George Gershwin

George Gershwin (1898-1937) wrote his first song in 1916 and his first Broadway musical in 1919, and remained a fixture of the New York stage for 14 successive years. In 1924 he enjoyed success in applying jazz idioms to concert works with Rhapsody in Blue, and until the end of his life he produced larger-scale works alongside songs for musicals and films.

S’wonderful from Funny Face.

With lyrics by his brother Ira, S’wonderful first appeared on Broadway in the 1927 musical Funny Face. Veteran choral arranger Dick Thompson provides the setting for today’s concert.

----Intermezzo Sunday Concerts, February 10, 2008 (UNF Chorale & UNF Chamber Singers)

I Got Rhythm! from Girl Crazy

I Got Rhythm was composed in 1930, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It is a song number in their musical Girl Crazy which also includes another of their hit songs, Embraceable You, and has been sung by many singers since. Ethel Merman sang the song in the original Broadway production and Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin, after seeing her opening reviews, warned her never to take a singing lesson.

--Intermezzo Sunday Concerts, February 11, 2007 (Hsiao-Ling Wang & Kristin Samuelson)

Summertime from Porgy and Bess

Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess (1935), with lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, remains the only opera by an American composer firmly established in the repertory. Gershwin began composing the show's most memorable song, Summertime, in December 1933, and he new a good thing when he heard it--the song appears twice in the opera's first act and reappears in the 2nd and 3rd acts as well. Indeed, Summertime is one of the most popular songs ever written: an international group of collectors of recordings of Summertime known as "The Summertime Connection" has tabulated over 47,000 public performances of which more than 38,000 have been recorded!

--Intermezzo Sunday Concerts, February 11, 2007 (Hsiao-Ling Wang & Kristin Samuelson)

--Intermezzo Sunday Concerts, February 12, 2012 (MacMillan / Poeltl /Wyke)

They All Laughed is included in Shall We Dance?, the 1937 movie musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.