Rhapsody In Blue: 100 Years
Rhapsody In Blue for solo piano and jazz band by George Gershwin was premiered at the Aeolian Hall in New York City on the 12th February 1924, 100 years ago today.
It was commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman early in January 1924. Often referred to as the ‘King of Jazz', Paul became interested in creating concerts that merged the classical and jazz worlds together. Having experimented with this once before by staging a successful concert that featured the famed Canadian mezzo-soprano Éva Gauthier in 1923, he set his sights higher, wishing to present a concert dedicated to new American music in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. A longtime collaborator with George Gershwin, performing many of his songs in George White’s Broadway revue, The Scandals of 1922, he asked Gershwin -on the 3rd of January 1924- if he would compose ‘a concerto-like piece’ for this all-jazz concert he had in mind.
With only weeks before its supposed premiere, Gershwin initially declines, saying that there was insufficient time for him to write a score and have it revised by the time of the performance. However, not long after the offer of the commission, during a game of billiards, his brother, Ira Gershwin, read out a New-York Tribune newspaper article titled ‘What Is American Music?’, that stated, falsely, “George Gershwin is at work on a jazz concerto.” Bemused, George rang Whiteman the next day to find out how this could be. According to Whiteman, his main adversary, Vincent Lopez, another bandleader of the era, was apparently planning to steal his concert idea, and so, he urgently persuaded Gershwin to compose the piece, to which Gershwin finally accepted.
At this point, there were only five weeks before the opening, so time was of the essence. Starting the composition on the 7th of January, he later confirmed that it was on a train to Boston where the first thematic ideas for Rhapsody In Blue started to germinate. He told his biographer in 1931:
“It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty 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.”
A few weeks later, the work, originally named American Rhapsody was complete. It was Ira Gershwin who encouraged George to change it to Rhapsody In Blue after having been to a gallery exhibition of Whistler paintings which had titles in a similar format, such as Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket and Arrangement in Grey and Black. The work was swiftly passed to Ferde Grofé, the pianist and chief arranger in Whiteman’s band, to be orchestrated, a task that was finished on the 4th of February, with only eight days before the performance.
It had its premiere on a snowy Tuesday afternoon in the concert called ‘An Experiment in Modern Music’, as the penultimate piece in the programme. The auditorium at the Aeolian Hall was packed, with many famous faces in the audience, including none other than Igor Stravinsky. Unfortunately, the earlier works in the line up appeared to underwhelm the audience, which coupled with the malfunction of the venue’s ventilation system, many people had already left before Rhapsody had its moment. With twenty-three musicians in the ensemble, Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra performed the work with Gershwin on the piano. There were reports that the audience that remined was quite disengaged and irritable until they heard the now instantly recognisable ‘wailing’ clarinet glissando that famously opens this celebrated piece. It was Ross Gorman, the clarinetist, who decided , as a joke, to perform this glissando by “stretching' the notes out and adding what he considered a jazzy, humorous touch to the passage.”, to which Gershwin responded enthusiastically. Additionally, as Gershwin partially improvised his piano solo during the performance, only writing it down after the concert, it still remains a mystery as to how the original Rhapsody In Blue played that afternoon sounded in comparison to what we know it to be now.
As well all are probably aware, the audience responded to Rhapsody In Blue with an overwhelming applause, and it became the reason that this particular concert became historically significant, with copies of the programme being seen as important documents in the jazz and classical music archives. The score was published by T. B. Harms & Francis, Day, & Hunter, Inc. on the 12th of June 1924, for all to enjoy.
And so, on this day, the centenary for such a trailblazing and revolutionary piece of art, be sure to take some time to listen to it in completion and recognise that even now, it retains a modernity that is still relevant today, 100 years later.
Listen to Rhapsody In Blue:
“There had been so much chatter about the limitations of jazz, not to speak of the manifest misunderstandings of its function. Jazz, they said, had to be in strict time. It had to cling to dance rhythms. I resolved, if possible, to kill that misconception with one sturdy blow. Inspired by this aim, I set to work composing with unwonted rapidity. No set plan was in my mind - no structure to which my music would conform. The rhapsody, as you see, began as a purpose, not a plan.”
Sources:
Schwartz, Charles (1979). Gershwin: His Life and Music. New York: Da Capo Press.
Goldberg, Isaac (1958) [1931]. George Gershwin: A Study in American Music. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company.
Schiff, David (1997). Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
