Gershwin, George (EN)

Gershwin George, *26 September 1898 Brooklyn (New York), †11 July 1937 Hollywood, American composer, pianist and conductor. He was the second of four children of Jewish emigrants from Russia – Moishe Gershowitz and Roza Bruskina, who married in New York in 1895 as Morris and Rose Gershwin. Gershwin’s father was a trader. As a boy, Gershwin was passionate about pop music, jazz and popular songs by I. Berlin, J. Kern, and. He quickly mastered playing the piano, although initially he did not have good teachers. It was not until 1913–18 that he was a student of Ch. Hambitzer, a pianist and composer of operettas, who broadened his musical horizons, introducing him to the music of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Ravel. He studied composition and instrumentation briefly with R. Goldmark (1923), A. Bodanzky, H. Cowell, W. Riegger and J. Schillinger (1932), and became acquainted with music theory and harmony with E. Kilenyi (1915–17). He never managed to master the craft of composition, because the intensive lifestyle he led from his early youth did not favour systematic learning. He left school when he was not yet 16; he worked as a pianist in 1914–17, the so-called song-plugger, at the Remick pop music publishing house, recorded pop music reels for automatic pianos for the Perfection Music Company; from 1917, he collaborated for several years with the Universal Company, and was also a tutor in Broadway revues. His ambitions initially did not go beyond fame as a pop music composer. At the age of 15, he started composing songs.

His first (unpublished) piece was the ballad Since I Found You (lyrics by L. Praskins). Gershwin debuted in 1916: his song When You Want ‘Em (lyrics by M. Roth) was published, and the song Making of a Girl was performed in the revue Passing Show of 1916. Thanks to the support of M. Dreyfus, the manager of the Harms publishing house, 19-year-old Gershwin obtained a scholarship at this company, giving it the right to publish his songs in return. Gershwin was associated with this publishing house for ten years, and his first published piece was the song Some Wonderful Sort of Someone (published in 1918). In December 1918, his revue Half Past Eight was premiered, and in 1919, the premiere of the musical comedy (so-called musical) La La Lucille, was warmly received by the audience (the song Nobody But You was particularly liked). The real success, however, was the song Swanee (lyrics by I. Caesar), composed in 1919 and recorded by Al. Jolson (Columbia A-2884, 1920). Within a year, over two million records were sold, with over a million copies of sheet music sold. In 1920–24, Gershwin composed music for the annual revues entitled George White’s Scandals; the songs I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise (from The Scandals of 1922) and Somebody Loves Me (from The Scandals of 1924) were very popular. The Scandals of 1922 revue included, among other things, the one-act opera Blue Monday (lyrics by Buddy DeSylva), later re-orchestrated by Ferde Grofé and performed (1925) in a concert version entitled 135^th Street. In 1919–33, Gershwin wrote music for over 20 revues and musical comedies, mostly written by his older brother Ira. The brothers’ songs were performed by such stars of the pop music of the time as Fred and Adela Astaire, Gertrude Lawrence, Red Nichols, Ethel Merman, and Ginger Rogers. The comedies Lady, Be Good (1924), Oh, Kay! (1926) and Of Thee I Sing (1931) enjoyed particular success, which in 1932 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize as the first musical comedy for a political satire. In 1929–37, Gershwin wrote music for four film comedies: Delicious, Shall We Dance, A Damsel in Distress, and The Goldwyn Follies. The early fame achieved as a composer of popular music did not satisfy Gershwin’s ambitions, who wanted to expand his emploi to symphonic music. In this respect, the decisive moment in his artistic career was the proposal of the then “king of jazz,” P. Whiteman, to write a symphonic composition with jazz elements for his band, which was to be performed at the Aeolian Hall in New York at a concert entitled Experiment in Modern Music. In response to this commission, Gershwin wrote his famous Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz orchestra (later re-instrumented for piano and symphony orchestra). This piece was written in three weeks. Due to the composer’s lack of experience, the Rhapsody was instrumented by the arranger of Whiteman’s band, F. Grofé. Rhapsody in Blue, performed for the first time on 12 February 1924 (Gershwin played the piano part), was a great success for the composer-pianist, enjoying great popularity with the public and some critics. Almost a million records of this piece, recorded by P. Whiteman for RCA Victor, were sold. It is still Gershwin’s most famous piece, performed in various arrangements. From the moment it was composed, Gershwin was constantly creating music for concert halls, while also continuing to play pop music and writing popular songs. Thanks to W. Damrosch’s suggestion, in 1925 the New York Symphony Society commissioned a piano concerto from Gershwin; Concerto in F established Gershwin’s fame as a composer combining the tradition of American pop music (containing elements of jazz) with the European legacy of the neo-romantics; however, the opinions of music critics on his work were varied. In 1928, Gershwin travelled to Europe, where he met the most outstanding representatives of the musical world of the time, and became close friends with Ravel, Stravinsky, Tansman and Milhaud. At that time, he wrote the symphonic poem An American in Paris. In Paris, he heard the European premiere of his Piano Concerto, as well as various versions of Rhapsody in Blue (for two pianos, choreographed, etc.). The premiere of The American in Paris under the direction of W. Damrosch on 13 December 1928, initiated a whole series of performances of this piece, both by dance ensembles and symphony orchestras (including an orchestra conducted by A. Toscanini). In 1932, he wrote Gershwin Rhapsody II for piano and orchestra and the three-part Cuban Overture for symphony orchestra and Cuban percussion instruments; in 1934 – “I Got Rhythm” Variations for piano and orchestra (from the musical comedy Girl Crazy), which he performed during a month-long concert tour of the USA.

