Rhapsody in Blue

The names of George Gershwin (1898–1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) are synonymous across the globe with American musical creativity. The Gershwin family estates, their publishers, and the University of Michigan have joined forces to produce The George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition—the first-ever scholarly edition of the Gershwins’ music and lyrics.

This all-new practical edition facilitates both study and performance, giving a wide audience of musicians, scholars, students, and enthusiasts alike greater insight into the Gershwins’ art. The goal is to create clear and definitive publications that achieve the most accurate representations possible of the Gershwin brothers’ unique and pioneering creativity. 

This all-new critical edition of the original 1924 arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue presents an authoritative transcription of arranger Ferde Grofé’s handwritten holograph score preserved in the collection of the United States Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The edition represents as best as possible the piece as premiered by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at his "Experiment in Modern Music" concert on February 12, 1924. Grofé prepared the score for the specific talents and timbres of the Whiteman Orchestra, largely from an ink fair copy of Gershwin’s two-piano short-score manuscript. Gershwin continued to modify the piano solo portion of this short score during rehearsals and, most likely, even after the premiere of the piece.