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File:Portrait_of_George_Gershwin_LCCN2004662906.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ123829· pop 84· linked from 4,019 articles

George Gershwin

Also known as Jacob Gershvin, Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz, George Jacob Gershwin, Dzhordzh Gershvin, Gershwin, Jacob Gershwine

American composer and pianist (1898–1937)

AI overview

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist who lived from 1898 to 1937 and became one of the most influential musicians of the early 20th century. He is remembered for blending classical music with jazz and popular styles, creating a distinctly American sound that shaped modern music.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1898
Died: 1937
Works: 129

Top works

Sam H. Harris presents Of thee I sing
...Nitrogen survey...
Ziegfeld follies
Porgy y Bess
Porgi ṿe-Bes

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Origin: United States
Active from: 1898-09-26
Active to: 1937-07-11

americanamerican composerclassicalcomposerjazzopera

Discography

Official site Discogs Stream

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 641,687
Total plays: 4,518,892

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

A short history ofSHELX
· 2007 · cited 79,669x
Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test
· 1997 · cited 47,808x
Crystal structure refinement withSHELXL
· 2015 · cited 40,121x
SHELXT– Integrated space-group and crystal-structure determination
· 2015 · cited 27,000x
A new and rapid colorimetric determination of acetylcholinesterase activity
· 1961 · cited 23,022x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“The European boys have small ideas but they sure know how to dress 'em up.”
“I frequently hear music in the heart of noise.”
“My people are American, my time is today…music must repeat the thought and aspirations of the times.”
“The composer does not sit around and wait for an inspiration to walk up and introduce itself…Making music is actually little else than a matter of invention aided and abetted by emotion. In composing we combine what we know of music with what we feel.”
“Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one, but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling of the American people more than any other style of folk music.”
“Modern European composers ... have very largely received their stimulus, their rhythms and impulses from Machine Age America. They have a much older tradition of musical technique which has helped them put into musical terms a little more clearly the thoughts that originated here. They can express themselves more glibly.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Official website: gershwin.com
Image: George Gershwin 1937.jpg

Show 12 more facts

Commons category: George Gershwin
date of birth: 1898-09-26
date of death: 1937-07-11
Commons gallery: George Gershwin
start of work period: 1914-00-00
name in native language: George Gershwin
birth name: Jacob Gershwin
pseudonym: Gershwin
end of work period: 1937-00-00
Commons Creator page: George Gershwin
P12674: Rudolf Lodgman von Auen
P12749: Zap Mama

Sources (12)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

4 objects attributed to George Gershwin, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

Summertime: Slowfox from the opera “Porgy and Bess”

Rhapsody in blue: I. Teil/George Gershwin

Rhapsody in blue: II. Part/George Gershwin

Summer time: Blues

~36 min read

Article

George Gershwin (/ˈɡɜːrʃ.wɪn/; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930) and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit "Summertime". His Of Thee I Sing (1931) was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody. He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris, intending to study with Nadia Boulanger, but she refused him, afraid that rigorous classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style; Maurice Ravel voiced similar objections when Gershwin inquired about studying with him. He subsequently composed An American in Paris, returned to New York City and wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, it came to be considered one of the most important American operas of the 20th century and an American cultural classic.