[ April 24, 2024 ]
Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic and plays piano in a performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the Royal Albert Hall in 1976.
Rhapsody in Blue is the finest American classical piece of genius and pure New York..
Story continues below advertisementGeorge Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was a huge success following its premiere in 1924. With only three weeks to compose the work before its first performance at Aeolian Hall with Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra, Gershwin had to find fast inspiration.
The “jazz concerto” as advertised in the Herald Tribune, had distinctive qualities of Americanism from the beginning, the five main themes based on the blues scale and the use of blues notes throughout. Gershwin decided to call it a rhapsody rather than a concerto. Though the work uses a solo piano alternating with an ensemble like that of a concerto, Rhapsody in Blue also has the features of a rhapsody with its one-movement, free-form construction.
During the work’s composition period, Gershwin found inspiration from two different sources. The first occurred to him while traveling via train to Boston. The rhythm and sound of the train as it swiftly moved along the tracks inspired several themes from the beginning of his piece. He later said “I heard it [the train] as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America—of our vast melting pot, of our incomparable national pep, our blues, our metropolitan madness.”
Gershwin’s second moment of inspiration came at a friend’s party while he played around on the piano. Though not thinking of his Rhapsody at the time, Gershwin claims that he subconsciously composed the climax to the work. He didn’t realize at first how perfectly what he improvised on the piano fit into the piece until his brother, Ira, insisted that he incorporate it into his composition. Ira, his closest advocate and partner in music, also contributed the title Rhapsody in Blue.
The famous, opening clarinet solo of Rhapsody in Blue was inspired by clarinetist Ross Gorman, who played in Whiteman’s orchestra. Gershwin had always been impressed by Gorman’s ability to play a two-octave glissando on his instrument and used the clarinetist’s skill to begin his new work.
The Truth Must be Told
Your contribution supports independent journalism
Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.
Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.
Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.
Please contribute here.
or
Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.
Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding.Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.
Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.
Follow Pamela Geller on Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.
Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.
Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.
If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.
14 Comments
4 years ago
Refreshing and beautiful!
United Airlines used to use parts of this for their commercials.
4 years ago
Oh, I love that piece of music. Those first clarinet notes thrill me every time — and everyone who has taken the train from Grand Central in NYC up to Boston knows just how it so inspired him!
This is an anniversary to celebrate: A member of my email group just reminded us that this is the 4th anniversary of the jihadist attack on the free speech event featuring the Draw Mohammed contest, in Garland,Texas. I still recall the awful moment of the “breaking news” on Fox News that there were “two dead” and relief that those were the would-be killers-for-Allah. We are all so grateful to the local police officers who stopped the jihadists dead in their tracks, and that people whose courage we so admire were not harmed.
4 years ago
The opening scene from the movie “Manattan” using Phapsody in Blue is pure cinematic genious.
4 years ago
Thanks, Pamela. I had an LP in my late teens-early 20’s with this on it. I was playing it on my record player and my dad said “Oh, Rhapsody in Blue.” Wasn’t sure how he knew that ’till I found out it’s world famous…tonight.
4 years ago
I don’t really mean to distract from the quality of the song posted on this blog and others like it, but here is a suggestion for an up and coming group. They play blues and the leader was mentored by none other than B. B. King. The group is also named after its leader, Joe Bonamassa. There are many good songs by this band on You Tube. One of the best songs is “Just ‘Cos You Can Don’t Mean You Should.” Whatever kind of music you focus on, you should listen to this one. It should end up a blues classic
4 years ago
Lenny could conduct, play piano, compose, and lecture. He was a quadriple threat, so to speak. He was also a Commie, but one can’t hope for proper politics. Lenny was not my favorite composer, Sergie Rachmaninoff. His politics were firmly anti Communist and , unlike Tchiakovsky, Rachmaninoff was not an antisemite. Rachmaninoff accepted the vice presidency of something called the Russian music society oin the poroviso that it was a serious organization. When the Russian Music Society fired someone from the organization because they found out he was a Jew, Rachmaninoff, in a fury, resigned from the organization.
4 years ago
Reply to
bigrobtheactor
I replied to you,but I think those idiots at discus did not print my reply. I read a biography of Thiakovsky where he complained about “the smelly Hebrews on the train” or sumping akin to that.
4 years ago
Reply to
Underzog
That’s rude talk – I’ve said worse about many but do not think of myself as much of a bigot. Is that all people are going on?
4 years ago
Reply to
bigrobtheactor
and Hitler talking about those smelly caften wearers; i.e., Jews wasn’t antisemitic either. No! I’m certainly saying or thinking that Tchiakowsky is Hitler, but the word similiarity makes my spine crawl.
4 years ago
Thrilling! Thank God for the Jews and their gifts to humanity.
4 years ago
Always enjoyed Rhapsody in Blue. Very relaxing. George Gershwin wrote some very fine music.
4 years ago
Incidentally, my brother and sister used to play parts of the solo part of Rhapsody in Blue.
