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Gershwin: Summertime (p.366) Context George Gershwin became famous in the 1920s and 30s as a composer of songs for musicals and films. He did not want to be pigeonholed as a popular composer, though, and also wrote concert pieces, such as Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and a Piano Concerto, which are all heavily influenced by jazz and the musical vocabulary of popular music. His one opera, Porgy and Bess, appeared in 1935 and is set in a black community in one of the southern states. The subject and casting is very unusual for the time and has not really been repeated in any well known opera. Text The song Summertime is a lullaby sung by Clara to her baby, painting an idealised picture of life, since the characters on Catfish Row, where the opera is set, are all poor and an’ the livin’ ain’t easy for any of them. Structure Simple strophic song with an introduction. Verse 1 begins at the end of b.7 and finishes in b.24: verse 2 repeats the melody, with minor alterations and a richer accompaniment, starting in b.25. Melody Four x 4 bar phrases in the pattern A Ai A B in each verse. The A phrases fall gently from the initial high F sharp, whilst the B phrase rises up to the top note and falls back to the tonic. Fairly small melodic range of an octave (F sharp to F sharp), apart from the unwritten high B, which is usually put in by singers on the last note of verse 2. Largely based on a pentatonic scale (B D E F sharp A) with the C sharps at the end of the second phrase the only note outside the scale. The pentatonic scale reflects the influence of folk music on Gershwin’s melody. Note the written out swing quavers (b.9) and the syncopations (b.15-6) which come from jazz. Harmony & tonality B minor, but tinged with jazz-influenced blue notes (the F naturals in b.1 are flattened 5ths). The E natural in b. 14/32 (accompaniment RH) is a flat 3rd set against the major 3rd in the LH – it is basically the same idea as the false relations found in Dowland’s song, but here the e natural is a blue note. Occasional whole tone scale passages add colour – the rising melody in b.19 – a sound which comes from European art music (cf. Debussy, for example). There is a fair amount of chromaticism in the accompaniment (b.12 & 20, for example) which comes from concert music and popular music of the 20s and 30s. The chords often have added 6ths (b.8-11), 7ths (b.12 & 13) and 9ths (b.25) common in the popular songs of the day, but also found in Fauré’s song. Note the circle of fifths progression at the end of the song (b.41-4), also frequently found in popular songs and used by Fauré. The accompaniment Orchestra – the score in the Anthology is a reduction for piano. Languid and slow moving, with portamenti between the chords (not notated) in b. 8-10. The orchestral textures get a bit more complex and mobile each time the singer ends a phrase on a long note, carrying the music forward to the next section. Warm string-based textures, but with wind instruments (and the bells) to add colour; name the wind instruments in the following bars:1-2 3-4 19 22 The second verse is enriched by the added wordless voices and the high violin countermelody, whilst the solo line is doubled by an oboe. Question Compare and contrast the composers’ approach to harmony, melody and accompaniment in Fauré’s Après un rêve and Gershwin’s Summertime.