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Meredith McLaurin Gershwinfan.com. George and Ira Gershwin The Gershwin Brothers: George and Ira Music has served as a storyteller for the ages. As it matures, it is a reflection for those who lived during the era, and it is also a glimpse into the past for those who are listening to the tunes second-hand. Few composers can so poignantly describe the feelings and styles that were happening around them at the time of their compositions. The Gershwin brothers can be considered as one of those few composers. George Gershwin, working solitarily as well as in collaboration with his brother Ira, was responsible for composing many of America’s finest popular songs as well as orchestral compositions. While they each individually established their own strong solo careers, together they will be eternally remembered as the songwriting team whose music helped to define the Jazz Age. Tunes like Rhapsody in Blue, I Got Rhythm, Someone to Watch Over Me, Of Thee I Sing, along with a long list of others—can be instantly recognized. With George’s rhythmic chords and toe-tapping songs combined with Ira’s humorous and poignant lyrics, it seems as though the Jazz Age is as present as it was when the tunes were first composed. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1898 to Russian-Jewish Immigrants, Jacob Gershowitz would get an early start at becoming the famous composer George Gershwin. At age thirteen, he began his musical training and at age fifteen, dropped out of high school to work as a “song plugger”. Within three years, his first song was published. Although that first achievement, a tune titled “When You Want ‘Em You Can’t Get ‘Em, When You’ve Got ‘Em You Don’t Want ‘Em”, stirred little buzz, George had little to worry about. His next tune written in 1919 that he’d call “Swanee”, was the song that kick-started his career. Born just two years before his brother George in 1896, Israel Gershowitz would one day mark his place in the word as Ira, one-half of the famous Gershwin brothers. Unlike George, Ira graduated high school and went on to attend the College of the City of New York. It was there that Ira began showing what seemed to be a lifetime interest in witty verses and made contributions to newspaper columnists that consisted of humorous quatrains. In 1918 he hesitantly began to collaborate with his famous brother, but gave himself the pseudonym Arthur Francis, a combination of the first names from his brother and sister. After penning plays and songs under this name for a few years, Ira felt ready to fully collaborate with George while using keeping the Gershwin name. When the brothers first teamed up in 1924, the results were nothing less than magical. They produced two dozen scores for both Broadway and Hollywood. Perhaps their greatest achievement was turning musical comedy into an American art form. They won the Pulitzer Prize for their political satire Of Thee I Sing. They also helped to raise popular music theater to a new level of classiness. Their opera, Porgy and Bess is revived and shown in opera houses and theaters worldwide. Simultaneous with the brother’s music theater and film success, George gained great recognition and acclaim as a piano expert, conductor, and composer. Ira’s lyrics may have been icing on the cake for the Gershwin brother tunes, but it was George’s genius composing skills that set the foundation for the brother’s success. When examining the popular tune I’ve Got Rhythm, it can be observed that George used variations of the same tune introduced within the first four measures throughout the entire piece. The beginning of the song involves the simple melody paired with a difficult rhythm pattern that is heard throughout. As the song progresses, the same pattern and chords are arranged to be played with other simultaneous melodies that give the tune new variations while concurrently letting the melody be heard as the main voice. To best understand his methods, listen to the recordings of George Gershwin Performing Gershwin in rare Recordings from 1931-1935. These recordings are only of George playing his compositions and do not include Ira’s lyrics. George died an untimely death from a brain tumor in 1937. Today his compositions are performed more than they were during his short-lived 39 years of life. Ira died peacefully in 1983, and even after his brother George’s stunning death he continued to wok on the Gershwin legacy of songs, shows, concert works, and film scores. He added footnotes to all of the resources that concerned the careers of his brother and himself before giving them to the Library of Congress so the works could become a piece of our national heritage. In 1985 the United States Congress acknowledged this legacy by presenting the Congressional Gold Medal to George and Ira Gershwin, the third time in our nation’s history that songwriters had received such honors. Bibliography: Pinwheel Productions. “The Official George and Ira Gershwin Web site”. 07 May 2005. http://www.gershwin.com/ Recordings: “Gershwin Performs Gershwin: Rare Recordings 1931-1935”.