Description:

Gershwin George 1898 - 1937 George Gershwin TLS written same year he composed "Porgy and Bess"

Single page TLS on stationary stock with George Gershwin's personal letterhead, 8.25" x 10.5". Dated,13 January 1934, signed by George Gershwin as "G. Gershwin". Page lightly toned, expected folds with one neat 1/2" intact tear along fold, else near fine.


A wonderful TLS, alluding to Gershwin's upcoming tour of the Eastern half of the United States along with the Leo Reisman Orchestra. Gershwin was reflective on his emerging fame and had just signed a contract with the Theatre Guild to write the opera Porgy and Bess. The tour enabled Gershwin to assess his stance in the greater American landscape and take the pulse of his reception by critics and audiences across the country. His letter written to "Udo" noted "I have been tied up at rehearsals for my tour ... I am leaving today on the tour which you know all about - say a little prayer for me each night" By 1934, the issue of Gershwin as Great American Composer, the contested boundaries of popular and classical music, and the definition of jazz had been hashed out over the last decade by the press of the urban East, but Gershwin discovered these topics still burned in the nation's heartland. The concert program, Gershwin interviews, photo-ops, and publicity stunts reveal a composer forming what one might today call the "Gershwin brand": the legacy of a composer of not only commercially successful songs and shows but of enduring classical masterworks of American music.

After returning to New York City, Gershwin completed Porgy and Bess with Ira and the author DuBose Heyward. Porgy and Bess contains some of Gershwin's most sophisticated music, including a fugue, a passacaglia, the use of atonality, polytonality, polyrhythm and a tone row. Released in the middle of the Great depression, it became a box office failure, however the musical has since been recognized as one of the greatest musical and theatrical compositions of the 20th Century.

In 1937, only a few years later, Gershwin passed away at the age of 38, as such signed letters by him are quite scarce. Although Gershwin's career was short lived, his legacy was significant. Gershwin's compositions have been adapted for use in many films and for television, and several became jazz standards recorded in many variations. Many celebrated singers and musicians have covered his songs. His estate continued to collect significant royalties from licensing the copyrights on his work and in 2005, The UK Guardian newspaper determined using "estimates of earnings accrued in a composer's lifetime" that George Gershwin was the wealthiest composer of all time.

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