Of significant importance in Gershwin’s work is Porgy and Bess, one of the most popular operas in contemporary theatre, for which DuBose Heyward adapted his play (which was based on his own story about the life of African Americans in Charleston). At its premiere on 10 October 1935, the opera was received rather coldly, but after the composer’s death, it gained considerable popularity. The first revival of this work in 1941 brought it recognition both from critics and the public. The European premiere of Porgy and Bess took place in 1943 in occupied Denmark, then the opera was revived in Switzerland (1945) and Sweden (1948), but the real success was only the staging by the African-American company “Everyman Opera,” founded in 1952 specifically for the exemplary preparation of Porgy and Bess and its presentation in various countries. The grand tour of the ensemble covered 29 countries in North and South America and Europe (including performances in Warsaw and Katowice in 1956). Encouraged by the success of this undertaking, the American producer Samuel Goldwyn made a film version of the opera in 1959.

Gershwin often performed his works as a pianist or directed them as a conductor, and was also known as a great improviser (in 1932, he published a piano transcription of his 18 popular songs). He hosted a radio series entitled Music by Gershwin in 1934. The Academia di S. Cecilia in Rome recognized him as an honorary member in 1937, the first American to receive this distinction. He died suddenly in Hollywood during surgery for brain cancer; he had been working almost to the end on the comedy film The Goldwyn Follies. Gershwin’s body was transferred by special train from Los Angeles to New York, where the funeral was held on 15 July 1937. Solemn concerts were organised in both New York and Hollywood, attended by famous performers, many of whom owed their careers to Gershwin’s music.

Gershwin was a collector of modern art. His collection, built up since 1926, included paintings by Picasso, Chagall, Utrillo, Kandinsky and Modigliani, and would eventually reach 150 works. Gershwin himself also tried painting, devoting a lot of time to this hobby (he painted, among other things, a portrait of A. Schönberg).

