{"id":98,"date":"2015-01-16T19:41:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T19:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/program_note\/american-paris\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T17:11:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T17:11:02","slug":"american-paris","status":"publish","type":"program_note","link":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/program_note\/american-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"An American in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> After the rousing success of <em>Rhapsody in Blue <\/em>Gershwin\u2019s financial security was assured; he moved his family to a spacious apartment in a fashionable section of the Upper West Side, and began to not only collect art, but began to paint, himself.&nbsp; He established his place in the smart set of New York society\u2014no party was complete without George at the piano surrounded by his admirers, as well as the usual social butterflies.&nbsp; Oh, to have been a \u201cfly on the wall\u201d for those affairs!&nbsp; He continued to compose for the musical theatre, but began in earnest serious composition lessons, as well\u2014and with some distinguished composers, including Wallingford Riegger and Henry Cowell.<\/p>\n<p> In the early Spring of 1928 through the month of June, he and his family traveled to Europe, where he met many of the most distinguished composers of the time:&nbsp; Ravel, Berg, Prokofiev, Milhaud, Poulenc, and others.&nbsp;&nbsp; By then he had composed his Concerto in F, which he heard, along with the <em>Rhapsody in Blue, <\/em>at a concert given in his honor.&nbsp; He evidently was anticipating details of the composition of a tone poem about Paris, for he dug around in Parisian garages and brought home with him used taxi horns that were used in the premi\u00e8re performance.&nbsp; That took place on 13 December 1928, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic.&nbsp; The eminent music critic and composer, Deems Taylor, and Gershwin had been in Paris at the same time, and had met at several parties in the city.&nbsp; Later, in the fall, they went over the completed score and collaborated to create a detailed program or story for Gershwin\u2019s inspiration.&nbsp; The program is too long to repeat here in its entirety, but it may be paraphrased somewhat like this:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"rteindent4 rtejustify\">&#8220;In early summer an American is walking down the Champs-Elys\u00e9es, enjoying the sounds of the city, including taxi horns, passing by a caf\u00e9 and hearing a tune from the old century in the trombones.&nbsp; He continues walking with a new theme in the clarinet.&nbsp;&nbsp; Yet a new walking theme takes him across the Seine to the Left Bank, where perhaps a whiff of anise muddles him a bit (accompanied by the little cadenza in the solo violin\u2014the attentive listener here may think of Debussy, and the composer more or less acknowledged it.).&nbsp; Our hero becomes a bit homesick, and we hear the blues, but as he sinks lower he is rescued by the Charleston, announced by a pair of trumpets.&nbsp; Various previous tunes are recapped, as the American obviously decides to enjoy Paris, and the \u201corchestra, in a riotous finale decides to make a night of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2015 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[49],"class_list":["post-98","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-georgegershwin"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}