
Oddly, he was rejected: they felt further study would be counterproductive to his already well formed style. Parisĭuring the mid-1920s, Gershwin resolved to polish his writing skills and moved to Paris to study composition with Nadia Boulange and Marice Ravel. Not one to coast on talent alone, Gershwin studied classical piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark and Henry Cowell. After this success he teamed up with his brother Ira Gershwin and other lyricists, producing a steady stream of hit Broadway theatre songs like Embraceable You, I Got Rhythm and Fascinating Rhythm. He was busy composing on his time off and, in 1919, wrote his first hit song, Swanee, with lyrics by Irving Caesar. Song pluggers demonstrate piano arrangements of popular songs in department stores in order to sell sheet music. In 1914, George dropped out of high school to work for a Tin Pan Alley music publishing company as a song plugger. George Gershwin (originally Jacob Gershwine) was born to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898.

George Gershwin (1935) | Library of Congress

Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935). The American composer and pianist, George Gershwin (1898-1937) wrote music that merged American Jazz, Blues and Tin Pan Alley with classical music. Music In The 20th Century Early 20th Century America | George Gershwin Peter The Modern Era | Music in Early Twentieth Century America | George Gershwin 1