Gershwin was the first American composer to gain recognition and extraordinary popularity both in America and in Europe. He was able to naturally combine such distant areas of musical tradition as Broadway theatre music and jazz on the one hand, and concert and opera music on the other. In the 1920s, elements of jazz were also used by other composers, such as I. Stravinsky and D. Milhaud, but none of them managed to popularise the rhythms characteristic of African American folklore on concert stages so widely. In 1933, at a symposium entitled American Composers on American Music, Gershwin stated that he considered jazz to be American folk music, which, like folklore from other countries, could be a source of inspiration for symphonic works and give them a national stamp. Gershwin’s works such as Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris became synonymous with the so-called symphonic jazz for many years, and on the other hand, a symbol of American music; this was probably due to the intensive dissemination of Gershwin’s works through recordings, radio broadcasts, and films. Film versions of his musical comedies, operas, and films about the composer’s life were made (Rhapsody in Blue, directed by I. Rapper, 1945; An American in Paris, directed by V. Minnelli, 1951), as well as others in which his music was used (including The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, directed by G. Seaton, 1947; Kiss Me Stupid, directed by B. Wilder, 1964; When the Boys Meet the Girls, directed by A. Ganzer, 1965; Manhattan, directed by W. Allen, 1979). After Gershwin’s death, the opinion that associating his music with jazz (the essence of which is improvisation) was wrong (R. Goffin) began to dominate. Both in orchestral pieces and in songs written for revues and musical comedies, Gershwin used only certain features of jazz music, especially the specific syncopated movement against the background of a steady bass march (the so-called blue notes), which was commonly accepted among composers of Broadway pop music at the time, starting with I. Berlin and J. Kern. It was only Gershwin’s direct contact with the life and music of African Americans from the Charleston area while writing the opera Porgy and Bess that contributed to the composer’s deeper penetration into that folklore and the use of richer and more diverse artistic means in his opera.

Gershwin wrote about 400 songs, composing them with great ease, spontaneity and passion. Constant cooperation with his brother Ira, the main author of the lyrics to his melodies, undoubtedly contributed to the expressive integration of the text and music. The formal shape of the songs is not very diverse; they almost always have a two-part structure with a twice-repeated refrain, the incipit of which (e.g. ‘S Wonderful, Fascinating Rhythm) or a repeated fragment of the text (e.g. The Man I Love, Lady, Be Good) is usually the title of the song. Two-bar sequences of motifs often occur, the rule is an eight-bar structure. Both the introductory part and the refrain are shaped by the composer most often according to the AABA scheme (The Half of It; Lady, Be Good), less often as ABAB (Blah, Blah, Blah) or ABAC. The simple piano part plays the main role of harmonic support for the vocal voice (parallel sixths and thirds with characteristically measured movement of notes in the left-hand part). Occasionally, such tangential textural-colour devices as broken triads, grace notes, chromatic succession of notes in the middle voices are used. The melody of the songs is usually based on a spread triad or quadrangle or has a quasi-recitative character. Many of Gershwin’s songs are based on a uniform two-bar rhythmic pattern (e.g. I Got Rhythm). The main means of modifying the repeated motifs is harmony; the composer changes the mode, chromatises the chords, uses chromatic movement of notes in the bass or middle voices, and sometimes shifts entire chords chromatically. The latter can be interpreted as chromatic basic functions in a given key, but their interpretation from the point of view of sound and colour is equally important (frequent augmented chords with a major seventh, tonic with a sixth). Gershwin’s songs are very diverse in terms of expression; alongside sentimental melodies (The Man I Love), lively, rhythmic songs (I Got Rhythm) gained great popularity; sometimes there is an expressive contrast between the opening part and the refrain.

Gershwin’s orchestral pieces share many common features with his songs in terms of musical material and expression. In Rhapsody in Blue, rhythmic “Broadway” melodies are juxtaposed with singing themes on the basis of contrasting mood and tempo.

