October 1, 2024
Rhapsody in Blue at 100
A San Francisco History
by Steven Ziegler
by Steven Ziegler
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is a piece that never seems to be far from our minds, but the work’s centenary in 2024 has sparked new discoveries and important conversations about its relevance in today’s world. Pianist and composer Ethan Iverson recently wrote a probing essay about it for the New York Times, while pianist Lara Downes released a new recording in which composer Edmar Colón reimagines Gershwin’s work to reflect on a century of immigration and transformation. This month’s San Francisco Symphony program conducted by Thomas Wilkins, with pianist Michelle Cann, places Rhapsody within the context of other 20th-century American works by Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and William Grant Still.
Story continues below...
Story continues below...
Following its successful 1924 premiere as part of conductor and impresario Paul Whiteman’s “Experiment in Music” concert at New York’s Aeolian
Hall—Gershwin was piano soloist—Rhapsody in Blue made its way to the San Francisco Symphony in 1931. (Fun fact: Whiteman spent some time as a string player in the San Francisco Symphony in the 1910s before launching his career as a bandleader.)
Symphony violinist David Schneider recalled an early performance at the War Memorial Opera House in his memoir of the San Francisco Symphony, Music, Maestros, and Musicians:
“It was a Friday afternoon concert when all the society ladies wore white gloves, and the retired gentlemen, in their grey-striped trousers, spats, and morning coats, were sitting and enjoying the culture that a symphony orchestra offered them. Suddenly there was an invasion from another world. From that first dirty glissando of the clarinet, there was the feeling that their raw emotions were being assailed. In the staid atmosphere of the Opera House, the rough syncopated rhythms and the raucous dissonant harmonies shocked the patrons out of their seats.”
Gershwin himself played Rhapsody in Blue with the San Francisco Symphony in a January 1937 program that featured him as conductor and pianist in several of his works. Schneider observed:
“[Gershwin] was generally at ease with professional musicians, and his folklike music came out exactly that way when he conducted. [Pierre] Monteux conducted his Piano Concerto in F, and Gershwin was really a natural pianist. He played the piece as if he were in his own living room, and Monteux followed him perfectly. It was the ideal blending of all the elements that make up music, and I was thrilled by it.”
Unfortunately, we’ll never know what further Gershwin–San Francisco Symphony collaborations might have brought, as he passed away at the age of 38 in July 1937, just a few months after his Symphony debut.
Rhapsody in Blue has remained a staple on San Francisco Symphony programs over the years, performed by a fascinating mix of pianists from both the classical and popular music worlds: André Previn, André Watts, Oscar Levant, José Iturbi, Michael Feinstein, Marcus Roberts, Marc-André Hamelin, Yuja Wang, Makoto Ozone, and most recently Aaron Diehl. (Special mention goes to harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler, who performed his version of Rhapsody in Blue with the Symphony on two separate occasions). A few brave conductor/pianists have also taken on the work here: Jeffrey Kahane, John Covelli, Peter Nero, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
As Rhapsody in Blue enters its second century, it’s clear that the piece isn’t going anywhere. Beyond continuing to delight audiences, we can hope that Gershwin’s work will also inspire the next generation of composers eager to build upon his dream of a “musical kaleidoscope of America—of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.”
Inset picture (left to right): January 1937 Program; Michael Tilson Thomas playing and conducting Gershwin with the SF Symphony, 1998; Silver Jubilee Season Ad, A roster of stellar guests, including George Gershwin, help celebrate 25 years of the San Francisco Symphony, 1937
Steven Ziegler is the San Francisco Symphony’s Editorial Director.
Hall—Gershwin was piano soloist—Rhapsody in Blue made its way to the San Francisco Symphony in 1931. (Fun fact: Whiteman spent some time as a string player in the San Francisco Symphony in the 1910s before launching his career as a bandleader.)
Symphony violinist David Schneider recalled an early performance at the War Memorial Opera House in his memoir of the San Francisco Symphony, Music, Maestros, and Musicians:
“It was a Friday afternoon concert when all the society ladies wore white gloves, and the retired gentlemen, in their grey-striped trousers, spats, and morning coats, were sitting and enjoying the culture that a symphony orchestra offered them. Suddenly there was an invasion from another world. From that first dirty glissando of the clarinet, there was the feeling that their raw emotions were being assailed. In the staid atmosphere of the Opera House, the rough syncopated rhythms and the raucous dissonant harmonies shocked the patrons out of their seats.”
Gershwin himself played Rhapsody in Blue with the San Francisco Symphony in a January 1937 program that featured him as conductor and pianist in several of his works. Schneider observed:
“[Gershwin] was generally at ease with professional musicians, and his folklike music came out exactly that way when he conducted. [Pierre] Monteux conducted his Piano Concerto in F, and Gershwin was really a natural pianist. He played the piece as if he were in his own living room, and Monteux followed him perfectly. It was the ideal blending of all the elements that make up music, and I was thrilled by it.”
Unfortunately, we’ll never know what further Gershwin–San Francisco Symphony collaborations might have brought, as he passed away at the age of 38 in July 1937, just a few months after his Symphony debut.
Rhapsody in Blue has remained a staple on San Francisco Symphony programs over the years, performed by a fascinating mix of pianists from both the classical and popular music worlds: André Previn, André Watts, Oscar Levant, José Iturbi, Michael Feinstein, Marcus Roberts, Marc-André Hamelin, Yuja Wang, Makoto Ozone, and most recently Aaron Diehl. (Special mention goes to harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler, who performed his version of Rhapsody in Blue with the Symphony on two separate occasions). A few brave conductor/pianists have also taken on the work here: Jeffrey Kahane, John Covelli, Peter Nero, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
As Rhapsody in Blue enters its second century, it’s clear that the piece isn’t going anywhere. Beyond continuing to delight audiences, we can hope that Gershwin’s work will also inspire the next generation of composers eager to build upon his dream of a “musical kaleidoscope of America—of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.”
Inset picture (left to right): January 1937 Program; Michael Tilson Thomas playing and conducting Gershwin with the SF Symphony, 1998; Silver Jubilee Season Ad, A roster of stellar guests, including George Gershwin, help celebrate 25 years of the San Francisco Symphony, 1937
Steven Ziegler is the San Francisco Symphony’s Editorial Director.
