In 1916, he composed his first published song, “When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em When You Have 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em.” Songs: "Rhapsody in Blue"įrom 1920 to 1924, Gershwin composed for an annual production put on by George White. To earn extra cash, he also worked as a rehearsal pianist for Broadway singers. Early CareerĪfter dropping out of school at age 15, Gershwin played in several New York nightclubs and began his stint as a “song-plugger” in New York’s Tin Pan Alley.Īfter three years of pounding out tunes on the piano for demanding customers, he had transformed into a highly skilled and dexterous composer.
Throughout his 23-year career, Gershwin would continually seek to expand the breadth of his influences, studying under an incredibly disparate array of teachers, including Henry Cowell, Wallingford Riegger, Edward Kilenyi and Joseph Schillinger. He eventually began studying with the noted piano teacher Charles Hambitzer, and apparently impressed him in a letter to his sister, Hambitzer wrote, “I have a new pupil who will make his mark if anybody will. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Gershwin began his foray into music at age 11 when his family bought a secondhand piano for Gershwin’s older sibling, Ira.Ī natural talent, it was Gershwin who took it up and eventually sought out mentors who could enhance his abilities. Gershwin was born Jacob Gershowitz on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York. Gershwin died immediately following brain surgery on July 11, 1937, at the age of 38. A composer of jazz, opera, and popular songs for stage and screen, many of his works are now standards. Within a few years, he was one of the most sought after musicians in the United States.
George Gershwin dropped out of school and began playing piano professionally at age 15.
0 kommentar(er)
