Rhapsody In Blue Essay

Alec Robertson, Dennis Stevens, ed., A History of Music Volume 2 (New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1965), Pg. 85.

Jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro Life in America: the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul—the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile. Yet the Philadelphia clubwoman… turns up her nose at jazz and all its manifestations—likewise almost anything else distinctly racial…She wants the artist to flatter her, to make the white world believe that all Negroes are as smug as near white in smug as she wants to be. But, to my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist …to change through the hidden force of his art that old whispering “I want to be white,” hidden in the aspirations of his people, to “Why should I want to be white? I am Negro—and beautiful.”

The music is rebellious and its uncompromising intensity is uncatagorizable for its urgent flooding past genre definitions. Miles’ music of the five-year period is unlike any music that preceded it, and still, 30 years later, so original, so Progressive, and so inadequately described.

George Gershwin‘s opera Porgy and Bess is said to have been racist and outdated even in the time that it was written in 1935. There are many aspects of this work that are incorrect and prolong stereotypes about African Americans by depicting them as violent and religious. Gershwin classified this opera as a folk opera, a term which was offensive to African Americans. George Gershwin, arguably a great composer, composed an opera that is considered to be controversial due to its negative representation of African Americans. Porgy and Bess is a cultural artifact and when discussing it we bring up complex issues of race from the time it was written and even to this day in the United States.

Of all the arts that took place in the United States, Jazz is well thought out as America's first original art form. Since its beginning in the 20th century, Jazz music is defined by chronicle changes. Almost every decade a new essence enhanced the movement, and by the 1940’s jazz had developed into a mature, complex form of music, with many nuances and avenues for unceasing changes.

When Gershwin was 25 years old, his jazz-influenced “Rhapsody in Blue” was one of his famous works. “The entire Rhapsody in Blue came to him in a flash while he was riding a train from New York to Boston: “I suddenly heard and even saw on paper the complete construction of the rhapsody, from beginning to end” (Davis, & Pollack, 2007). He wrote a piano concerto in F, Rhapsody number two (PBS, 2007). “As for Porgy and Bess, Gershwin spent months thinking about the piece and sketching out themes before commencing “the actual writing”” (Davis, & Pollack, 2007). Porgy and Bess was the first jazz opera and it was an aria for the singers that George wrote. “Stating it should be “a negro opera, almost a negro ‘Scheherazade”” (Browne, 2007). Let’s call this whole thing off was written by George and his older brother Ira. It was a piano solo in the movie “Shall We Dance”. All these works from George were important in his

Throughout the film Serenades (2001), the diverse conflict between Islam, Christianity and Aboriginal Spirituality, during the 1800s, is thoroughly explored and accentuated. Directed by Mojgan Khadem, the film depicts the journey of Jila, an Aboriginal born woman who strives to search for her religious and spiritual identity. This is influenced by her mother’s Aboriginal descent, her father’s strict Islamic ideals, and the impact of the Lutheran Christian Mission during the colonisation of Australia.

One of the greatest tragedies in the 20th century can be seen in the debasing of the Jazz genre as a unworthy equal to it’s predecessor, European Classical music. This can be seen in various statements about Jazz, such as Boris Gibalin commit, “The “Jazz Mania” has taken on the character of a lingering illness and must be cured by means of forceful intervention.”1 This conflict can be traced through out the history of Jazz, as Classical composers have relatively disregarded this new type of music. Before Duke Ellington’s Cotton Club performances, Jazz play on the radio was delegated for late night audience only. This sub-culture treatment has led many critics to disregard the Jazz movement as a dance craze, or unsuccessful

The modern work I decided to listen to for this assignment was Rhapsody in Blue composed by the American composer George Gershwin (1924). The Rhapsody in Blue (1924) established Gershwin reputation as a serious and well known musical composer. The piece became one of the most popular pieces or American concert work. The genre of the piece is Orchestral jazz and solo piano. Rhapsody in Blue was premier in an afternoon concert held by Paul Whiteman which took place in Aeolian Hall in New York City. What surprise me the most about this piece of music was I enjoyed listening to the different themes. Each theme was unique and different. It displays both rhythmic invention and melodic inspiration. Overall this piece of work has yet to still be used

Movies have become a central part of today’s society. As a result, more and more movies are being produced and the market continues to rise with their popularity. Although most people seem to watch only the films that are from their generation, there are also numerous other films that were created many years ago that are just as good and fun to watch as are today’s movies. For example, I chose to focus on one film in particular that is entitled Fantasia. The composer for the song I chose is Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer during the Romantic period that lived from May 7, 1840 until November 6, 1893 (“Dance,” 2014). The full name of the piece that he wrote is entitled The Nutcracker Suite, but I would like to focus on one of the six movements within that suite, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” Originally, the context for this piece was composed for a ballet that was based on the story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” (Ferdous, N.d.).

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a song from the British rock band, Queen. Queen is one of my favorite bands, and my favorite song from them is “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It is one of my favorite songs, because of its range of different music and the story the song tells. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a single from the album, A Night at the Opera. The song was released October 31, 1975.

Duke Ellington, one of the most influential musicians in jazz, was known to have described his own unique brand of the genre as American Music. While the reach of jazz ended up breaking past the western hemisphere, it was a definitively American phenomenon (Dyas). The style of the jazz-age, exemplified notably by Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, described perfectly the commercial birth of jazz and the spontaneous lifestyle of the 20’s. However, the commercial styles of jazz such as the Dixieland of the 20’s and swing of the 30’s and 40’s could be viewed as an introductory phase in the evolution of jazz (Scaruffi). If people were to look past the commercial styles of jazz, they would find a performance-art full of impulse

A Tiffany’s Tale New York City wasn’t always as glitzy and glamorous as people always made it out to be. In A Bronx Tale, during the 1960’s, the Bronx streets in Calogero’s (also know as C) neighborhood were ran by gangsters. We witness discrimination and violence in a teenage boy’s life, who finds himself right in the middle of it all. The film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s however, portrays New York City as elegant. The main character, Miss.

In a world where rap, country, alternative and rock genres dominate the popular music charts, some may wonder if there is any room for classical music. But the relevance of classical music in today's world cannot be mistaken: it is essential” (Mychal). This means that the classical music was the foundation for almost all the modern music. Unfortunately, a lot people hate classical music, but they do not know they had been listening to classical music this whole time without knowing it. More than that, there are many of the pop songs were writing based on the melody of classical music. For example, Robin Thicke’s “When I Get You Alone” samples Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven,” which in turn is a disco remix of Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony”

Leonard Bernstein was a Renaissance man of music: he “[conducted], [recorded], [played] piano . . . and [composed] several first-rate Broadway musicals that produced a number of pop hits” (Peyser 32). Through his achievements and works from varying aspects of the music field, Bernstein, the American musician, not only demonstrated that genius had no limits, but also fundamentally altered the future of musicals, conducting, and classical music.