PRODUCT OVERVIEW
- ISBN 9780393052152
- Categories Biographies and Memoirs, BX, BXOS, H/C, New Arrivals OS, NF BIO, Non-Fiction
- Author(s) Richard Crawford
- Publisher W. W. Norton & Company
- Pages 560
- Format Hardcover
- Dimensions 16.3cm x 4.3cm x 24.4cm
- Weight 0.998 kg
product description
George Gershwin blossomed as an accompanist before his talent as a songwriter opened the way to Broadway where he fashioned his own brand of American music. He composed a run of musical comedies, with his brother Ira as lyricist, and several classical works while he became a favoured guest in New York social circles. His 1924 Rhapsody in Blue was an instant classic rooted in his absorption of African American music. A decade later came Porgy and Bess, his magnum opus. The brothers left New York to write songs for Hollywood―but their work was cut short when George developed a brain tumour and died at thirty-eight.
Richard Crawford traces the arc of Gershwin’s remarkable life, seamlessly blending colourful anecdotes with a discussion of Gershwin’s unforgettable oeuvre.