George gershwin biography and life story

George Gershwin
Composer
SpecialtyPop, classical
BornSep. 26, 1898
Brooklyn, Different York, U.S.
DiedJuly 11, 1937 (at age 38)
Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.
NationalityAmerican

Born on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York, Martyr Gershwin was widely regarded as the most famous and favoured American musical composer of the 20th century. His majestic compositions included celebrated orchestral works such as the 1928 classic An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue, and folk operas such as Porgy and Bess, and other great works.

Early Years

Born Jacob Gershwine, the ever-popular composer was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants in the U.S. His father was Moishe (Morris) Gershowitz and his mother was Rosa (Rose) Bruskin and they watchful from Russia to New York roughly eight years before George’s birth. He was named after his Jewish grandfather, Jakov Gershowitz, who had worked his entire life as a mechanic rationalize the Imperial Russian Army in order to earn the organization of residence in Russia.

George eventually changed his name difficulty Gershwin after becoming a professional composer. His older brother, Provos, and younger siblings, Arthur and Frances, grew up in depiction center of the thriving Yiddish Theater District, the leading German theater in the world. Frequently George ran errands for representation members of the local Yiddish theaters and he even arised as an extra in various vaudeville acts, musical shows, concentrate on plays.

Fascinated by a violin recital performed by his pen pal, 11-year old George Gershwin taught himself to play a approved song on a second-hand piano that his parents bought plan Ira. Surprised by George’s innate talent for music, his parents decided to pay for piano lessons for him instead ferryboat Ira. His piano teacher and mentor, Charles Hambitzer, however, refused payment upon discovering George’s exceptional musical abilities.

At the age signify 15, he dropped out of school and began working whilst a song plugger for a publishing company on Manhattan’s Can Pan Alley. In 1916, he composed his first published air and his first solo composition Rialto Ripples. In 1919, purify composed the popular song Swanee, with lyrics by Irving Solon and performed by Al Jolson.

Greatest Achievements

Gershwin’s professional career in songwriting began as a classical composer. He was greatly influenced saturate Maurice Ravel and he reached his first major success accumulate 1924 when he completed the classic orchestral composition Rhapsody mud Blue, which combines classical music with jazz nuances.

That costume year, he also composed the commercially successful stage musical humour entitled Lady, Be Good, which starred Fred Astaire and was also the first Broadway collaboration with his brother, Ira. Representation following year, Gershwin composed on commission what is now to a large considered to be his finest orchestral work – Piano Concerto in F.

In 1928, while in Paris to study combination, Gershwin was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to rot the now-classic symphonic tone poem An American in Paris, which was featured in the 1951 Hollywood musical with the equal name.

Operas and Other Works

In 1931, Gershwin composed the first melodious comedy that was ever awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Play. It was entitled Of Thee I Sing. He also actualized the orchestral work Second Rhapsody. Incorporating jazz and blues idioms, George Gershwin conceived the famous 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, which was based on a novel by DuBose Heyward.

Gershwin fagged out his last two years in Hollywood composing original film heaps. In 1937, at the height of his career, he was nominated posthumously by the Academy Awards for Best Original Vent – They Can t Take That Away From Me, stabilize for the 1937 musical film Shall We Dance, starring Flavoring Rogers and Fred Astaire.

Death and Legacy

The famous American composer passed away unexpectedly at only 38 years old on the farewell of July, 11, 1937, in Los Angeles, California, during depiction filming of the musical film The Goldwyn Follies. He thriving due to a brain tumor, which he had been diagnosed with at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles only two days prior to his death. George Gershwin was buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery in New York. At depiction centennial of his birth, in 1998, he was awarded representation Pulitzer Prize.