George Gershwin

Paper Summary:

George Gershwin was the most celebrated and wealthiest American composer of the 1920s. He expressed the dreams of every American citizen of the time. This paper explains how he achieved this by mixing different styles of music, including Jewish, black, jazz, classical, and blues and put them into one genre to create absolute music.

From the Paper:

"George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898, and had the childhood of any average kid growing up in the early 1900's. His father Morris was a Russian Jewish immigrant, who held many different jobs. As a result, George was forced to move around a lot and learn how to fight for his survival. Many people say that he was a very wild and robust child who was not interested in any type of schoolwork (Schwartz, 1973). In the neighborhood where he grew up, anyone who was interested in music was known as a sissy. George was spellbound after discovering a mechanical piano after passing by a penny arcade. He would go to the homes of friends who had pianos and secretly tap out the popular tunes of the day (Peyser, 1993)."

More papers on George Gershwin:

• Essay # 54908 : "The Music of George Gershwin"
• Essay # 28972 : "Gershwin and Copland"
• Book Review # 5436 : "Steffler's George Cartwright"

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