1924. The year Jazz crashed Classical Music’s party - Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin (Ep.16)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2023
- George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue captured the spirit of American culture and art in the early 20th century - Exuberant, restless innovation, and a healthy disregard for the rulebook.
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MUSIC CREDITS:
Composer: George Gershwin
Work: Rhapsody in Blue
Performer: Earl Wild, Boston Pops Orchestra
Conductor: Arthur Fiedler
Year: 1995 (recorded 1959)
Label: RCA
Catalogue No: G010001717197S
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Clarinetist be like, "Hey George, look what I can do."
And George be like, "Dude, ALWAYS do it that way!"
Pretty much. Ross Gorman's opening gliss was a sort of trade mark of his.
Hi! I just revisited this video to comment that TODAY, February 12 2024, Rhapsody in Blue turns 100 years old! 🎉🎉🎉
I love imagining the moment with the clarinetist:
"Watch this, *does sarcastc jazz*"
George: "WAIT THATS PERFECT"
Must have been a mind-blowing experience for the audience. Completely unique for its period.
Completely unique for any period. ❤
One of my favorites! His ‘American in Paris’ is also a really good symphony in the same style.
American in Paris so good
@@ClassicsExplained Where's Respighi's Pines of Rome?
@@ClassicsExplained are you gonna do Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Ravel’s Bolero, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Smetana’s Bartered Bride, Saint Saens’ Carnival of the Animals, and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony?
I love American in Paris, the movie with Gene Kelly too.
I love that piece next to the rhapsody! George Gershwin was my first jazz great.
It warms my music snob soul to see a nearly 100 yr old song still relevant today. Genius!
Me too! Thanks for the watch!
It's still relevant because some called it a "bridge" between classical music and modern popular music.
Not "nearly" any more, man. Since precisely today.
I owe Fantasia 2000 to introduce me to this mazing piece, such beauty and originality.
I love this channel so much, keep the good work!
I love Fantasia 2000, one of the best things that about that Rhapsody in Blue sequence, is that they showed an animated Gershwin, sadly Disney didn't make another Fantasia cause I've heard Walt Disney planned different Fantasias throughout the ages😥
It was an animated sequence set in NYC...
...to a musical piece that evokes NYC...
...composed by someone from NYC...
...and drawn in the style of an artist who was famous for his Broadway caricatures for the New York Times (Al Hirschfeld).
[That segment warmed the cockles of my NYC-lovin' heart!]
🗽🍎🎼🎹❤️
Me too!! Just watched it this morning.
Just look at the footage played for the 1984 Olympics' opening ceremony. You'll have to see for yourself the footage of what I'll call "the flying man".
Thanks so much for your support - many more to come :)
7:47 - Narrator: "Rhapsody in Blue was received with tumultuous applause..."
Animator: Shows everybody other than the first row bored to death 😂
What a great explanation of the history of the Rhapsody In Blue. I found out things I never knew about it (and I'm 70 years old).
Rhapsody In Blue is my second favourite piece of ‘classical’ music! The first being Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5, and the third being Pachelbel’s Canon in D.
I hadn't thought about it, but mine is maybe Peter and the Wolf...
Damn. You had with the first two, but … Canon in D is exhausting drudgery. Alternatives: Rachmaninov 2nd or 3rd piano concerto, Tchaikovsky’s 1st piano concerto, or Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.
@@dormilon36you’re wrong, and they are right. In other words, you are in the wrong, and they are in the right. They may prefer whatever music they like, and you may butt out. To you, it seems, the piece is untenable; however, that piece is renowned for a reason. Two of my close friends were brought to the piano by that piece, and now play excellently.
How dare you tell them they were “off” on their fondness of that piece - are you really so lacking in empathy that you cannot understand different people have different tastes and preferences? Shame on you and your elitism. Think about your wording and perhaps the feelings of other people next time, please.
These videos have no business being this good.
Can we all take a moment to appreciate how soon they made a new video? 3 months is not bad at all, considering all the researching and animating they had to do.
Thank you for noticing Morgan! We are trying our best to get episodes out at a faster clip. Plenty more in the pipeline too.
I love Gershwin. Such lilting animated music.
