George Gershwin - by Howard Pollack (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Filled with new and revelatory information, Howard Pollack's fascinating and meticulous book is the closest anyone has come to capturing the essence of Gershwin's life and work"--Michael Feinstein, Grammy Nominated Singer-Songwriter
"The scholarship and breadth of coverage are remarkable. This outstanding work should become the first port of call for any future study of Gershwin's life and works."--Andrew Lamb, author of "150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre" and "Leslie Stuart, Composer of Florodora"
"Brilliantly researched. Howard Pollack has written the most comprehensive survey of Gershwin's music."--Robert Kimball, editor, "The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin"

Book Synopsis

This comprehensive biography of George Gershwin (1898-1937) unravels the myths surrounding one of America's most celebrated composers and establishes the enduring value of his music. Gershwin created some of the most beloved music of the twentieth century and, along with Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter, helped make the golden age of Broadway golden. Howard Pollack draws from a wealth of sketches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, books, articles, recordings, films, and other materials--including a large cache of Gershwin scores discovered in a Warner Brothers warehouse in 1982--to create an expansive chronicle of Gershwin's meteoric rise to fame. He also traces Gershwin's powerful presence that, even today, extends from Broadway, jazz clubs, and film scores to symphony halls and opera houses.

Pollack's lively narrative describes Gershwin's family, childhood, and education; his early career as a pianist; his friendships and romantic life; his relation to various musical trends; his writings on music; his working methods; and his tragic death at the age of 38. Unlike Kern, Berlin, and Porter, who mostly worked within the confines of Broadway and Hollywood, Gershwin actively sought to cross the boundaries between high and low, and wrote works that crossed over into a realm where art music, jazz, and Broadway met and merged. The author surveys Gershwin's entire oeuvre, from his first surviving compositions to the melodies that his brother and principal collaborator, Ira Gershwin, lyricized after his death. Pollack concludes with an exploration of the performances and critical reception of Gershwin's music over the years, from his time to ours.

From the Back Cover

"Filled with new and revelatory information, Howard Pollack's fascinating and meticulous book is the closest anyone has come to capturing the essence of Gershwin's life and work"--Michael Feinstein, Grammy Nominated Singer-Songwriter

"The scholarship and breadth of coverage are remarkable. This outstanding work should become the first port of call for any future study of Gershwin's life and works."--Andrew Lamb, author of 150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre and Leslie Stuart, Composer of Florodora

"Brilliantly researched. Howard Pollack has written the most comprehensive survey of Gershwin's music."--Robert Kimball, editor, The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin

Review Quotes

"'George Gershwin' captures many glints of how Gershwin's chutzpah, the sheer brazenness of his aspirations, produced musical gold."-- "Boston Globe"

"An impressive new biography. . . . With George Gershwin: His Life and Work, Pollack emerges as the leading chronicler of important 20th-century American classical-music figures."-- "Houston Chronicle"

"Authoritative, exhaustive and bang-up-to-date, this is a modern classic."-- "Classic FM Magazine"

"Decades after his death, the music of George Gershwin remains as ubiquitous as it was during his brief but prolific lifetime. And, as Pollack's exhaustively researched and endlessly fascinating book demonstrates, there is still plenty to say about it. . . . It is hard to imagine even the casual fan not having fun at least thumbing through it. And it is equally hard to imagine that anyone will write a more thorough study of Gershwin's music anytime soon, if ever--or that anyone will feel the need to, now that Howard Pollack has had his say."-- "New York Times"

"Music buffs will undoubtedly find this formidable presentation to be most enlightening and interesting . . . Pollack is to be congratulated for his significant contribution to understanding George Gershwin."-- "Jewish Post & Opinion"

"Offers jewel-like images of the protean composer burning off his excess energy . . . [including] big, glorious chapters on masterworks like 'Rhapsody in Blue' and 'Porgy and Bess.'"-- "New Yorker"

"Pollack . . . has examined his subject's accomplishment's and reputation with admirable industry and thoughtfulness, and has raised the important questions about Gershwin's rightful standing in the American pantheon."-- "American Prospect"

"Pollack examines many of the composer's films, recordings, and critical writings; he provides, for each of Gershwin's shows, a synopsis of the story, details about the cast, and other aspects of its first production. With 51 black-and-white photographs, this engaging biography is also a tour de force of scholarship."-- "Booklist"

"Pollack has the advantage of perspective and new materials discovered in a warehouse in 1982. . . . [He] treats Gershwin as primarily a composer for the theater and therefore focuses on the many forms theater music may assume. There are synopses of the stories for each of Gershwin's shows, many of which cannot be found elsewhere. The depth of detail and research into Gershwin's works (more than 100 pages of endnotes) makes this an essential purchase for all libraries and one of the best books available on Gershwin."-- "Library Journal"

"Pollack offers a look at Gershwin so exhaustive and comprehensive that it stands as a definitive statement. . . . Scholarly yet entertaining . . . Gershwin's innovative synthesis of classical, blues and jazz into a 'glorious body of work' is illuminated by Pollack's insightful analysis."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Pollack presents a fresh stance on the legendary composer in a monumental biography. . . . A fascinating narrative of Gershwin's life. . . . Pollack's meticulous penchant for detail is evident throughout the biography, making it not only a definitive source for musicologists and scholars, but also a reference tool for general readers and music lovers curious about Gershwin and the American musical landscape in the early decades of the twentieth century."-- "Opera Journal"

"Pollack's Gershwin promises to reach a wide readership . . . Musicologists and students can look to the book as a model of meticulously researched and lucidly written musical biography, and the works section as a useful starting point for more in-depth research on specific pieces."-- "Institute for Studies in American Music"

"The writing on his [Gershwin's] music is invaluable. . . . This is some of the best musical analysis you're likely to find anywhere."-- "Toronto Globe & Mail"

"This thick and heavy tome may appear forbidding at first, especially to the nonscholar who just wants to know the important stuff, but Gershwin's output was greater than anything that can be written about it, and Pollack has here created the ultimate guide."-- "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"

"Who'd have guessed that a scholarly, in-depth biography of a long-dead, faintly enigmatic musician would be such a gripping read? Howard Pollack hits every note of Gershwin's brief existence with facts, anecdotes and speculations, seeking inspirational sources for his early work. The result is a meticulous, frank look at a gifted celebrity of the 1920s and '30s, and the ways in which developing technology, from printed sheet music to Pianolas to radio, affected Gershwin's life and music. The level of detail is breathtaking. . . . Pollack's writing style resembles Gershwin's music. It's tightly wrought, witty and gets straight to the point."-- "Charleston Post & Courier"

About the Author

Howard Pollack is John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Music at the University of Houston. Among his books are Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man and John Alden Carpenter: A Chicago Composer.