The American composer and pianist George Gershwin

George Gershwin is an American composer and pianist. He is born in a family of Russian Jews (the family name of the parents is Gershwitz, but they change it to Gershwin after they immigrate to the US). It composes both classical music and Broadway. Some of his compositions in the jersey become standards. He wrote 8.30 o'clock, the one-act 135th Street, and Porgy and Bess Folk Opera, as he called it a "People's Opera." In 1937 while in Hollywood, at work, and then died in a tumor removal surgery in his brain. He is buried in the Westchesterfield Hills Cemetery in New York. George Gershwin is one of the most popular American composers. His music has become a favorite for listeners from all over the world. Its attractive strength to this day - a few decades after its death - has not diminished. His works are constantly played on concert podiums, in opera and operetta theaters, in cinemas, on radio and television, and provide joy to millions of listeners. Gershwin's works have rich and accessible melodies and are rich in emotion. They are built on the basis of folk song and especially of non-Greek folklore. Shostakovich, who highly values Gershwin's art, points out that his music is intended "for ordinary people, for their joys and sorrows, for life. That's why it's really national ... "

Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898, in New York. He comes from a small merchant's family. He began studying the piano early and was so moved that his father was forced to take a music theory teacher. Fifteen, Gershwin becomes a professional musician: he enters a musical house where he plays the notes he wants to buy. So he meets many dance melodies and songs and decides to focus on this type of art. The young composer began to write songs mainly under the influence of Irwin Burlin and Jerome Kerne, but soon found his own musical language. Gradually, his songs gain popularity and his composer's name became known. Gershwin leaves his work at the store and gives himself up to creative work.

In 1919 he wrote his first operetta. "At eight and a half hours," which has a mediocre success, but the following La-la-Lucille next year brings him true glory. The prominent pianist and conductor Paul Whiteman offers Gershwin to write an orchestral work for his concerts. In just three weeks, the composer's most popular work, "Rhapsody in Blue," performed on February 12, 1924 under the direction of Whiteman and with the author's participation, was born. Success is incredibly great. Since then, this glamorous and enthralling work with an original and intriguing name is considered classical in American jazz. In the same 1924, Gershwin created the magnificent operetta "Lady, Be Good" and several songs. The following year brought one of the most significant works of the composer - Concerto for piano and orchestra in f. This is an original and vibrant work which reveals another aspect of the great talent of the composer. Then there are operettes, songs, piano pieces and many more. etc. In 1928, Gershwin wrote his famous symphony-poem "One American in Paris," for which Morris Ravel speaks exquisitely. In the poem, the mixed feelings of the author, experienced during his visit to Paris, were recreated. "When I was walking around Shan-e-Elyse, I was thinking about my home, the Hudson River ..." Together with operettas Gershwin begins to write film music, which makes it even more popular. At that time the composer did not create only in the "light" genres, he also created works such as "Cuban Overture", "Second Rhapsody" and others. In the last years of his untimely life Gershwin wrote his most significant work - the opera Porgy and Bess, the first American national opera. Gershwin died on 11 June 1937 in New York.