The premiere of the concerto in December 1925 solidified Gershwin’s place among the greats of American composition. I learned a great deal from the experience, particularly in the handling of instruments in combination. The Concerto would be unrelated to any program…. I made up my mind to do a piece of absolute music…. Well, I went out, for one thing, to show them that there was more where that had come from. Many persons had thought that the Rhapsody was only a happy accident. Unlike Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin orchestrated the Concerto in F himself, later describing the decision as one designed to prove something both to himself and to the world: He even altered the original title of the work, New York Concerto, to emphasize its classical form and to place it in the tradition which had produced so many great works of the same genre in the previous 150 years. Gershwin saw the commission as an opportunity to truly meld the structural aspects of classical music with the idiom of jazz and to establish himself as a “serious” composer. After some discussion, Gershwin agreed to write a piano concerto for Damrosch, who in turn guaranteed at least seven performances of the new piece with Gershwin himself as soloist. Among those in the audience that evening was the New York Symphonic Society conductor Walter Damrosch, who was thrilled with the piece and immediately approached Gershwin to commission another like it. In January 1924, bandleader Paul Whiteman announced Gershwin’s participation in a concert to take place the following month in New York which he called “An Experiment in Modern Music.” The announcement was the first that Gershwin had heard about the concert, but he willingly undertook the project anyway, intrigued with Whiteman’s exploration of “symphonic jazz.” With the help of orchestrator Ferde Grofé, Gershwin composed his Rhapsody in Blue in a matter of weeks, and it became an instant sensation at the February 1924 premiere.
Instrumentation: Solo piano, 2 flutes plus piccolo, 2 oboes plus English horn, 2 clarinets plus bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 4 percussion (glockenspiel, xylophone, woodblock, tam-tam, triangle, snare drum, whip, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, bass drum), and strings
It interweaves many the musical numbers from the drama, including the opening “Westphalian Fanfare,” the sweeping melody from “Oh, Happy We,” and the energetic theme (made famous by Dick Cavett) from “Glitter and Be Gay.”Ĭoncerto in F Major for Piano and Orchestra
Originally adapted by Lillian Hellman for Bernstein, the comedic production follows the noble youth Candide’s rather disastrous journey through the “best of all possible worlds.” The initial New York run closed after only 73 performances as audiences were unsure just how to categorize the work: was it a musical or an opera? Bernstein later tried to answer this question himself:Ĭandide is beginning to look to me like a real fine old-fashioned operetta, or a comic opera… But not a musical comedy surely? … Of course it’s a kind of operetta, or some version of musical theater that is basically European but which Americans have long ago accepted and come to love.Ī 1973 reworking that lightened up both the libretto and the music proved to be more popular, enjoying a three-year Broadway run.Įven through the difficult beginnings for Candide, the overture garnered repeated praise and quickly became a popular addition to the concert repertoire.
Instrumentation: 2 flutes plus piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets plus E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet, 2 bassoons plus contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 4 percussion (snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, crash cymbals, triangle, xylophone, glockenspiel), harp, and stringsĪfter the success of On the Town (1944) and Wonderful Town (1953), Bernstein looked to Voltaire’s novel Candide for inspiration for his third musical.