Being 25 years old and only taking a band class in elementary school I never felt any love for classical music. That is until I was watching an anime called "Nodame Cantabile" this played an important part in a music festival where Gershin's piano was played on a melodica. Anyways I played the song afterwards on my phone and it was the first orchestral song I genuinely felt something in. Also keep it up with your channel, its a shame you only have 52 thousand subs.
Great to hear this - thanks for the comment. We hope to grow :)
Mesmerizing 😊✨🌟⭐💫🌠🌌🛡️🏆🎹🖖🍿🧈🥰🌐🧬
Ferde Grofè contributed so much to the popularity of the piece, he should get part credit.
Couldn't agree more!
Maybe you could do Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite” next.
I really love Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite". I remember playing the trumpet in a band arrangement of it. The percussion section had to use a wind machine in the part that depicts a thunderstorm.
Love your series! Hope to watch more of these videos soon as they are extremely enjoyable. Many young children all enjoy the story-like portrayal where it is easily understandable, entertaining and informative. These videos certainly contribute to the classical world a lot, thank you!
Couldn’t agree more! Genius!!!!
Love this - thanks SO much. Understandable, entertaining and informative is absolutely what we are going for!!! Keep loving classical music ! :)
@@ClassicsExplained are you gonna do Pastoral Symphony, Bolero, Bartered Bride, Roman Triolligy, Barber of Seville, Four Seasons, La Boheme, and Song of the Night?
This was so well explained, proves that jazz and classical music are not such polar opposites, I love Gershwin and his Rhapsody in Blue, it really encapsulates the american musical fashions of early 20th century and the american way of life at that time, jazz, blues, ragtime, tim pan alley, Broadway, New York, the roaring 20s, big bands, everything I've seen depicted in old Hollywood movies, maybe it's because I'm a young old fashion guy and that's why I like it so much, keep doing these works, it's so entertaining and kids could also learn from this, what a good way to introduce classical music😉😎👍🎼🎵🎶🎹🎺🥁
Love this comment - great observations. That's all the aim! Will hope to keep it up and thanks for the support :)
Fantasia 2000 featured this along with Respighi's Pines of Rome which premired ten months after Gershwin's Rhapsody. Rachmaninov made another famous rhapsody, only its darker, quoates Dies Irae, and is on theme of Paganini.
Can’t wait! You often introduce me to all time favourites!
We hope you enjoy it. And thank you for watching!
I played in the orchestra for rhapsody in blue and it is genuinely one of the most fun and entertaining pieces I have played
100 years ago...this week.
Thank you Classsics Explained ❤
Great video! I have been looking into the works of Gershwin after he wrote Rhapsody in Blue and I would like to add some details in this comment.
Right after Rhapsody in Blue was composed, Gershwin was commissioned to write a full 3 movement piano concerto, despite Gershwin not knowing anything about orchestration as mentioned in this video. Gershwin decided to dive head-first into learning about orchestration and color. For a little over a year, he was gathering any material that he saw about orchestration. After that, he got to composing the Concerto in F. The Concerto in F was successful, with Rachmaninoff also listening to it live. The Concerto in F also garnered more fame for Gershwin, especially among other composers in Europe.
Gershwin even wrote a Second Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra in 1931. Although, the Second Rhapsody is rarely performed compared to the Concerto in F let alone Rhapsody in Blue. If you like Rhapsody in Blue, the Concerto in F you may like even more so.
Thanks!
Yes Gershwin went off to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger and Ravel. And personally I actually prefer the piano concerto - much underrated innovative piece which has a great segment given to it in Minelli’s American in Paris. Thanks for the support
@@ClassicsExplained Indeed! Also you're welcome for the support. I have been enjoying this channel for a few years now :)
@@ClassicsExplained Speaking of Paris, do you like Ravel’s Bolero and Saint Seans’ Carnival of the Animals? And can you make a Ravel episode about Bolero, a Saint Seans episode about The Carnival of the Animals, a Smetana episode about The Bartered Bride, a Rossini episode about The Barber of Seville, a Rhespeghi episode about Pines of Rome, and a Beethoven episode about Pastoral Symphony?
I've heard the Concerto in F, love it, the trumpet solo in the second movement is something Louis Armstrong could have played it (at least Benny Goodman played the solo clarinet for Rhapsody in Blue at a Toscanini NBC concert). Second Rhapsody is even more underrated, I read that it took themes from an early talkie film in which Gershwin was working for.