Similarly, in the symphonic poem An American in Paris, blues melodies and Charleston rhythms, themes with a sharply outlined rhythm contrast with motifs with a calm melodic line, so that three parts can be distinguished that are different in terms of expression (Part II quasi-lyrical), which are connected by a repeated initial motif. Also in the three-part Piano Concerto in F major, the theme from Part I appears in the other two. Gershwin does not use development work in the strict sense, but sometimes repeats themes in a changed texture. In orchestral works, he uses a triple cast of wind instruments, enriching it with saxophones (An American in Paris) and Cuban percussion instruments (Cuban Overture). Gershwin’s predecessors in introducing jazz to opera (Jonny spielt auf Křenek, 1927) did not try to emphasise the specifically African-American features of this music, its folk origins. It was not until Gershwin introduced typical African-American song forms (Summer Time, I Got Plenty o’Nuttin) and spirituals (Where’s Brudder Robbins) in Porgy and Bess, using specific features of African-American folk performance practices: glissandos, rhythmic screaming, portatos, sharply syncopated rhythms, quasi-improvisation, solo pre-singing to the choral part, etc. Gershwin’s opera features parts spoken in African-American slang, and an additional on-stage ensemble consisting of a mouth organ, two African drums, combs, hand-washing machines, and other objects (modelled on the original African-American ensembles). All this gives Porgy and Bess the features of an American social opera. The opera contains tragic and humorous themes, scenes full of lyricism are interwoven with parts of violent, dramatic expression. The piece is divided into 3 acts and 9 scenes (2, 4, 3), through which the melody of Bess, You Is My Woman Now appears several times, acting as a reminder motif.

His early and sudden death, interrupting Gershwin’s brilliant career, contributed to the creation of a legend around the composer. After years of enthusiastic fascination with Gershwin’s music, people began to point out the technical shortcomings and shallowness of Gershwin’s works, and he was referred to as a producer of hits.

In the period of postmodernism, opinions about his creative activity are more balanced. The exceptional importance of Porgy and Bess in the opera literature of the 20^th century is commonly indicated, and the fact that Gershwin’s melodies have mostly survived the changing fashions in popular music is emphasised, and in the imperfections of the workshop of his orchestral works one can see an element of his specific style, which is a lasting testimony to the American culture of the 1920s and 1930s.

Literature: The Relation of Jazz to American Music, in: American Composers on American Music, ed. H. Cowell, Palo Alto, (CA) 1933; George Gershwin explains that ‘jazz is the voice of the American soul’, in: Music in the USA: A documentary companion, ed. J. Tick, P. Beaudoin, Oxford 2008; E. Lipmann L’Amérique de George Gershwin, 1981; D. Jeambar, George Gershwin, Paris 1982; E. Jablonski Gershwin, New York 1987; A. Kendall George Gershwin: A Biography, London 1987; H. Alpert The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess. The Story of an American Classic, New York 1990; H. Winstanley George Gershwin: His Music and His Musicals, London 1990; D. Rosenberg, Fascinating Rhythm: the Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin, New York 1991; 2^nd ed. Ann Arbor, MI, 1997; E. Jablonski Gershwin Remembered, Portland (OR), 1992; German ed. George Gershwin im Spiegel seiner Zeit: Portraitiert von Zeitgenossen, Zurich 1994; S.E. Gilbert The Music of Gershwin, New Haven (CT) 1995; E. Wood George Gershwin: His Life & Music, London 1996; D. Schiff: Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, New York 1997; R. Greenberg, George Gershwin, London 1998; Gershwin in His Time: a Biographical Scrapbook, 1919–1937, ed. G.R. Suriano, New York 1998; The Gershwin Style: New Looks at the Music of George Gershwin ed. W.J. Schneider, New York 1999; W.G. Hyland, George Gershwin: a New Biography, Westport (CT) 2003; R. Leon Gershwin, London 2004; The George Gershwin Reader, ed. R. Wyatt, J.A. Johnson Oxford 2004; H. Pollack George Gershwin: His Life And Work, Berkeley (CA) 2006; W. Sheed The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty, New York 2008; W. Rimler George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait, Urbana (IL) 2009; L. Starr George Gershwin, New Haven (CT) 2011; J. Horowitz ‘On my way’: The untold story of Rouben Mamoulian, George Gershwin, and Porgy and Bess, New York 2013; F. Médioni George Gershwin, Paris 2014; R.A. Crawford Summertime: George Gershwin’s life in music, New York 2019.

