We are pleased to share Manny’s Musings, a preview of the program notes for our upcoming concert. Enjoy these notes, and buy tickets for the concert to hear these pieces played just for you!
An American in Paris
George Gershwin
By the time George Gershwin (1898–1937) set foot on his second and longer excursion to Paris in 1928, he was already a household name. Imagine: in the span of a decade, he had gone from a teenage song plugger in Tin Pan Alley to one of the most celebrated composers in America and he was not yet 30. Broadway successes, popular songs being whistled by young men as they walked down city streets, and the groundbreaking Rhapsody in Blue had made him famous on both sides of the Atlantic. But fame didn’t quiet his passion. Gershwin wanted to grow, to refine his craft so that he could better understand the musical world beyond New York.
Paris had fascinated him for years as it still does today for many. Gershwin had visited Paris briefly in 1925, hoping to study with Maurice Ravel, whose harmonic language and orchestrations he admired. Ravel declined, knowing that the best thing he could do for the young composer is to let him be himself. That stayed with him. It wasn’t a rejection so much as a reminder that his musical voice was already distinct and worth cultivating on its own terms.
By 1928, Gershwin returned to Paris as an artist seeking inspiration. He arrived after completing work on the musical Rosalie, eager and very ready for a change of scenery. Paris offered exactly what he needed: a city alive with modernism, jazz, café culture, and a kind of cosmopolitan energy that matched his own. He spent his days walking the boulevards, visiting museums, meeting artists, and absorbing the sounds of the city — the traffic, the street vendors, the rhythms of daily life.
As it happened with the Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin once again responded to the call of a commission, only this time, it came from no less than the venerated New York Philharmonic, the orchestra of Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini. The idea of writing a piece about a visiting American came naturally. Gershwin was living that experience in real time, and he understood how a city could shape a traveler’s emotions — excitement, curiosity, loneliness, delight. An American in Paris grew out of those impressions. It was to be a musical portrait of a young American encountering Europe with open ears and an open heart.
The work, An American in Paris, is one of the most vivid orchestral scores of its era, full of color, humor, and unmistakable personality. Gershwin’s work resulted in a piece that feels both worldly and unmistakably American. As this whirlwind of music comes to its close, it is our desire to make you feel as though you have traveled to Paris, whether for the first time or as part of series of jaunts to the city of lights, love,and an awful lot of taxi horns!
The rest of the Musings for “American Journey” are posted on the Bloomington Symphony website. Join us in person on Sunday, October 11 at 2 p.m. at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Bloomington. This concert includes William Schuman’s “Chester” from New England Triptych, and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Tickets will be available at the door, but we encourage you to buy in advance to save money and reduce your wait!