents the immigrants of that time. Tateh, a Jewish immigrant, arrives at Ellis Island and faces the challenges of achieving the American dream. Although they dream of riches, they begin life in America in poverty. The fictional story of Ragtime accurately depicts history. The story gives a realistic picture of what New York City was like at that time by using fictional and real people and describing events in the book that mirror real life. "Based on the bestseller by E.L. Doctorow, "Ragtime" artfully blends historical events (immigration, the industrial revolution, the birth of the civil-rights movement, women's suffrage and the invention of motion pictures) and historical figures (Henry Ford, Booker T. Washington, Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, Admiral Perry) with fictional characters to paint a nation in the making in the early 20th century" (Jim Ruth).
This work is directly inspired by Der Blaue Reiter Almanach. Primarily a work of prose, it consisted of plays, essays by leading artists and musicians detailing works of the era, and commentary on art, music, theater, and related subjects. The Brooklyn Rider Almanac is conceptually a modern recreation of this idea in music, in that musicians are providing a commentary of artists or their work through their music. In a way, The Brooklyn Rider Almanac approaches the idea of cross-disciplinary art from an opposite prospective as the Onomatopoetic Project. Many of the works presented during the concert as a part of The Brooklyn Rider Almanac were inspired by looking an artistic muse or idea as an inspiration to create music that reflects the muse. Artists from classically trained composers to jazz and rock musicians contributed to this collection of works, and the results are both fascinating and inspiring. One great example of this is Necessary…Henry by Albanian Cellist Rubin Kodheli. Inspired by the jazz musician Henry Threadgill, this work incorporates the styles of rock musicians like Jimi Hendrix into and what could be perceived as the farthest possible medium from rock: the string quartet. Like Threadgill’s earlier use of non-jazz instrumentation and ideas in jazz works, Kodheli uses sounds from the rock genre like virtuosic guitar-like riffs, rock groves, and highly
Georgi Melitonovich Balnchivadze, George Balanchine, was born on January 22, 1904 in St. Petersburg. He was born into a highly musical family. His father, Meliton, was a singer and composer and his mother Marie, was a pianist. His mother encouraged her children to have musical education. He began to take piano lesson at age 5. He also received a classical education with his sister, Tamara and his younger brother, Andrei. Ironically, Balanchine had no desire to dance at all. His sister and brother were dancers. Music was young Balanchine's passion he hated anything to do with performing.
A document from the Ransom Center minstrel collection “The Programme” (Wood’s Minstrel Hall) features many short minstrel plays created for entertainment purposes, among which are “Happy Uncle Tom” and “Dixie’s Land”. It is not hard to see that both of these two plays contains symbols that are associated with African Americans by the whites. Evidently, the creators of these performances incorporated their ideas of racial identities into these shows, which then passed on the messages to the audiences. There are also many sheet music and scores in the Ransom Center minstrel collection, including “Git along home my yaler gall” by the Boston Minstrel. The composer wrote this piece in a light-mooded major key, with a faster 6/8 tempo, intending to portray the image of a happy African American. In the text portion of this piece, many words were intentionally misspelled to exaggerate the presumed accents and lack of education of African Americans. These are all evidence of how the white composers at the time tend to incorporate the common perceptions of the African American from the standpoint of a white person into their compositions. Music is essentially a representation of the
Music throughout time has not only reflected the feeling of the musician but rather the feelings of a group of people at any one time It is important when learning about a period of time to look at the music of the period because it most likely shows the mood of the people and current events of the country. One time period specifically music greatly reflected the political and social culture of the time is the United States of America in the 1960s. One artist during this time was Bob Dylan. His most widely known song was called, “The Times They Are A-Changin”.
When one considers the history of classical music, often images of Vienna, Prague, and other European cities come to mind. Centuries of European musical achievement and development have implanted in society the idea that classical music is an inherently European creation. Considering the accomplishments of countless composers such as J.S. Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Antonin Dvorak, this preconception is certainly not unfounded. However, Leonard Bernstein's rise to international fame proved that one cannot neglect American composers in a discussion of the development of Western music. Combining elements of a vast array of musical styles, Bernstein's unique compositions reached a wide variety of audiences and often bridged gaps between distinct musical genres. Through his long conducting career, profoundly influential compositional output, and televised music lectures, Leonard Bernstein left a lasting legacy which came to define American music in the 20th century.
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.
Singing was also very important in the play. Most often, the songs that were sung in the play were used in conjuction with lighting to create the mood. Deep, slow songs indicated that times were changing from good to bad, or from bad to worse. High, fast songs introduced happy scenes. Scenes were also changed according to song, such as the jail scene. The cast began to sing a song about freedom and the jail bars disappeared, indicating through song that the men had been freed. Also, song was important in the play because the songs were specific to the african american culture.
The 1920’s were a time of excitement, fun, experiments, and the rise in African American talent. Duke Ellington took part in this time to boost his career and have fun. Duke Ellington is a songwriter and performer in many great songs throughout the 1900’s. “The Jubilee Stomp”, written by Duke Ellington, reflects the fun and exciting times of the 1920’s, but it also shows us the rise of African-Americans and the Harlem Renaissance.
The Beethoven Symphony #9 in D minor is being announced during the 4th movement of the symphony. Typically, in symphonies, the 4th movements take part in the term of Allegro, which means it is played quickly or fast. However, in Beethoven Symphony, the 4th movement opens with a flurry sound and then is introduced by an instrumental recitative. A recitative is a style of music alternating between speaking and singing words on the same note. In a recitative, the music lines are not repeated even though formally composed songs do.
As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues
Louis Armstrong was an amazing trumpet player. Not only did he play the trumpet, he also was a bandleader, an amazing composer, singer, soloist, and comedian and also starred in films. One of the songs that Louis Armstrong is recognized for his recording of “What a Wonderful World”. Armstrong defined what it truly means to play Jazz.
thesis of how the musical brought our inner child out to realize our true struggles in life.