Summertime - George Gershwin's Life in Music

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 run of musical comedies, with his brother Ira as lyricist, and several classical works while he became a favoured guest in New York social circles. His 1924 Rhapsody in Blue was an instant classic rooted in his absorption of African American music. A decade later came Porgy and Bess, his magnum opus. The brothers left New York to write songs for Hollywood-but their work was cut short when George developed a brain tumour and died at thirty-eight.

Richard Crawford traces the arc of Gershwin's remarkable life, seamlessly blending colourful anecdotes with a discussion of Gershwin's unforgettable oeuvre.

About the author

Richard Crawford (1935—2024), a longtime professor at the University of Michigan, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and served as president of the American Musicological Society, published ten books on American music.

Product details

• Authors: Richard Crawford, Crawford Richard
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 04.10.2019
• EAN: 9780393052152
• ISBN: 978-0-393-05215-2
• Dimensions: 163 mm x 244 mm x 43 mm
• Weight: 1009 g
• Illustrations: 8 pages of photographs
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > Monographs; Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups, MUSIC / Individual Composer & Musician, Memoirs, Biography: arts & entertainment, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Music, Composers and songwriters, Autobiography: arts and entertainment, 20th Century & Contemporary Classical Music