Ira Gershwin
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| Ira Gershwin | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 6 1896 New York City |
Ira Gershwin (6 December 1896 – 17 August 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century.
With George he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as "I Got Rhythm," "Embraceable You," "The Man I Love" and "Someone to Watch Over Me," and the opera Porgy and Bess.
The success the brothers had with their collaborative works has often overshadowed the creative role that Ira played. However, his mastery of songwriting continued after the early death of George; and he wrote further hit songs with composers Jerome Kern ("Long Ago (And Far Away)", Kurt Weill and Harold Arlen.
His critically-acclaimed book Lyrics on Several Occasions of 1959, an amalgam of autobiography and annotated anthology, is an important source for studying the art of the lyricist in the golden age of American popular song.
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[edit] Biography
Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershowitz) was reportedly shy as a young boy and spent most of his time at home reading. However, from grammar school through college he played a prominent part in several school newspapers and magazines. He graduated from Townsend Harris High School where he met Yip Harburg. While his younger brother began composing and “plugging” in Tin Pan Alley from the age of sixteen, Ira worked as a cashier in his father’s Turkish baths. It was not until 1921 that Ira became involved in the music business. Alex Aarons signed Ira to write the music for his next show, Two Little Girls in Blue, with Vincent Youmans. His lyrics were well received and allowed him to successfully enter the theatre world with just one show.
It wasn’t until 1924 that Ira and George teamed up to write the music for their first Broadway hit, Lady, Be Good! Once the brothers joined together, their combined talents became one of the most influential forces in the history of American Musical Theatre. Together, they wrote the music for over twelve shows and four films. Some of their more famous works include “The Man I Love”, “Fascinating Rhythm”, “Someone to Watch Over Me”, “I Got Rhythm” “Summertime” and “They Can't Take That Away from Me”. Their partnership continued up until George’s sudden death from a brain tumor in 1937.
Following his brother’s death, Ira waited nearly three years before writing again. After this interlude, he teamed up with such accomplished composers as Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, and Harold Arlen. Over the next fourteen years, Ira continued to write the lyrics for many film scores and a few Broadway shows.
Ira died on August 17, 1983, and is now interred in the Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Together, the Gershwin siblings left behind a legacy that would help shape American Musical Theatre. Solely, Ira played a huge part in bringing about a new type of song lyric: a smart, witty, vernacular style that the common man could relate to and enjoy.
American singer, pianist, musical historian Michael Feinstein worked for Ira in the lyricist's latter years, helping him with his archive. Several lost musical treasures were unearthed during this period and Feinstein performed some of the material.
[edit] Legacy
The music of George and Ira Gershwin runs deep in the American consciousness. The opening clarinet glissando from Rhapsody in Blue, the taxi horn theme from An American in Paris and the songs — "I Got Rhythm," "Embraceable You," "The Man I Love," "Someone to Watch Over Me," "Fascinating Rhythm," and many others — are instantly recognizable.
Ira Gershwin was a joyous listener to the sounds of the modern world. He noted in a diary: "Heard in a day: An elevator's purr, telephone's ring, telephone's buzz, a baby's moans, a shout of delight, a screech from a `flat wheel,' hoarse honks, a hoarse voice, a tinkle, a match scratch on sandpaper, a deep resounding boom of dynamiting in the impending subway, iron hooks on the gutter."
[edit] Further reading
- Ira Gerswhin - Lyrics on Several Occasions: a selection of stage and screen lyrics written for sundry situations and now arranged in arbitrary categories, to which have been added many informative annotations and disquistions on their why and wherefore, their whom-for, their how, and matters associative (1959)
[edit] References
- Rosenberg, Deena (1991). Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. Penguin Books USA Inc.. ISBN 0-525-93356-5.
[edit] External links
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Categories: 1896 births | 1983 deaths | Pulitzer Priza winners | Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners | American Theatre Hall of Fame inductees | Congressional Gold Medal recipients | Jewish American musicians | Jewish classical musicians | Jewish composers and songwriters | Musical theatre librettists | Musical theatre lyricists | Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees | Hollywood Walk of Fame | City University of New York people | Burials at Westchester Hills Cemetery