Books – I. Goldberg George Gershwin. A Study in American Music, New York 1931, 2^nd extended ed. 1958; George Gershwin, ed. M. Armitage, New York 1938; reprint 1995, introduction E. Jablonski; D. Ewen The Story of George Gershwin, New York 1943; R. Goffin Jazz from the Congo to the Metropolitan, New York 1944; B. Schipke George Gershwin und die Welt seiner Musik, Freiburg 1955; D. Ewen A Journey to Greatness, New York 1956, reprint 1970; 2^nd extended ed. 1986, German ed. George Gershwin: Vom Erfolg zur Größe, Munich 1991, reprint 1998; E. Jablonski L.D. Stewart The Gershwin Years, Garden City (New York) 1958, 2^nd ed. 1973; I. Gershwin Lyrics on Several Occasions, New York 1959, 2^nd ed. 1973; George Gershwin. Wort und Erinnerung, ed. M. Armitage, Zurich 1959; R. Payne Gershwin, New York 1960; W. Schwinger Er komponierte Amerika, Berlin 1960; E. Jablonski George Gershwin, introduction H. Arlen, New York 1962; L. Kydryński Gershwin, Kraków 1962, 4^th ed. 1982; H. Wilder American Popular Song. The Great Innovators 1900–1950, New York 1972; R. Kimball, A. Simon The Gershwins, New York 1973; C. Schwartz Gershwin – His Life and Music, Indianapolis 1973 (includes a catalogue of his works); C. Schwartz George Gershwin. A Selective Bibliography and Discography, Detroit 1974; E. Lipmann L’Amérique de George Gershwin, 1981; D. Jeambar, George Gershwin, Paris 1982; E. Jablonski Gershwin, New York 1987; A. Kendall, George Gershwin: A Biography, London 1987; H. Alpert The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess. The Story of an American Classic, New York 1990; H. Winstanley: George Gershwin: His Music and His Musicals, London 1990; D. Rosenberg Fascinating Rhythm: the Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin, New York 1991; 2^nd ed. Ann Arbor, MI, 1997; E. Jablonski Gershwin Remembered, Portland (OR), 1992; German ed., George Gershwin im Spiegel seiner Zeit: Portraitiert von Zeitgenossen, Zurich 1994; S.E. Gilbert The Music of Gershwin, New Haven (CT) 1995; E. Wood George Gershwin: His Life & Music, London 1996; D. Schiff Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, New York 1997; R. Greenberg George Gershwin, London 1998; Gershwin in His Time: a Biographical Scrapbook, 1919–1937, ed. G.R. Suriano, New York 1998; The Gershwin Style: New Looks at the Music of George Gershwin ed. W.J. Schneider, New York, 1999; W.G. Hyland George Gershwin: a New Biography, Westport (CT) 2003; R. Leon Gershwin, London 2004; The George Gershwin Reader, ed. R. Wyatt, J.A. Johnson, Oxford 2004; H. Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life And Work, Berkeley (CA) 2006; W. Sheed The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty, New York 2008; W. Rimler George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait, Urbana (IL) 2009; L. Starr George Gershwin, New Haven (CT) 2011; J. Horowitz ‘On my way’: The untold story of Rouben Mamoulian, George Gershwin, and Porgy and Bess, New York 2013; F. Médioni George Gershwin, Paris 2014. R.A. Crawford Summertime: George Gershwin’s life in music, New York 2019.

