An Analysis Of George Gershwin s An American Folk Opera

â€Å"An American Folk Opera.† George Gershwin’s most successful piece of expansive musical drama was subtitled with this term that no musician or critic had applied to a work of musical drama before the 1935 premiere of Porgy and Bess. Much has been written about the work’s subtitle; its literal meaning, its evolution, and its implications for a changing cultural landscape. Porgy and Bess was the last in a triptych of literature and theater surrounding the character of Porgy, a crippled beggar living in Charleston’s semi-fictitious Catfish Row. Porgy, the 1925 novel written by white author DuBose Heyward, was â€Å"the original.† The novel received mixed reviews; white critics praised Heyward’s vivid descriptions of â€Å"the life of the Negro† while†¦show more content†¦Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, â€Å"From the New World† was based upon â€Å"spirituals and plantation song from the South.† Bartok’s Ten Easy Pieces for piano were heavily influenced by â€Å"folk melody [that was] a kind of inspirational motto to be developed.† Gershwin understood there to be a need for a truly American voice in music, comparable to those of the great nationalist European composers, recognizing that â€Å"The only kinds of music which endure are those which possess form in the universal sense and folk music. All else dies.† Similar to Dvorak in his ninth symphony, the idiom that Gershwin employed for his opera was that of the Negro spiritual and folk song. Before composing Porgy and Bess, Gershwin made a trek down to Charleston, South Carolina and some of its outlying island communities with the purpose of studying â€Å"rural African American† culture. It was there that he became immersed in the music of that community and it was there that he garnered his inspiration for the opera’s score. Again harkening to the traditions of the European masters, Gershwin decided against the note-for-note transcription of the songs he had heard, but rather used them as inspiration for a continuous musical narrative of folk-inspired themes. Thus, we arrive at the term â€Å"folk opera.† Gershwin’s use of African American folk material in the composition of an opera gave rise to the literal terminologyShow MoreRelatedAnalysis of the Music Industry30024 Words   |  121 Pagesjazz and world music). In mainstream music, recording and marketing are now dominated by just four `majors worldwide, one of which is the UK s own giant record company, EMI Group PLC. The other majors are Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, based in the US, and Sony BMG, a Japanese/German joint venture only created in 2004. One of EMI s major strengths is its historic catalogue of recordings — and copyrights — which includes The Beatles and many other enduring acts of the last century