@@meganlewis2377He’s done Carnival of the Animals.
3:52 0. Glissando
4:16 1. Ritornello
4:55 2. Train
5:06 3. Stride
5:34 4. Shuffle
6:46 5. Love Theme aka the Big Tune
The Love Theme is commonly referred to as, "The Big Tune."
Music has always been very important to me and my life. So much so, that shortly after my wife was pregnant for the first time, it occurred to me that I was about to be able to control what was the first music a human being would hear.
This awesome responsibility gave me pause for awhile. I hemmed and hawed over what music to play for awhile. I went back and forth between orchestral to rock to metal to pop to classical to modern. I spent months thinking about this.
Finally, I thought about the piece of music that was the gateway from classical to modern music and one of my all time favorite pieces, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
I have three kids now, and for all three of them, it’s the first music they ever heard. Outside of the womb of course. We listened to music before then. One of them had strong reactions to Foreigner.
My oldest’s reaction was the most satisfying. We had a Bluetooth speaker that they all heard it through. I was holding him in my lap looking at my son with the speaker to the side. He was looking around at the world, but that first clarinet note sounded and his 18 hour old neck whipped his head to the side so he could stare at that speaker like he was thinking, “what is that noise?”
He stared at the speaker for the entire piece. He didn’t make a sound and he was listening. That first big hit of the main theme happened and he jumped.
The instruments faded out at the end and he turned away from the speaker to do whatever he was doing. But for that 8 1/2 minutes, that song was his whole world.
His siblings didn’t really react to it at all. Though they did later display their own preference for music. One loved instrumental metal and Beethoven’s symphonies (only Beethoven and only his symphonies and he knew if it wasn’t) and the other loved Carol King.
I'm glad my Mom introduced me to music this way, she played cd's with music of Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt I think, etc... of course there were some varied old pop songs too, the thing is that I ended up learning more about classical music than her and I even went to a music institution, glad to live in Venezuela where music education is highly regarded, there are lot of music colleges, all linked to a Network founded by Maestro José Antonio Abreu, the conductor Gustavo Dudamel came from here and now he is internationally famous, he's the only venezuelan to have a star in the Hollywood walk of fame.
My absolute favorite music. It does require a long hand spread to play it well. For that reason, no pianist I personally knew could ever play the whole piece.
It's also the jumps on the left hand that are quite challenging. The Cuban bit is quite fiddly too!
One of my favorite classical tracks! I always think of this as the United Airlines jingle.
Yep! Thanks for the support :)
I appreciate the amount of blood, sweat and tears you put into these episodes. Stellar! 🥰
Wow!!! We LOVE this comment - thanks so much
I don’t know why I can understand the life of the contemporary Manhattan in this rhapsody. Gershwin is definitely a genius.
Thank youuuu!!!!❤❤❤❤❤ That appeared in fantasia 2000. I grew with this movie and you made this dream true!!!!! 👏👏👏👏👏🥰🥰🥰🥰
Such a sweet comment - thanks for your support :)
So happy you’re still doing this! Here are some of my suggestions:
The Life and Work of Franz Liszt
Beethoven’s Eroica
Sibelius Finlandia
Brandenburg Concertos
Liszt’s Lés Preludes is full of meaning and depth, that would be a very cool piece for them to do!
And Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
Thanks so much for your support and suggestion!
My mother, piano professor at George Pepperdine College, had the original 78. Nothing quite like it!
Yep - brilliant stuff!
I LOVE THIS SERIES, I CAN'T WAIT you should try something of Schubert, maybe its unfinished
Thanks SO much for your support and the great suggestions
It's about time. One of my nostalgic favorites from Fantasia 2000
Same goes for Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.
@@TristanMA And the Firebird Suite
Absolutely perfect video. I was transfixed the entire time. Excellent script. Excellent pacing. Excellent art
Wow! This comment is massively appreciated thank you for all your support :)
Dang, I'm so excited to know you're releasing this soon. Congrats on getting to a good release schedule.
I’ve quite enjoyed the animation style of the past two videos. They made Gershwin look kinda cute :3
Thanks so much - we like to play around with different styles and see what works :)
Hurrah! I was worried you had stopped making these. Bravo!
