Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess, title page
Porgy and Bess, interior page
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Ira Gershwin (1896-1983)
DuBose Heyward (1885-1940)
Holograph full score, 1934-35
Music Division
|
Porgy and Bess, an opera written by George Gershwin (1898-1937)
in collaboration with DuBose Heyward (1885-1940) and Gershwin's
brother Ira (1896-1983), is the one American opera to become fully
established in the international opera repertory as well as in the
popular musical imagination. Its tunes have become standards for
jazz improvisation, and the lullaby "Summertime" has by now achieved
the status of a folk song.
Porgy and Bess is based on DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy and
on the 1927 Broadway play of the same name by DuBose and Dorothy
Heyward. Gershwin sketched the opera in 1934 and prepared the orchestra
score (its opening page shown here) from September 1934 to September
1935.
The manuscript score-sketch of Porgy and Bess and the full orchestral-vocal
score were given to the Library by Rose Gershwin, George and Ira
Gershwin's mother, to whom George gave the manuscripts of all his
major concert works after having them elegantly bound.
The Library's Gershwin Collection also includes considerable manuscript
music for the Gershwin stage musicals and material from their late
songs for Hollywood musicals, with artfully crafted piano accompaniments
in Gershwin's own hand.
|