Gershwin Anniversary

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 933, 28 June 1957, Page 4

Gershwin Anniversary

WENTY years ago-on July 11, 1937 -George Gershwin died at the age of 38. To mark the anniversary, Theatre of Music on Saturday, July 6, will present George and Ira Gershwin, from the YAs, 3YZ and 4YZ, a programme which will be repeated on the National Programme on July 14. George Gershwin believed all his life in the value of jazz as the folk music of America, a folk music which could become the basis of serious symphonic works of lasting value. His musical education was not thorough, but he absorbed and used techniques which he met, and he worked insatiably to increase his musical knowledge. He wrote popular songs with the techniques and approaches of serious music, with unorthodox and complex accompaniments which were ah integral part of the songs. His larger works used the striking melodies and rhythms of the popular song. In Porgy and Bess, the first Amerian

folk opera, Gershwin successfully combined Negro folk music and popular jazz with the orchestral and choral techniques of serious music. : George Gershwin was gregarious and he liked his work. His brother Ira is a quiet self-contained person, a_ perfectionist who hates working at all. His lyrics complemented George’s music perfectly, and although he usually wrote with the melody set, a chorus or open- © ing line of his would often spark off the melody. Ira had tried other occupations before George’s success in popular music tempted him into the field as a lyric writer. Since George’s death he has worked with other musicians, inclu: ing Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, and Harold Arlen for A Star is Born and A Country Girl. In the programme listeners are to hear Ira Gershwin will sing some of his lyrics, and George will be heard playing some of his music.