Born on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York, George Gershwin dropped out of school and began playing piano professionally at age 15. Within a few years, he was one of the most sought after musicians in America. A composer of jazz, opera and popular songs for stage and screen, many of his works are now standards. Gershwin died immediately following brain surgery on July 11, 1937, at the age 38.
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition by American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.
Gershwin’s original title for it was American Rhapsody. But, by chance, Ira had been to an exhibition of Whistler’s paintings and saw the painter's Nocturne In
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In January 1924, Gershwin reportedly learned from a newspaper article that he was meant to be writing a ‘jazz concerto’ for a programme of new American music to be given by the popular dance band leader Paul Whiteman a month later. Writing at manic pace, Gershwin composed a two piano version, which was then orchestrated by Whiteman’s arranger. Rhapsody in Blue, with Gershwin as soloist, was a triumph and today it is hailed as a landmark in American music.
11. One year on from Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin extended his innovative jazz-influenced classical style even further with his piano concerto. It was premiered by the composer with the New York Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Walter Damrosch. The conductor described Gershwin as ‘the Prince who has taken Cinderella [jazz] by the hand and openly proclaimed her a princess to the astonished world, no doubt to the fury of her envious sisters.’
12. In the mid-1920s, Gershwin stayed in Paris for a short period, during which he applied to study composition with the noted Nadia Boulanger who, along with several other prospective tutors such as Maurice Ravel, rejected him. She was afraid that rigorous classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style. While in the French capital, Gershwin wrote An American in
At this time, Gershwin's career skyrocketed. He was hired by George White to compose for the Scandals series. He continued doing this for four years. During this time, Gershwin composed his first operetta, Blue Monday. It impressed Paul Whiteman, a famous bandleader, so much that he asked Gershwin to compose a symphonic jazz piece. At this time, however, Gershwin was still busy composing for White and forgot to compose for Whiteman until only one month before the scheduled performance. During this rushed creation, Gershwin found inspiration to create his most famous individual piece, Rhapsody in Blue. At its first performance, the piece was loved by the audience so much that they gave it a standing ovation.
new type of music that would later be called jazz. Choosing to base his career
Not only was Duke Ellington well-known for his involvement in jazz during the 1900’s, George Gershwin was also popular during that time. Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in 1898 to a family of immigrants. He left school at the age of 15 in order to work as a “song plugger” (a pianist that demonstrated songs) on Tin Pan Alley (Hingley, 2013). He soon began to write his own pieces, and his first published song was “When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get “Em”; although this song was composed of new techniques, he only received five dollars (“George,”
Considered one of the greatest jazz composers of all time. Duke Ellington had an enormous impact on the popular music in the late 1920s. For almost fifty years he toured the world as a bandleader and piano player. Today his recordings are among the most popular jazz of the big-band era.
Without question his most famous work is his Pulitzer Prize winning “Appalachian Spring” with which he received the prestigious award in 1945. Commissioned by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham in 1943, Copland finished the work a year later while teaching at Harvard. The song had a traditional American sound much like his previous works, “Quiet City” and “Billy the Kid” and won immediate success with audiences when it debuted in Washington, D.C. on October 30, 1944. The material of the piece is largely folk and even incorporates an old shaker song called “Simple Gifts” by Elder Joseph Brackett written in 1848. One song, a patriotic piece called “A Lincoln Portrait” was written at the beginning of World War II after Copland was commissioned to write a musical portrait of an eminent American political figure. He quoted original folk songs of the time such as the well-known “Camptown Races” and also included material from letters and speeches Lincoln had given.
the piano not the saxophone. He went to New York for his big break in jazz got stranded
Goldberg, Isaac. George Gershwin; a Study in American Music. New York: F. Ungar Pub. 1958. Print.
Duke Ellington managed his band for almost 50 years making prodigious music and using amazing instruments. He toured all over Europe, he managed to compose an orchestra without a baton, how amazing is that. In his whole music career, he composed about 2000 pieces and won 12 Grammy
(insert last name here)8 (INSERT NAME HERE) (Insert course number here) Dr. Oller WR100, Jazz Now! 7/11/2017 Paper # 1 Examining the Changes in Jazz Music Over Decades Introduction In this analysis of the history of Jazz the focus will be on the song "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" written in 1937 by Duke Ellington which was then subsequently covered by a wide assortment of other artists till the inception of its currently well-known 2000s jazz iteration by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (Gridley 723). Before proceeding, it is first important to note what jazz is, what it is not, and what constitutes good jazz music so at to better understand the different changes that occurred to jazz between the time of Duke Ellington and that
Since the Baroque era, the concerto has played a vital role in the music world. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a concerto is “a composition for one or more soloists and orchestra with three contrasting movements.” There are two main types: the concerto grosso and the classical concerto; both will be discussed later. While the term concerto is relatively easy to understand in context, when put into use the term becomes more complicated to define.
Most of Gershwin's early childhood was spent playing sports, which he was good at, and it interested him. It wasn't until Gershwin was 12
The ice cream industry is very a competitive field. Blue Bell has many competitors with a bigger budget and a bigger distribution channel. The company still manage to produce top brand ice cream to please its customers. According to the U.S Market for Ice Cream, “Sales nearly $12.2 Billion in 2005 with the sales of frozen, yogurt frozen desserts at scoop shops, restaurants and vending outlets. Three years ago there was a tremendous interest in ice cream nutrition panel. Other competitors were introducing product such as; low crab ice cream, no sugar added and low fat ice cream.
Beethoven's talents were discovered at an early age, and he was sent to Vienna to study under different teachers including Mozart and Hayden. There, Beethoven quickly adopted a reputation of a great piano player, a child prodigy. He gave his first public performance at the age of eight and published his first
Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue is the single biggest selling jazz album ever made, selling over 5 million copies, and was my favorite to learn about. It is known to be one of albums that convert people to liking jazz styled music, even though it was created over fifty years ago. The most significant part of the album to me was that it made such an impact on the jazz community and it was only made in seven hours and all but only one of the tracks were first takes. What has stuck with me in the documentary was the saying, “The first thought is the best thought.” I really appreciated this because the artist stuck with their initial first gut feeling. The music was really innovative and most specifically, the opening of “So What”, was completely improvised and then the riff takes off, allowing to be one of the most iconic songs in jazz (in my opinion). The magic of music was truly created in this album creation and led a different direction of jazz creation.
and green. Blue as discussed earlier was represented as the color of the God and other religious concepts, so the major incorporation of the color blue in the reliquary chasse indicated the spiritual significance it carried. Envisioning blue on the chasse unified people to Jesus Christ. Many of the reliquary chasse of the 12th century narrated a story; this individual one narrates the crucifixion of Christ. There are several key figures engraved throughout the exterior of the chasse, however since the crucial scene of the execution are shown on the front face of the chasse, that indicates that this chasse was primarily to be seen from the front rather than the sides. If viewed from the front, the top has three figures designed on it. In the center is the God the Father and on his either sides are two unknown saints. All three figures are represented in mandorlas however in different colors. The God of Father is displayed in the blue mandorla while the saints are shown in green mandorla. Here we can interpret a sense of hierarchy because the God of Father is shown in blue, which represents a divine color, however the saints are represented in green that is a mix of blue and yellow. So, blue still exists and represents divinity, yet the mixture of blue and yellow to produce a different shade of blue signifies that the God of Father is above and more important than the saints.