George Gershwin: Life, Career, and Musical Legacy

Early Life and Musical Awakening

George Gershwin is considered one of the greatest American composers of the twentieth century. He was born Jacob Gershowitz on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Russian immigrants who had four children; George was the second. He had an older brother, Ira, a younger sister, Frances, and a younger brother, Arthur. Gershwin is best known for bringing a fresh new sound to the Broadway musical stage during the 1920s and 1930s. His career showed a steady progression of widening horizons — from revue (Scandals) to musical comedy (Lady, Be Good!, Oh, Kay!, Funny Face, Girl Crazy) to comic opera (Strike Up the Band, Of Thee I Sing) to "folk" opera (Porgy and Bess) (Green 1980, 150).

Gershwin was not raised in a particularly cultured household, nor was he pushed by exploitative parents into some kind of unnatural childhood (Jablonski 1998, 1). He grew up in a very typical New York family, like any other kid on the streets of the city. Even Gershwin himself was not immediately aware of his own talents. He wrote, "There is nothing I can really tell…except that music never really interested me, and that I spend most of my time with the boys in the street, skating and, in general, making a nuisance of myself" (1998, 3).

Maxie Rosenzweig was Gershwin's first "music teacher" — a curious fact, since when Gershwin met Maxie (who would later become the violin virtuoso Max Rosen), Maxie was eight years old and Gershwin was ten. One day, Gershwin decided to sneak out of a school assembly where young Maxie had been asked to play his violin. Gershwin expected to be bored, but when he heard Maxie play, he was awestruck. He waited for Maxie in the pouring rain outside, but Maxie had already left through the teachers' exit. Gershwin tracked down the boy's house, but Maxie was not home. Maxie's parents, however, were so impressed by Gershwin's determination that they arranged for the two boys to meet. Maxie and Gershwin became close friends, and Maxie taught Gershwin everything he knew about music. George kept a scrapbook of all things musical — programs, sketches, and pictures of musicians and composers — to fuel his inspiration (Rowley 1997).

Training, Tin Pan Alley, and Early Career

Gershwin called Charles Hambitzer one of the most important influences in his musical life (Jablonski 1998, 10). Hambitzer was himself a gifted composer, though he was strangely indifferent to having his works performed. He enjoyed teaching piano and was greatly loved by all his students (1998, 10). Hambitzer was deeply impressed by George, who was always punctual and eager to learn. He called him a "genius" who would "make his mark in music if anybody will" (1998, 11). Under Hambitzer's influence, Gershwin abandoned all his childhood pastimes — skating, playing in the streets, even playing hooky — in favor of music (1998, 11). Gershwin credited Hambitzer with making him "harmony conscious," stating that before their work together, harmony had been a mystery to him (1998, 11). Because Hambitzer did not teach musical theory, something Gershwin also needed, Hambitzer introduced his student to Edward Kilenyi.

Gershwin loved the classics but was equally drawn to what Hambitzer dismissively called "this modern stuff, jazz and whatnot" (Jablonski 1998, 11). He had heard Jerome Kern's "You're Here and I'm Here" and "They Didn't Believe Me," as well as Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band," and was captivated by them. He told Hambitzer he wanted to play that kind of music too, but Hambitzer insisted on first giving Gershwin a solid grounding in the standards (1998, 11).

At fifteen, Gershwin dropped out of high school to devote himself entirely to music — a decision his mother opposed. Even after he had become a successful songwriter and composer, she continued to offer unsolicited advice and make demands (Jablonski 1998, 5). His first job was in Tin Pan Alley, the New York marketplace where musicians could sell their work. He earned fifteen dollars a week as a music plugger for the Jerome Remick Company, a popular publishing house, playing sheet music in hopes of generating sales, while continuing to compose on his own and pursue his musical studies (Pollack 2007, xiv). Plugging music, however, was not something Gershwin enjoyed. In early 1917 he quit Remick, and in early 1918 he was hired as a songwriter for T.B. Harms, who became his principal publisher (2007, xiv).

This marked the true beginning of Gershwin's career as a composer. His first published piece was "When You Want 'Em You Can't Get 'Em, When You've Got 'Em You Don't Want 'Em." Though not widely known, it was the first composition he sold and thus held special significance. His next published work, in 1919, was his first major success: "Swanee," used in the Broadway production Sinbad. That same year, Gershwin wrote his first full-length Broadway score for La, La, Lucille (Pollack 2007, 95). He soon gained international recognition as a composer, and his profile rose further in 1924 with the premiere of his Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz band, alongside hit shows on both the West End (Primrose) and Broadway (Lady, Be Good!) (2007, xiv). He continued composing concert works — including the Concerto in F (1925) and An American in Paris (1928) — as well as musical comedies, among them Girl Crazy (1930) and Of Thee I Sing (1931), which became the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize (2007, xiv).

Broadway Success and the Jazz Age

Gershwin's career accelerated when he was hired by George White to compose for the Scandals series, an annual Broadway extravaganza (Rimler 2009, 3). While writing his third Scandals score, Gershwin attempted opera for the first time. For George White's Scandals of 1922, Gershwin and lyricist B.G. DeSylva produced something far more ambitious than a standard revue number. In just five days, the two wrote a half-hour work called Blue Monday, Opera à la Afro-American (2009, 3). It told the story of a Harlem gambler who, shot by his girlfriend due to a misunderstanding, dies after singing a mournful aria called "I'm Going to See My Mother" (2009, 3). Gershwin was so gripped by the piece during its tryouts that he developed what he called his "composer's stomach" — a permanent, chronic combination of nausea, constipation, and abdominal pain (2009, 3). Reviews were divided: one critic called it the first real American opera; another dismissed it as a stupid and dismal blackface sketch (2009, 3). White ultimately removed the piece from the show, fearing it would depress audiences. It was Gershwin's first departure from popular music, and although it fell short of his hopes, it strengthened his commitment to try again.

The Jazz Age officially began on January 16, 1920, when the Volstead Act — enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment and prohibiting interstate commerce in alcoholic beverages — went into effect (Hyland 2003, 77). It was a revolution in both manners and morals, and Broadway held a mirror to its frivolity (2003, 78). La, La, Lucille emerged from this era, and songs like "Tee-Oodle-Um-Bum-Bo" and "Nobody but You" heralded the jazzy new age.

George and Ira Gershwin collaborated for their first great shared success — Lady, Be Good! — marking the beginning of what would come to be known as the Golden Age of the American musical (Hyland 2003, 78). This was an era in which brilliant songwriters and clever lyricists took command of Broadway, producing scores far superior to those of the previous generation. Teams like Rodgers and Hart took Broadway by storm. Ira was a witty and gifted lyricist who fit naturally into the Jazz Age with his sharp, era-defining lyrics (2003, 83). He wrote for his brother throughout George's lifetime, and later contributed lyrics for Vincent Youmans, Vernon Duke, Jerome Kern, and Harold Arlen.

Music and lyrics were brought together with the libretto and arranged into a working show. On Broadway — unlike in the movies — the libretto was usually completed before the songwriters began their work, though not always. Typically, twelve or more songs were written, and many were discarded; perhaps nine or ten would survive to opening night in New York, and substitutions were still made even after the show opened (Hyland 2003, 84). This was also a period in which the Broadway show was settling into a standard format still recognizable today: two acts, several scenes, with the first act carrying the greatest weight. Major songs were performed in the first act and reprised later — sometimes in both acts. Shows opened with an energetic number, usually a dance, employing the full chorus and introducing the principal characters (2003, 84). The first love song had to arrive early enough to be repeated within the first act. In Lady, Be Good!, that song was "So Am I."