Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. The composition was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé three times, in 1924, in 1926, and finally in 1942. The piece received its premiere in a concert entitled An Experiment in Modern Music, which was held on February 12, 1924 , in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band with Gershwin playing the piano. The editors of the Cambridge Music Handbooks opined that "The Rhapsody in Blue (1924) established Gershwin's reputation as a serious composer and has since become one of the most popular of all American concert works."
Whether or not Rhapsody in Blue is "jazz" remains a much-debated topic. It should be noted that Whiteman styled himself "The King of Jazz". This appellation, applied to Whiteman's band of all-white musicians playing from written arrangements, would be questioned today, but in the 1920s, the word jazz was used loosely to cover a broad range of contemporary popular music.
Gilbert Seldes, in his book The Seven Lively Arts, was one of the first books to treat popular culture in a serious way, and "jazz" was starting to be seen as a significant American contribution to musical culture. Whiteman undertook to present what for the most part was an ordinary set of dance-band numbers in a concert hall under the trappings of high culture.Due to Whiteman’s advertisement of the concert at Aeolian Hall, and the orchestration for primarily wind instruments, the audience was predisposed to listen to the piece as a jazz work. Critics have voiced widely varying opinions on where Rhapsody fits into the jazz canon. Thirty years after its premiere, William Grossman and Jack Farrell denounced the entire Aeolian concert, including Rhapsody in Blue, saying the "clumsily syncopated 'jazz' was gradually replaced with ponderous pseudosymphonic harmonies played over dance rhythms, culminating in the concert rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, one of the most ludicrous of the popular attempts during the 1920s to merge jazz and 'serious' music". But critic Deems Taylor voiced the opinion that the Rhapsody was "genuine jazz music, not only in its scoring but in its idiom", and Henry Osgood claimed that Gershwin was able to "take the elements of jazz and employ them with a distinct degree of success in forms of composition higher and larger than popular songs and musical comedy".
Gershwin had agreed that Ferde Grofé, Whiteman's pianist and chief arranger, was the key figure in enabling the piece to be successful, and critics have praised the orchestral colour. Grofé confirmed in 1938 that Gershwin did not have sufficient knowledge of orchestration in 1924. After the premiere, Grofé took the score and made new orchestrations in 1926 and 1942, each time for larger orchestras. Up until 1976, when Michael Tilson Thomas recorded the original jazz band version for the very first time, the 1942 version was the arrangement usually performed and recorded.
The 1924 orchestration for Whiteman's band of 24 musicians (plus violins) calls for the following orchestra: woodwinds (5 players): flute, oboe, clarinet in E-flat, clarinet in B-flat, alto clarinet in E-flat, bass clarinet in B-flat, heckelphone, sopranino saxophone in E-flat, soprano saxophone in B-flat, alto saxophone in E-flat, tenor saxophone in B-flat, baritone saxophonein E-flat; brass: 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 flugelhorns, euphonium, 3 trombones, tuba; percussion: Drums, timpani, trap set; Keyboards: 2 pianos, celesta, accordion; strings: banjo, violinsand string basses. Many musicians, especially the reeds, played two or more instruments; the reed "doublings" were especially calculated to take advantage of the full panoply of instruments available in that section of Whiteman's band. Indeed, Grofé's familiarity with the Whiteman band's strengths are a key factor in the scoring. This original version, with its unique instrumental requirements, had lain dormant until its revival in reconstructions beginning in the mid-1980s, owing to the popularity and serviceability of the later scorings, described below.
The 1926 orchestration, rarely heard today, is an adaptation of the original for a "pit" orchestra, which includes a single flute, oboe and bassoon, two horns, two trumpets and one trombone, as well as the same percussion and strings complement as the later 1942 version.
The 1942 orchestration for full symphony orchestra is scored for solo piano and the following orchestra: woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B-flat and A, bass clarinet, 2bassoons, 2 alto saxophones in E-flat, tenor saxophone in B-flat; brass: 3 horns in F, 3 trumpets in B-flat, 3 trombones, tuba; percussion: timpani, crash cymbal, snare drum, bass drum, gong, triangle, bells and cymbals; strings: banjo, first and second violins, violas, violoncellos and double basses.
The prominence of the saxophones in the later orchestrations is somewhat reduced, and the banjo part can be dispensed with, as its mainly rhythmic contribution is provided by the inner strings.
Gershwin also made versions of the piece for piano as well as two pianos.
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