- So he commissioned a new work by a 25-year-old Jewish-American upstart named George Gershwin.
- Gershwin’s contribution to the program, “Rhapsody in Blue,” would go on to exceed anyone’s wildest expectations, becoming one of the best-known works of the 20th century.
- But more and more scholars are starting to see the work as a whitewashed version of Harlem’s vibrant Black music scene.
A cobbled-together hit
Whiteman commissioned Gershwin to write “Rhapsody” sometime in late 1923. But as the story goes, the composer forgot about his assignment until he read about the upcoming concert in a newspaper on Jan. 4, 1924. Gershwin had to work quickly, writing as time allowed in his busy schedule. Manuscript evidence suggests that he only worked on the piece a total of 10 days over the span of several weeks.
- Despite being quickly cobbled together, “Rhapsody in Blue” ultimately sold hundreds of thousands of records and copies of sheet music.
- But success also opened up the piece to criticism – particularly that Gershwin had appropriated Black music.
Black musicians feel snubbed
- Even back then, some Black artists were miffed.
- But rather than calling it out in print, they did so through their own art.
- It’s hard not to see the subtext of introducing Gershwin’s famous piece at this moment: Just as Jimmy has robbed Bessie, the film suggests that Gershwin had pilfered jazz from the Black community.
- Johnson demonstrates how a Black musician would approach the rhapsody genre.
Stuck in the middle with ‘Blue’
- “Rhapsody in Blue” and other classical-jazz hybrid works like it would soon become known as “middlebrow” music.
- This fraught term emerges from the space between the so-called “lowbrow” and “highbrow,” descriptors that locate works of art on a scale from pedestrian to intellectual.
- But highbrow music could also conveniently elevate lowbrow music by borrowing – or rather, appropriating – musical elements such as rhythm and harmony.
- Merging the two, the low gets to the middle.
Ryan Raul Bañagale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
