Summertime: George Gershwin's Life in Music

by Richard Crawford

Overview

The life of a beloved American composer reflected through his music, writings, and letters.

New York City native and gifted pianist George Gershwin blossomed as an accompanist before his talent as a songwriter opened the way to Broadway, where he fashioned his own brand of American music. He composed a long run of musical comedies, many with his brother Ira as lyricist, but his aspirations reached beyond commercial success.

A lifetime learner, Gershwin was able to appeal to listeners on both sides of the purported popular-classical divide. In 1924—when he was just twenty-five—he bridged that gap with his first instrumental composition, Rhapsody in Blue, an instant classic premiered by Paul Whiteman’s jazz orchestra, as the anchor of a concert entitled “An Experiment in Modern Music.”

From that time forward his work as a composer, pianist, and citizen of the Jazz Age made him in some circles a leader on America’s musical scene. The late1920s found him extending the range of the shows he scored to include the United Kingdom, and he published several articles to reveal his thinking about a range of musical matters. Moreover, having polished his skills as an orchestrator, he pushed boundaries again in 1935 with the groundbreaking folk opera, Porgy and Bess—his magnum opus.

Gershwin’s talent and warmth made him a presence in New York’s musical and social circles (and linked him romantically with pianist-composer Kay Swift). In 1936 he and Ira moved west to write songs for Hollywood. Their work was cut short, however, when George developed a brain tumor and died at thirty-eight, a beloved American artist.

Drawing extensively from letters and contemporaneous accounts, acclaimed music historian Richard Crawford traces the arc of Gershwin’s remarkable life, seamlessly blending colorful anecdotes with a discussion of Gershwin’s unforgettable oeuvre. His days on earth were limited to the summertime of life. But the spirit and inventive vitality of the music he left behind lives on.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393052152
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Richard Crawford, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and past president of the American Musicological Society, has published ten books on American music. He lives in Michigan.