Articles – I. Kolodin ‘Porgy and Bess’: American Opera in the Theatre, “Theatre Arts Monthly” 19, 1935; V. Thomson George Gershwin, “Modern Music” IX, 1935, reprint in: Virgil Thomson: A Reader: Selected Writings, 1924–1984, ed. R. Kostelanetz, New York 2016; V. Duke Gershwin, Schillinger and Dukelsky. Some Reminiscences, “The Musical Quarterly” XXXIII, 1947; F.C. Campbell Some Manuscripts of George Gershwin, “Manuscripts” VI, 1954; F.C. Campbell The Musical Scores of George Gershwin, “Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions” XI, 1954; L. Bernstein Why Don’t You Run Upstairs and Write a Nice Gershwin Tune, “Atlantic Monthly” IV, 1955; reprint in: The Joy of Music, New York 1959; T. Capote The Muses Are Heard: an Account of the Porgy and Bess Visit to Leningrad , New York 1956; H. Keller Rhythm: Gershwin and Stravinsky, “Score” XX, 1957; K.W. Thomson The Impact of ‘Porgy And Bess’ in New Zealand, “Mississippi Quarterly” IV, 1967; R. Crawford It ain’t Necessarily Soul: Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess as Symbol, “Yearbook for Inter-American Musical Research” 8, 1972; A. Wilder George Gershwin (1898–1937), in: American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950, New York – Oxford 1972; W.D. Shirley Porgy and Bess, “Library of Congress Quarterly Journal” 31, 1974; E. Jablonski, Gershwin at 80: Observations, Discographical and Otherwise, on the 80th Anniversary of the Birth of George Gershwin, American Composer, “American Record Guide” XI–XII 1977–78; R. Crawford Gershwin’s Reputation. A Note on “Porgy and Bess”, “The Musical Quarterly” LXV, 1979; W.D. Shirley Reconciliation on Catfish Row: Bess, Serena and the Short Score of Porgy and Bess, “Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress” 38, 1981; S.E. Gilbert Gershwin’s Art of Counterpoint, “The Musical Quarterly” LXX, 1984; L. Starr Toward a Reevaluation of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, “American Music” II, 1984; W.D. Shirley, Scoring the Concerto in F: George Gershwin’s First Orchestration, “American Music” III, 1985; C. Hamm The Theatre Guild Production of ‘Porgy and Bess’, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” 40, 1987; R. Wyatt The Seven Jazz Preludes of George Gershwin, “American Music” VII, 1989; G. Schubert Zeitgeist im Glamour-Kostüm: George Gershwins Musicals—Von der Revue zur politischen Satire, “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik” VII/VIII, 1991; R. Crawford George Gershwin’s ‘I Got Rhythm’ (1930), in: America’s Musical Landscape, Berkeley (CA), 1993; D. Horn “From Catfish Row to Granby Street: Contesting Meaning in Porgy and Bess,” Popular Music, 13/2 (1994), 165–74; J.R. Moore The Gershwins in Britain, “New Theatre Quarterly” X, 1994; P. Nauert Theory and Practice in Porgy and Bess: the Gershwin-Schillinger Connection and C.J. Oja Gershwin and American Modernists of the 1920s, „The Musical Quarterly” LXXVIII, 1994; L. Starr Ives, Gershwin, and Copland: Reflections on the Strange History of American Art Music, “American Music” II, 1994; A. Forte Ballads of George Gershwin, in: The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era: 1924–1950, Princeton, New York 1995; C. Hamm, Towards a New Reading of Gershwin, in: Putting Popular Music in its Place, Cambridge & New York, 1995; G. Block, Porgy and Bess: Broadway Opera, in: Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim, New York–Oxford 1997; B. Dethlefs Summertime: Zugänge zur Oper Porgy and Bess von George Gershwin, “Musik und Unterricht” VIII, 1997; V. Rotthaler Melodiker im Schatten der Wolkenkratzer: George Gershwin zum 100. Geburtstag, “Neue Musikzeitung” X, 1998; J. Gill It Is Necessarily So: The Yiddish Blackface of Porgy and Bess, in: American Modernism across the Arts, ed. J. Bochner, J.D. Edwards New York 1999; H.