George Gershwin, Before Rhapsody in Blue

George Gershwin went from dropping out of school at 15, to working as a song plugger, to recording piano rolls, to creating music that would come to define the sound of Jazz Age New York.

Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in 1898 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents who had settled in New York. Around age 11, his parents brought home a piano intended for his older brother, Ira. Instead, George surprised his family with a natural talent for the piano. A few years later, he began studying with pianist and composer Charles Hambitzer, who quickly recognized something special in his young student. Hambitzer wrote to his sister, “I have a new pupil who will make his mark if anybody will… the boy is a genius….” He was right.

At 15, Gershwin left school and took a job as a song plugger in New York’s Tin Pan Alley. Song pluggers spent their days at the piano performing new tunes for prospective customers, helping publishers sell sheet music. Gershwin soon began arranging and recording music for player-piano rolls while also picking up work accompanying singers and as a rehearsal pianist. All of this helped build his reputation as one of New York’s most talented pianists.

In 1919, La-La-Lucille! opened with music by the 20-year-old Gershwin. It was the first Broadway musical to feature a score entirely by him, and his career was taking off. Five years later, bandleader Paul Whiteman announced an ambitious concert called An Experiment in Modern Music. Among the works promised to the audience was a new jazz-inspired composition by George Gershwin.

There was only one problem: Gershwin hadn’t written it yet.

Stay tuned for the next week’s Beyond the Notes as we explore the frantic weeks that gave us Rhapsody in Blue. Until then, hear Gershwin for yourself when Olympia Symphony opens our season on October 11 with Rhapsody in Blue.