George Gershwin – composer (b. September 26, 1898 – d. July 11, 1937)
was an American composer and pianist whose work brought together several musical worlds that had previously been treated as separate: Broadway and the concert hall, popular song and symphonic composition, jazz and European concert music. During a career that lasted barely two decades, he became one of the most successful American composers of his generation. His music included songs that entered the standard repertoire of popular music, Broadway musicals, orchestral works, piano compositions, and the opera Porgy and Bess.
Gershwin was born Jacob Gershovitz on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York, the second son of Morris and Rose Gershovitz, Russian-Jewish immigrants who had settled in New York. His older brother Ira Gershwin, born Israel Gershovitz in 1896, would eventually become his principal lyricist. The family lived in New York's Lower East Side, and George grew up in an environment in which music was not initially expected to become his profession.
George's interest in the piano became apparent at an early age. According to the Gershwin family's own biographical account, he was not an especially studious child, and it surprised his family that he had been...
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