-J. Schaal Fascinating rhythm: George Gershwin und der Jazz, “Das Orchester” I, 1999; Ch. A. Barbera George Gershwin and jazz, in: The Gershwin style: New looks at the music of George Gershwin, ed. W. Schneider, Oxford 1999; A. Knight ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So That It Ain’t Necessarily So’: African American Recordings of Porgy and Bess as Film and Cultural Criticism, in: Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music, ed. P. R. Wojcik, A. Knight, Durham (NC), 2001; W. Mellers Porgy and Bess as a Parable of Restitution, in: Singing in the Wilderness: Music and Ecology in the Twentieth Century, Champaign (IL), 2001; D. Monod, Disguise, Containment and the Porgy and Bess Revival of 1952– 1956, “Journal of American Studies” II, 2001; C. M. Schmidt, George Gershwin, in: Musical: Das unterhaltende Genre, ed. A. Geraths, C.M. Schmidt, Regensburg 2002; R. Allen An American Folk Opera? Triangulating Folkness, Blackness, and Americaness in Gershwin And Heyward’s ‘Porgy And Bess,’ “Journal of American Folklore” 117, 2004; R. Allen, Cultural Uplift and Double-Consciousness: African American Responses to the 1935 Opera ‘Porgy and Bess,’ “The Musical Quarterly” 88/3, 2005; A. Tansman Du jazz à George Gershwin, in: Une voie lyrique dans un siècle bouleversé, Paris 2005; C.R. Pierpont, R. Merkin Jazzbo: Why we still listen to George Gershwin, “The New Yorker” 80, 2005; R. Crawford Where Did Porgy and Bess Come From?, “Journal of Interdisciplinary History” 36, 2006; H. Pollack Car Horns, Cafes, and Can-Can: Gershwin’s American in Paris, “Humanities” VI, 2006; H. Shin Werke der dreiβiger Jahre: George Gershwin —Porgy and Bess, in: Geschichte der Musik im 20. Jahrhundert: 1925–1945, ed. A. Riethmüller, Regensburg 2006; I. Jeżowska Liryka wokalna George‘a Gershwina: Próba klasyfikacji stylu pieśni, in: Wokalistyka i pedagogika wokalna, Wrocław 2007; A. Davis Rotational Form in the Opening Scene of Gershwin’s ‘Porgy And Bess,’ “Journal of the American Musicological Society” 60, 2007; C. Reynolds Porgy and Bess: ‘An American Wozzeck,’ “Journal of the Society for American Music” I, 2007; J. Wierzbicki The Hollywood Career of Gershwin’s ‘Second Rhapsody,’ “Journal of the American Musicological Society” I, 2007; E.D. Latham The Multi-Movement Anstieg or Initial Assent: George Gershwin’s ‘Folk Opera’ Porgy and Bess’ (1935), in: Tonality as Drama: Closure and Interruption in Four TwentiethCentury American Operas, Denton (TX), 2008; E. Rapport Bill Finegan’s Gershwin Arrangements and the American Concept of Hybridity, “Journal of the Society for American Music” II, 2008; H. H. Keyser George Gershwin, in: Geniuses of the American musical theatre: The composers and lyricists. New York 2009; U. Konrad, An American in Paris; A Frenchman in New York: Begegnungen von alter und neuer Welt in der Musik von George Gershwin und Darius Milhaud, in: Coll’astuzia, col giudizio: Essays in honor of Neal Zaslaw, ed. C. Eisen, Ann Arbor 2009; L. Kunkel, Akkordstrukturen in George Gershwins Porgy and Bess, “Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie” I, 2012;P. J. Jutras George Gershwin: An American original, in: The pianist’s craft: Mastering the works of great composers, ed. R. P. Anderson, Lanham (MD) 2012; N. C. Sorel First encounters: Irving Berlin and George Gershwin, in: The Irving Berlin reader ed. B. Sears, Oxford 2012; S. Neimoyer After the Rhapsody: George Gershwin in the spring of 1924, “The Journal of Musicology” I, 2014; H.W. Zimmermann George Gershwin: Wichtig ist, was an ihm stimmt, in: Über Musik und Musiker: Streifzüge durch die Musikgeschichte, Kassel 2015; A. Haim George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue: Performances and recordings in the 1920s. I. The United States, “The IAJRC Journal” II, 2016; A. Riethmüller Dreivierteltakt in frühen Film Musicals: Walzer von Cole Porter, Harry Warren und George Gershwin, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” II, 2020; W. Jansen ‘…das erste private Musical-Theater Deutschlands eröffnet’: Zur europäischen Erstaufführung von George Gershwins Girl crazy in Düsseldorf 1963, and ‘… ultramarinblaue Einfärbung der falschen Neger’: Zur deutschsprachigen Erstaufführung von George Gershwins Porgy and Bess 1945 in Zürich, in: Musicals: Geschichte und Interpretation, Munich 2020.