George Gershwin

小簡介
美國著名作曲家，生于紐約布魯克林，曾廣泛接觸和研究通俗音樂領(lǐng)域的各種體裁風格，寫過大量的流行歌曲和數(shù)十部歌舞表演、音樂劇，是百老匯舞臺和好萊塢的名作曲家。
1924年為保爾·懷特曼的爵士音樂會寫了《藍色狂想曲》獲得巨大成功，影響了美國和其他國家的作曲家在作品中運用爵士的手法。接著，創(chuàng)作了管弦樂曲《一個美國人在巴黎》、《第二狂想曲》、《古巴序曲》，并以描寫黑人生活的歌劇《波基與貝絲》達到創(chuàng)作的頂點。
格什溫的卓越貢獻是把德彪西和拉赫瑪尼諾夫的風格與美國的爵士樂風格結(jié)合了起來，雖缺乏熟練的寫作技巧，卻是個了不起的旋律天才。
他的歌曲總是活潑有趣，溫柔清新；大型樂曲則節(jié)奏明快，和聲優(yōu)美，富于幽默感，既有獨特的個性，又是典型的美國風格，因而具有持久的藝術(shù)魅力。1937年夏因腦癌去世，年僅三十九歲。
by William Ruhlmann
In a career tragically cut short in mid-stride by a brain tumor, George Gershwin (1898-1937) proved himself to be not only one of the great songwriters of his extremely rich era, but also a gifted "serious" composer who bridged the worlds of classical and popular music. The latter is all the more striking, given that, of his contemporaries, Gershwin was the most influenced by such styles as jazz and blues.
Gershwin's first major hit, interpolated into the show Sinbad in 1919, was "Swanee," sung by Al Jolson. Gershwin wrote both complete scores and songs for such variety shoes as George White's Scandals (whose annual editions thus were able to introduce such songs as "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" and "Somebody Loves Me").
After 1924, Gershwin worked primarily with his brother Ira as his lyricist. The two scored a series of Broadway hits in the '20s and early '30s, starting with Lady Be Good (1924), which included the song "Fascinatin' Rhythm." 1924 was also the year Gershwin composed his first classical piece, "Rhapsody in Blue," and he would continue to work in the classical field until his death.
By the '30s, the Gershwins had turned to political topics and satire in response to the onset of the Depression, and their Of Thee I Sing became the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize. In the mid '30s, Gershwin ambitiously worked to meld his show music and classical leanings in the creation of the folk opera Porgy and Bess, with lyrics by Ira and Dubose Heyward. The Gershwins had moved to Hollywood and were engaged in several movie projects at the time of George Gershwin's death.