The Collaboration of Fascinating George and Ira Gershwin

A music historian closely examines how Ira and George Gershwin intertwined music, lyrics, and drama in more than seven hundred songs that have become symbols of Americana

The enduring appeal of the music of George and Ira Gershwin has spawned several biographies of the talented brothers who created more than 700 popular songs before George's untimely death at age 39 in 1937--Ira died in 1983 at age 87. But never before has the collaboration itself been the subject of such intelligent and fruitful scrutiny as in this intriguing study. Rosenberg, chair of the musical theater program of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, has a gift for making scholarly points in accessible, albeit mundane language. Readers require no particular musical background in order to enjoy and respond to her original theories about the connections between George's music and Ira's lyrics. Points of comparison are frequently illustrated with side-by-side measures of music, and the striking thematic relationships between such songs as Embraceable You and The Man I Love are also compared dramatically to George's orchestral composition, including the well-known Rhapsody in Blue. This is a rich feast for music historians, musicians and connoisseurs of musical theater as well as inveterate hummers who like a Gershwin tune. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A music historian with a fine interpretive ear for both music and language examines the collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin- -in what is not a biography but rather a nontechnical study of how the Gershwins' music, lyrics, and sense of drama are interrelated. With the help of in-depth interviews with Ira Gershwin, Rosenberg (Music Theater Program/NYU; The Brothers Gershwin, 1989- -not reviewed; coauthor, The Music Makers, 1978) traces the creative development of the major Gershwin songs and shows. After a short discussion of the brothers' upbringing and exceedingly different temperaments (``We never had much in common as kids,'' Ira recalled. ``I was always home reading...[George] would get into street fights and come home with black eyes''), she launches into a wide-ranging discussion of Rhapsody in Blue and ``The Man I Love,'' the breakthrough song in which the Gershwins first discovered their ``ability to make a song intrinsically dramatic.'' Next comes an examination of Lady, Be Good; here, Rosenberg cites one major reason why the brothers---especially at first---were so different from other collaborators: In the early days of musical comedy, stars were chosen and songs composed before the ``book'' (i.e., plotline, dialogue) was written, a separatist approach very much against the symbiotic Gershwin instinct. Other chapters study such shows as Oh, Kay! and Girl Crazy and explain such pivotal details as how George's ``blue'' notes affect the meaning of Ira's words. The chapter on Porgy and Bess is especially interesting. ``Above all,'' writes Rosenberg, ``Porgy and Bess is suffused with two [Gershwin] characteristics....The first is a depiction of deep loneliness....The second...is an appreciation of a diverse national character.'' Though at times too detailed for the general reader, Rosenberg's straightforward prose is a pleasure. Intriguing and insightful, casting new light on the Gershwin genius. (Black-and-white photographs; score samples.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

This is a splendid examination of the musical-lyrical output of the Gershwin brothers by consummate interviewer Rosenberg ( The Brothers Gershwin: Their Lives & Work Together , Macmillan, 1989), who had the full cooperation of Ira in its preparation. Both a chronological history and an accessible technical explanation of the songs with simplified musical notation, the book is "Oh, Kay!" for nonmusicians. If "It Ain't Necessarily So," however, that two songs ending fa-mi-re-do indicate a peculiarly Gershwinesque style, "Who Cares?" Readers whose "Love for the Gershwins Is Here To Stay" will be grateful for the explanation of blue notes, the explication of the many songs generated from "Rhapsody in Blue," and the glimpses into the early stage careers of the likes of Gertrude Lawrence, the Astaire siblings, and Ethel * Merman. Buy it, read it, and "Clap Yo' Hands!"-- Bonnie Jo Dopp, Dist . of Co* lumbia P.L.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.