Never! We just needed a bit more time and money to get production back up and running again
Excellent presentation of how this music came to be. Thank You. Subscribing.
YOU’RE BACK!! after 2 years, no less…
Glad to be back! Check out our Elgar Enigma Variations from a few montsh back too
These remind me so much of old youtube animation. I love it 😃
1924 was also the premiere of Leos Janácek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen”.
Finally! An update! Thx Classics explained!
Request: Can you do Schubert’s Erlkonig/ Gretchen am Spinnrade next?❤cuz they are two of my favourite songs by Schubert
From a classical musician
Or they should go through the Winterreise Cycle!! ❤
Or Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
@@Rgoid Yes!!!
@@Hailey_Paige_1937 hell yes
or turandot perhaps
Awesome! Keep up the good work! I share your videos with all of my friends to show them how meaningful, beautiful, and fun classical music can be.
Absolutely loved this video! Just discovered this piece through your guys’ video actually. Just a heads up, in the end credits, you gave credit of Rhapsody in Blue to Edward Elgar 10:22
Thanks SO much for this lovely comment! Yes, we've deleted the mistake now :)
2:55 aka “Whistler’s Mother”
BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!
Rhapsody in Blue is one of my favourite pieces! Can't wait for the video!
Imagine living in NYC from the 1880s to the 1930s. To me that would have been the coolest time to be alive. (Assuming I had the capacity to understand the magnitude of the events.)
Amazing comment - I couldn't agree more. Highpoint of culture
I hope we see Aaron Copeland in the future. Hopefully with the Rodeo Ballet showcased.
What a brilliant suggestion - Rodeo is fantastic. I've just been listening to the Clarinet Concerto too
one of my personal favorite classical pieces of all time glad you covered it!
Love this piece. Especially when it’s featured in Disney’s Fantasia 2000.
This is WONDERFUL.
Thank you!
This reminds me of the animated show "The Critic."
*Thanks for the Content!*
thanks
Thank you! I din't ever think about the Rhapsody, just listened it. Relisten it after your explanation makes a huge difference. And the animation is sick as always
Thanks so much for this - glad you enjoyed :)
He did it again!!! Great video! Genius mastermind. I love this channel so much
Best comment! Thanks so much!
@@ClassicsExplained ❤️❤️❤️
Wow! I almost started clapping at the end of the clip. I am at the office now, would have been tremendously weird :D
Thanks for this video! Great stuff!
Loved this, especially all the background info on its composition. But why was Ira reading the paper all the time?
Thanks so much!
I remember trying to listen to the lieve for the first time and being totally lost and unable to follow the complex themes
This will really help try to listen to the piece again
Love your videos!!!!!
R.I.P George Gershwin and Paul Whiteman... no video ive ever came threw ever mentioned these guys and their complicated history of the Paul whitemen concert 1924
the cuban complex part is like gottschalk music
Excited for the new video! These are always so entertaining.
Thanks so much - hope you enjoyed :)
Fantastic content as always!
Just studied RinB with my music students!
I love these videos! You should totally make one for chopin!
Thank you SO much!
What a great suggestion - a composer we've not yet touched on (and one dear to my heart as a pianist!)
@@ClassicsExplained no problem at all! 😁
I loved it, thank you so much and well done!
Thank you for these videos!! ❤
Thank you for the support :)
My favorite composition ever. I've seen Aeolian Hall across the street from the NYPL, and always imagine the moment people, especially the classical AND innovative composers who heard it for the very first time nearly a century ago.
What a fantastic video!! Thank you!!!
Thanks so much :)
This was the most excellent video I've seen about music this year. You are a wonderful creator.
Thank you so much!
So hyped!! I love all of your videos!
Thanks so much for your support :)
Thoroughly enjoyed this backstory of Gershwin's landmark composition. Well done on a great job telling it!
Thank you so much for this video please do more of them they are perfect !
Thank YOU for the dsupport - we certainly will
Another great video that I hope to use next year when teaching about Gershwin!
Thanks! Glad you enjoeyd
I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS Classics Explained. THANK YOU.
Thanks so much for your support :))
omg Im so happy you posted a video!! I'd watch them all day
Love this comment! Thanks so much for the support - many to come
6:20 Adorable 😻🎹🎼
Thank you thank you, today is a rough day and this... just what I needed!!
