Due to his lack of expertise in orchestration, the American composer George Gershwin had his Rhapsody in Blue orchestrated and arranged by Ferde Grofé.

The clarinet gesture that opens Rhapsody in Blue could likewise be thought of either way: it was originally planned as a glissando ( Gershwin's score labels each individual note ) but is in practice played as a portamento though described as a glissando.

George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue broke new musical ground by combining American jazz piano with symphonic sounds.

Whiteman was perhaps best known for having premiered George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in New York in 1924, and the orchestrator of that piece, Ferde Grofé, continued to be an important part of the band in 1928.

* Dave Brubeck dedicated " The Duke " ( 1954 ) to Ellington and it became a standard covered by others, both during Ellington's lifetime ( such as by Miles Davis on Miles Ahead, 1957 ) and posthumously ( such as George Shearing on I Hear a Rhapsody: Live at the Blue Note, 1992 ).

For instance, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was never featured in the Follies, and the number " Pretty Girl " was written for the 1919 Follies, not the first edition of the revue, as shown in the film.

* Maurice Ravel is played as a " bit role " by actor Oscar Loraine in the 1945 Gershwin film biography Rhapsody in Blue.

The film opens with a montage of images of Manhattan accompanied by George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

He gives her a slight smile segueing into final shots of the skyline with some bars of Rhapsody in Blue playing again.

** Rhapsody in Blue

At about age two, Brian heard George Gershwin's " Rhapsody in Blue ", which had an enormous emotional impact on him.

Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin's jazz-influenced " Rhapsody In Blue ".

Whiteman recorded many jazz and pop standards during his career, including " Wang Wang Blues ", " Mississippi Mud ", " Rhapsody in Blue ", " Wonderful One ", " Hot Lips ", " Mississippi Suite ", and " Grand Canyon Suite ".

In 1924 Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which was premiered by Whiteman's orchestra with George Gershwin at the piano.

Leonard Bernstein conducted the orchestra, and also played the piano solos, in Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

Cover of the original sheet music of the two-piano version of Rhapsody in Blue.

The editors of the Cambridge Music Handbooks opined that " The Rhapsody in Blue ( 1924 ) established Gershwin's reputation as a serious composer and has since become one of the most popular of all American concert works.

Since there were only five weeks left, Gershwin hastily set about composing a piece, and on the train journey to Boston, the ideas of Rhapsody in Blue came to his mind.

The title Rhapsody in Blue was suggested by Ira Gershwin after his visit to a gallery exhibition of James McNeill Whistler paintings, which bear titles such as Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket and Arrangement in Grey and Black ( better known as Whistler's Mother ).

Rhapsody in Blue premiered in an afternoon concert on February 12, 1924, held by Paul Whiteman and his band Palais Royal Orchestra, entitled An Experiment in Modern Music, which took place in Aeolian Hall in New York City.

People in the audience were losing their patience, until the clarinet glissando that opened Rhapsody in Blue was heard.

Whiteman later adopted the piece as his band's theme song, and opened his radio programs with the slogan " Everything new but the Rhapsody in Blue.

Your Rhapsody in Blue is not a real composition in the sense that whatever happens in it must seem inevitable.

And it's still the Rhapsody in Blue.

All but one, the " Rhapsody in Lament for Gentleman who do not Meet their Time " ( 士不遇賦 ) have been lost, and even the surviving example is probably not complete.

The album also featured the hit single " Bohemian Rhapsody ", which was number one in the UK for nine weeks and is the third-best-selling single of all time in the UK, surpassed only by Band Aid's " Do They Know It's Christmas?

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is widely considered to be structured similarly to a piano concerto.

" Bohemian Rhapsody " by Queen is unusual as it is a pastiche in both senses of the word, as there are many distinct styles imitated in the song, all ' hodge-podged ' together to create one piece of music.

There is also a memorable scene at the Hollywood Bowl, where Sinatra sings " I Fall in Love Too Easily ", after Iturbi and a group of young pianists have performed an arrangement of Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

Also in 1975, the band Queen ordered Bruce Gowers to make a promo video for their new single " Bohemian Rhapsody " to show it in Top Of The Pops ; this is also notable for being entirely shot and edited on videotape.

It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer – I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise ... And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end.

As he did not write out the piano part until after the performance, it is unknown exactly how the original Rhapsody sounded.

The Rhapsody is not a composition at all.

Whether or not Rhapsody in Blue is " jazz " remains a much-debated topic.

Paul Whiteman asked Gershwin to write a " jazz concerto " which became the Rhapsody in Blue ; like a concerto, the piece is written for solo piano with orchestra: a rhapsody differs from a concerto in that it features one extended movement instead of separate movements.

Rhapsodies often incorporate passages of an improvisatory nature ( although written out in a score ), and are irregular in form, with heightened contrasts and emotional exuberance ; Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is typical in that it certainly has large contrasts in musical texture, style, and color.

The opening of Rhapsody in Blue is written as a clarinet trill followed by a legato 17-note rising diatonic scale.

The harmonic structure of Rhapsody is more difficult to analyse.

The Rhapsody ’ s tempos vary widely, and there is an almost extreme use of rubato in many places throughout.

The clearest influence of jazz is the use of blue notes, and the exploration of their half-step relationship plays a key role in the Rhapsody.

Gershwin's intent to eventually do an orchestration of his own is documented in 1936-37 correspondence from publisher Harms (" reissuance of the The Rhapsody in Blue re-scored by yourself for large symphony orchestra ").

Although Gershwin himself spoke of the rhapsody as " a musical kaleidoscope of America ", Rhapsody in Blue has often been interpreted as a musical portrait of New York City ; it is used to this effect in the films Manhattan and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, as well as extensively in this context in a segment from the film Fantasia 2000, in which the piece is used as the lyrical framing for a stylized animation set drawn in the style of famed illustrator Al Hirschfeld, to critical acclaim.