The Gershwin Style

George Gershwin is at once one of America's most popular and least appreciated composers. He is loved and revered for his wonderful songs, a few instrumental works, and for the opera Porgy and Bess. Most of his music, however, is virtually unknown--hundreds of songs, show music, and even several large and important instrumental works are gradually fading with the generations that first heard them. This book promises to make a key contribution to American music research, and Schneider has corralled some of the best authors and authorities who have been involved in Gershwin research for years, along with those who come to Gershwin for the first time from interests in American music or popular music generally. Contributors include Wayne Shirley, Charles Hamm, Edward Jablonski, and Artis Wodehouse, who has transcribed most of Gershwin's piano performances. The issues in this collection touch on such important topics of research as biography, source studies, analysis, and reception, and reflect the diversity of scholarship and thought regarding the Gershwins.