American Portraits George Gershwin
George Gershwin lived with intent and gusto, but with melancholy as well, for he was unable to make a place for himself–no family of his own and no real home in music.
He and his siblings received little love from their mother and no direction from their father. Older brother and lyricist Ira managed to create a home when he married Leonore Strunsky, a hard-edged woman who lived for wealth and status. The nearest George came to domesticity was through his longtime kinship with Kay Swift. She was his lover, musical confidante, and fellow composer. But she remained married to another man while he went ceaselessly from woman to woman. Only in the final hours of his life, when they were disunited by a continent, did he realize how much he necessitated her. Fatally ill, unprotected by (and perchance estranged from) Ira, he was exiled by Leonore from the house she and the brothers shared, and he passed away horribly and alone at the age of thirty-eight.
Nor was Gershwin capable to find a satisfying musical harbor. For years his songwriting talent could be indicated only in the ephemeral world of show business, as his splendor as a composer of large-scale works went unrecognized by highbrow music critics. When he resolved this quandary with his opera Porgy and Bess, the critics were unable to comprehend or validate it. Decades would pass before this, his most ambitious composition, was universally regarded as one of music’s lasting treasures and before his stature as a outstanding composer became secure.
In George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait, Walter Rimler makes use of fresh sources, including newly came upon letters by Kay Swift as well as communication exchange amidst and consultations with intimates of Ira and Leonore Gershwin. It is written with spirited prose and holds more than two dozen photographs.
Review“More indepth biographies than Mr. Rimler’s slender volume subsist … but for those of us mesmerized less in the technical details of Gershwin’s music and it is performance than in the comet called George Gershwin that blazed briefly throughout American skies, Mr. Rimler is the astronomer of choice.”The Wall Street Journal
American Portraits George Gershwin Picture
American Portraits George Gershwin Image
American Portraits George Gershwin Image
American Portraits George Gershwin Photo
An special book
Just when you thought there could not be any more material to cover Gershwin’s short life (the definitive Howard Pollack book of 2006 is perhaps the greatest monument)- out comes this little book by Rimmler, and it opens new doors into the Gershwin world. Rimmler had access to private letters of Gershwin’s lover Kay Swift, and they are distilled into the narrative. This book is a master class in economy, the condensing of data is brilliantly executed and cuts right to the core of fact. We fly along at breakneck speed, still managing to stumble over an anecdote or two that had antecedently been unheard of. This book is a little marvel! I am rating it up there in the top five of best Gershwin biographies.
gershwin the biggest .
As an alltime admirerer of the music of George Gershwin, this book was just wonderful. I have read other books on Gershwin, but the detail and directness in the writing is just exceptional. It is likewise share of the history of American theatre in the early 20th century. Wonderful photos. Highly reccomend this book to any individual who is fascinated in Broadway & concert music.
An American Master Whose Work Has Aged Well
A well written and very readable narrative overview of George Gershwin and his times, with engaging thumbnails of the personalities he was related with. A master songsmith without any formal musical training, the tunes he crafted cover the heyday of New York City’s Tin Pan Alley, to the advent of Broadway musicals, as well as American Jazz and a unambiguously American opera. Many of the tunes he wrote are still with us and general today. The book gives a glimpse of the crafting of ordinary tunes, many times accompanied by his brother Ira as lyricist, where a simple word or surprising musical phrase could make a song a hit. Long before MP3 players and iTunes, songsmiths’ lived by royalties based on published sheet music, with the Gershwin brothers being consistent pros at it. Gershwin was working to broaden his appeal and artistic skills, but passed away before his personal masterpiece, Porgy and Bess, became widely recognized and acclaimed. Gershwin was not alone, and his time included other masters of standard music, amusement and culture, though few as recognizable as he is today. The book’s 173 pages are organized into 21 chapters, with an epilog of the subsequent careers and lives of those nearest to him.
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