Table of Contents

Introduction xv

Part I Composer to the Fore

1 The Gershwins: Morris and Rose and Family 3

2 A Piano in the House, and Elsewhere 10

3 A Songwriter Emerges (1917-18) 27

4 From Syracuse to New York (1918-19) 42

5 Society, the Music Business, and George White's Scandals (1920) 57

6 "Arthur Francis" and Edward Kilenyi 68

7 Songwriter and Composer (1922) 79

8 Americans in London (1922-23) 94

9 A Recital and an Experiment (1923-24) 111

10 Rhapsody in Blue (1924) 122

Part II Ira Comes Aboard

11 Enter Ira (1924) 135

12 A Year in the Life, Part I (1924-25) 150

13 A Year in the Life, Part II (Concerto in F) 161

14 A Year in the Life, Part III 172

15 In Arenas Old and New (1926) 184

16 Ob, Kay! (1926) 198

17 Ups and Downs: Kaufman on the Scene (1927) 209

18 From Aarons to Ziegfeld (1927) 223

19 Americans in Europe (1928) 238

20 Back in the U.S.A.: An American in Paris (1928) 254

21 In Midcareer (1929) 267

22 A Breakup and a Redo (1929-30) 277

23 Boyfriend, Songwriter, Musical Citizen 288

24 Girl Crazy (1930) 305

25 Hollywood and the Second Rhapsody (1930-31) 318

26 Of Thee I Sing (1931) 331

27 More Downs and Ups and Downs (1932) 343

28 The Last Musical Comedy (1933) 358

Part III Composer in Charge

29 A Turn in the Road (1933-34) 367

30 Musk by Gershwin and Porgy and Bess, Act I (1935-36) 383

31 Porgy and Bess, Act II 396

32 Porgy and Bess, Act III 409

33 Performing Porgy and Bess 420

34 Judging Porgy and Bess 433

35 Composer of Porgy and Bess 443

36 Hollywood Songwriter I: Shall We Dance (1936-37) 451

37 Hollywood Songwriter II: A Damsel in Distress (1937) 468

38 Gonna Rise Up Singing 480

Acknowledgments 501

Notes 507

Lyric Credits 563

Index 565

Editorial Reviews

06/17/2019

George Gershwin, the maestro of the American Songbook, comes across as a serious composer who fused jazz and classical music in this admiring but bloodless biography. University of Michigan musicologist Crawford (America’s Musical Life) follows Gershwin (1898–1937) and his rise in the ferment of early 20th century popular music from hawking tunes in New York’s Tin Pan Alley to writing songs for Broadway and Hollywood musicals, including standards such as “Swanee,” “I Got Rhythm,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.” He foregrounds Gershwin’s long-form symphonic jazz, including the “Rhapsody in Blue,” the folk opera Porgy and Bess, and the “Concerto in F”; these pieces, Crawford shows, made Gershwin’s reputation as a pioneer of a novel American blues-inflected classical style—they occasionally appeared alongside Beethoven in concert programs—and absorbed much of his time and ambition. Drawing heavily on Gershwin’s letters, the author narrates the whorl of song-writing, rehearsals, parties, and concertizing that was his life, but there’s little drama in the story—barely even a love interest—and Gershwin feels like a sunny, busy, and talented man without depth. Crawford discusses Gershwin’s oeuvre in detail, but the musicological analysis—“Gershwin’s scheme balanced tonal stability with tonal freedom in a proportion that proved ideal for a thirty-two-bar aaba structure”—doesn’t sing. The result is an informative but humdrum take on Gershwin’s music. Photos. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"An engaging focus on the music, scrupulously covering all the musical comedies in detail as well as the classical compositions and film work. [Crawford] effectively interweaves what was happening in Gershwin's personal life into the story of the songs and shows, rather than the other way around....A worthy tribute to Gershwin's phenomenal creativity over only two decades."

Booklist

"Richard Crawford’s book on Gershwin’s life and music, elegant and authoritative, is an irresistible match: one of the great historians of American music writing about one of the greatest American composers. Every chapter is filled with deep knowledge and insight, written with charm and captivating prose."

Thomas Brothers

2019-06-23
How popular music of the 1920s and '30s was indelibly influenced by one composer.

Musicologist Crawford (Emeritus, Music/University of Mich.; America's Musical Life: A History, 2001, etc.) adds to the burgeoning number of biographies about composer and pianist George Gershwin (1898-1937) with what he calls "an academic scholar's account of Gershwin's life in music during the composer's own time." Drawing on previous studies as well as archival material, the author traces Gershwin's musical development, analyzes technical qualities of his compositions, and highlights his critical reception. He is less interested in examining Gershwin's personal life, character, friendships, and romantic relationships, and he barely glances at events beyond the theater and concert hall. Despite this narrow perspective, however, the author offers an engaging chronicle of a brilliant musician. The list of his compositions is stunning: Rhapsody in Blue; An American in Paris, and the folk opera Porgy and Bess as well as songs that include the memorable "I Got Rhythm," "The Man I Love," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "Swanee," and "But Not for Me." More than his contemporaries, Gershwin embraced the verve, melodies, and rhythm of jazz and blues. Together with his lyricist brother Ira, he became a major force in musical theater, creating shows featuring a famed roster of performers, notably Fred Astaire and Astaire's sister Adele. "I do not know whether Gershwin was born into this world to write rhythms for Fred Astaire's feet or whether Astaire was born into this world to show how the Gershwin music should really be danced," the critic Alexander Woollcott observed, but the match was sensational. Although Crawford describes Gershwin as gregarious, and although he was linked romantically with many women, he was emotionally reticent. "He didn't understand why he couldn't get out of life what he wanted, which was a companion," his sister once commented. Crawford is reticent, too, about analyzing his subject's needs and desires, merely paraphrasing one possibly revealing letter that Gershwin wrote to his psychoanalyst. While not delving deeply into his subject's heart, he provides a thorough analysis of his talent.

A warm homage to a central figure in American music and theater.

Kirkus Reviews

"Crawford’s Summertime gives as close a glimpse of [Gershwin’s] productivity as can be imagined."

New York Review of Books - Geoffrey O’Brien

"Balancing massively rich research with detailed yet always lucid analysis and a master’s knack for storytelling, Crawford… makes Gershwin and his music both come alive afresh."

Larry Stempel