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Gershwin and Bernstein

Gershwin and Bernstein. Gershwin was primarily a composer of popular songs and a jazz pianist.

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Gershwin and Bernstein

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  1. Gershwin and Bernstein

  2. Gershwin was primarily a composer of popular songs and a jazz pianist. • He was also attracted to works for the concert hall and composed four pieces that connected the worlds of popular and classical music. They include: Rhapsody in Blue, Piano Concerto, An American in Paris (a programmatic symphonic poem), Porgy and Bess (a full-length opera) • A year and a half and Porgy and Bess were completed in 1935, Gershwin died of a Brain tumor at the age of 38 George Gershwin 1897-1934

  3. “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” from Porgy and Bess • Composed in 1935 • In the twentieth century, opera and musicals are sometimes very similar • Gershwin conceived this work as an opera and envisioned its performance at the Metropolitan Opera • To compose this piece, he lived on a small island in South Carolina and worked with the Charleston writer DuBose Heyward • “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” celebrates a moment of happiness in Porgy’s struggle for the love of Bess. He is handicap and must compete for Bess’s love with a rough gambler and a drug dealer. • Large structure = three varied stanzas with a short refrain after the second and third. • The “togetherness” of Bess and Porgy is emphasized musically by their singing alternating stanzas with very similar music and wording • Gershwin includes jazz, “blue note” on the word “woman” and syncopated rhythmic patterns on “you is, you is” LISTEN

  4. He continued the tradition started by Copland and Gershwin of blending popular and “serious” styles. • Bernstein was Jewish and a brilliant pianist. • He lectured and wrote books about music. He also loved to teach. • He got his musical start at Tanglewood, where he became a protegeof the conductor and music patron Serge Koussevitsky. • Bernstein got his big break when he had to conduct the New York Philharmonic on only a few hours notice. • As a conductor, he conducted the New York Philharmonic for ten years and was wanted by many other orchestras. • As a composer, he was very versatile. He composed ballet music, musicals, songs, piano pieces, choral works, three symphonies, two operas and a Mass. Leonard Bernstein 1918-1990

  5. Most popular work, collaboration between playwright Arthur Laurents, choreographer Jerome Robbins and composer Leonard Bernstein • The story is based on Romeo and Juliet, but it is modernized in such a way that it resonated with 1950s American culture. • Music incorporates jazz and popular song West Side Story

  6. “America” from West Side Story • Composed in 1957 for Two solo singers, chorus, and full orchestra (with Latin percussion) • “America” is sung by the principal Latin characters in the show, who compare life in their new country with that back home in Puerto Rico, accompanied by the orchestra and a chorus of their friends. • Alternates 6/8 and 3/4 meters. Even though he uses two time signatures, the measures are equal in length, making the piece flow. • Follow along on pg. 370 LISTEN

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