Concerto in F

Composer: GERSHWIN, George
  • Gershwin wrote this concerto during the summer of 1925. It had been commissioned by Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra in the wake of the success of Rhapsody in Blue in 1924.1
  • Rhapsody in Blue had been orchestrated by Ferde Grofé, an arranger for Paul Whiteman (whose orchestra premiered the work). Gershwin orchestrated the Concerto in F himself, to demonstrate that he was a serious composer. He was so concerned to get it right that before the concerto’s premiere, he hired an orchestra to read through his score privately, so that he could hear how his orchestration sounded.2
  • The Concerto in F had its public premiere on December 3, 1925, at Carnegie Hall. Gershwin played the piano solo and Walter Damrosch conducted the New York Symphony Orchestra.3
  • Along with Rhapsody in Blue, the Concerto in F became an important repertoire piece for Gershwin, which he performed with orchestras across the USA.4

Sources

  1. Richard Crawford and Wayne J. Schneider, “Gershwin, George,” Grove Music Online (October 16, 2013), accessed March 2, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002252861.
  2. Ibid.
  3. “Concerto in F,” gershwin.com, accessed March 1, 2021, http://gershwin.com/publications/concerto-in-f/. 
  4. Crawford and Schneider, “Gershwin, George,” Grove Music Online.

Cut IDs

41681 46148 14945 15752 19280 22632 22477