Thanks so much - hope this was the best antidote!
Your videos have made me completely addicted to the stories and history around classical music. It’s so enjoyable to learn about it in general, but it’s even better with your videos!
Thanks so much for this - that's the aim and we are glad you enjoyed
Great work as usual, I love your channel!! I would love to see you do more videos on certain operas.
Thanks so much for the support and your suggestion! :)
@@ClassicsExplained thank you for taking the time to reply to my little comment!! Apart from operas, I also highly suggest you take on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Ferde Grofé also provided two additional orchestrations, in 1926 and 1942; it’s the one from ‘42 that’s most familiar to audiences. 🎶🎹❤️
Yep! Maybe I will produce a video going into the finer points of this. Grofe should be a bigger name - he doesn't quite get the credit he should for the amazing job he did
i always learn so much about some of my favorite songs through these videos keep up the good work bro
Thanks so much for the support :)
Huzzah! The king has returned! Also, I would like a video explaining Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes
Thanks for your support! Britten is a super suggestion too
9:19 Between this and beloved New York icons like Bethesda fountain in Central Park (also originally lambasted), it makes you wonder what critics ever get right. A good reminder to any and all creatives out there... just remember, they ain't called _praisers._
I love your channel❤
Heh, minor pedantic quibble, but I'm pretty sure Edward Elgar didn't compose Rhapsody in Blue... (check your end credits). Loved the episode, BTW. Moar please!
Good spotting, thank you! We're working to fix that.
Puccini's Turandot and Sibelius' Tapiola came from the same period as Pines of Rome and Rhapsody in Blue.
Wow!!! That was outstanding.
Lovely comment - thanks for the support :)
I grew up studying the Western classical tradition on piano. Late into middle school and all throughout high school, I started to take a liking to jazz, however, I never ended up learning to be proficient on jazz piano. Instead, I picked up other instruments like saxophone and bass and became proficient in jazz with those instruments. Towards the end of high school, my private piano teacher wanted me to pick a concerto to study, and brought up the idea of Rhapsody in Blue, an idea she was not a big fan of.
One pandemic and a few semesters later in college, I finally performed Rhapsody in Blue with my university's wind ensemble. Clarinet was my first wind instrument, and I always toyed around with that opening, so hearing it live was really special to me. Such a beautiful piece with such strong themes and so many cultural influences all built on the foundation of what I've been studying since I was younger. Another thing I find special about this piece is that the performer can mix and mold this piece to their liking! I've seen so many different versions of this piece, whether it's omitting different sections, adding different ornaments or ways of playing different lines, or even completely improvising the middle solo piano section, as Wayne Marshall does with the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France.
Thanks so much for all of this - brilliant tale and great observations :))
Love this! Here for the Gersh-vibes 🔥🔥
Thanks!
Bravo! Brilliant!
Thanks so much for your support :)
LISTEN TO THE ROAR OF THE CROWD! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
This piece is just awesome!
Glad to see this back!
Glad to have your support!
May you please do Shostakovich’s 11th symphony, “The year 1905”? I think the piece is spectacular! 😄
Brilliant suggestion! Thanks. A lot of Shosty recommendations! :)
Cool
Thanks for your support :)
BEAUTIFUL animation and story!! I honestly believe that Gershwin's lack of Formal training has led him to break all the rules! But the beautiful thing about gershwin, is that he broke the rules in such an original way that he created a whole new era of music that would later on inspire modern music for decades to come! thank you for your masterpiece classics explained!
Liquid Tension Experiment 3 BRAVO!
My favorite Gershwin song.
:)
The original score was, of course, for a large dance band of the time, not the orchestral version we hear on the soundtrack. You can hear the piece in full in an early film, King of Jazz, featuring the Whiteman band, available on TH-cam. Whiteman's contract with Gershwin gave Whiteman the right to perform his own arrangement of the piece, which Gershwin naturally resented. I suspect that, once the piece took off, Gershwin had as little do with Whiteman as possible. The clarinetist who "invented" the famous opening glissando was named Ross Gorman.
Yep - true, all of that. Great that the original jazz band versions have been recorded too. Always nuggets of interest surfacing
Finally a new piece!!!!
Thanks so much! Check out our Elgar Enigma Variations too from a few months back