George Gershwin Net Worth, Bio

George Gershwin Net Worth

How rich is Jacob Gershowitz? For this question we spent 4 hours on research (Wikipedia, Youtube, we read books in libraries, etc) to review the post.

The main source of income: Musicians
Total Net Worth at the moment 2024 year – is about $72,5 Million.

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Biography

Jacob Gershowitz information Birth date: September 26, 1898, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States Death date: July 11, 1937, Los Angeles, California, United States Birth place: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA Height:5 10? (1.79 m) Profession:Soundtrack, Music Department, Composer Siblings:Ira Gershwin, Arthur Gershwin, Frances GershwinAwards:Grammy Hall of Fame Award Nominations:Academy Award for Best Original Song

Height, Weight:

How tall is George Gershwin – 1,62m.
How much weight is George Gershwin – 75kg

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Wiki

George Gershwin (/???r?.w?n/, September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin&#39, s compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928) as well as the opera Porgy and Bess (1935).Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark and Henry Cowell. He began his career as a song plugger, but soon started composing Broadway theatre works with his brother Ira Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, where he began to compose An American in Paris. After returning to New York City, he wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and the author DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, Porgy and Bess is now considered one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century. Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores until his death in 1937 from a brain tumor.Gershwin&#39, s compositions have been adapted for use in many films and for television, and several became jazz standards recorded in many variations. Many celebrated singers and musicians have covered his songs.
Biography,Early lifeGershwin was of Russian Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish descent. His grandfather, Jakov Gershowitz, had served for 25 years as a mechanic for the Imperial Russian Army to earn the right of free travel and residence as a Jew. He retired near Saint Petersburg. His teenage son, Moishe Gershowitz, worked as a leather cutter for womens shoes. Moishe met and fell in love with Roza Bruskina, the teenage daughter of a furrier, born in Vilnius. Bruskina moved with her family to New York due to fears of an increasing anti-Jewish sentiment in Russia, once re-settled, she Americanized her first name to Rose. Moishe, faced with compulsory military service in Russia, followed Rose as soon as he had the means to. Upon arrival in New York, Moishe Gershowitz used the first name Morris. Moishe (Morris) settled at first with a maternal uncle in Brooklyn: a tailor named Greenstein, where he worked as a foreman in a womens shoe factory. When Morris and Rose married on July 21, 1895, they were 23 and 19, respectively. At some time between 1893 and 1898, Moishe (Morris) Gershowitz changed his surname to Gershwine – even possibly at, or around, the time of his marriage to Roza.The first child to the new couple was Ira (given the name Israel), on December 6, 1896. It was about that time that Morris moved the family to Brooklyn, to a second-floor dwelling at 242 Snediker Avenue. George Gershwin was born at the new residence on September 26, 1898, his birth certificate bears the name Jacob Gershwine, with the surname being commonly pronounced Gersh-vin by the predominantly expatriate Russian and Yiddish community. George was named after his late grandfather (the Russian army mechanic). However, although the common American practice was to give children two names – a first and a middle name – he had no other name but George. Years later, George changed the spelling of his surname to Gershwin after he became a professional musician, subsequently, other members of his family followed suit.George and Ira lived in many different residences, as their father changed dwellings with each new enterprise with which he became involved. Mostly, the boys grew up around the Yiddish Theater District. They frequented the local Yiddish theaters, with George occasionally appearing onstage as an extra.After Ira and George, two more children were born to the family: Arthur (1900–1981), and Frances (1906–1999).George lived a usual childhood existence for children of New York tenements – running around with his boyhood friends, roller skating and misbehaving in the streets. Remarkably, he cared nothing for music until the age of ten, when he was intrigued by what he heard at his friend Maxie Rosenzweigs violin recital.[11] The sound, and the way his friend played, captured him. His parents had bought a piano for lessons for his older brother Ira, but to his parents surprise, and Iras relief, it was George who spent more time playing it.[12] Although his younger sister Frances Gershwin was the first in the family to make a living through her musical talents, she married young and devoted herself to being a mother and housewife – thus surrendering any serious time to musical endeavors. Frances, having given up her performing career, did however settle upon another art: painting, as a creative outlet. Painting had also been a hobby George briefly pursued. Arthur Gershwin followed in the paths of George and Ira, when he also became a composer of songs, musicals, and short piano works.With a degree of frustration, George tried various piano teachers for some two years, before finally being introduced to Charles Hambitzer by Jack Miller, the pianist in the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra. Until his death in 1918, Hambitzer remained Gershwins musical mentor and taught him conventional piano technique, introduced him to music of the European classical tradition, and encouraged him to attend orchestral concerts.[13] At home, following such concerts, young Gershwin would essentially try to play, at the piano, the music that he had heard – completely from recall, and without sheet music. As a matter of course, Gershwin later studied with the classical composer Rubin Goldmark and avant-garde composer-theorist Henry Cowell, thus formalizing his classical music training.Tin Pan AlleySwaneeAl Jolsons hit 1920 recording of George Gershwin and Irving Caesars 1919 Swanee.Problems playing this file? See media help.On leaving school at the age of 15, Gershwin found his first job as a song plugger for Jerome H. Remick and Company, a Detroit-based publishing firm with a branch office on New York Citys Tin Pan Alley, where he earned $15 a week. His first published song was When You Want Em, You Cant Get Em, When Youve Got Em, You Dont Want Em. It was published in 1916 when Gershwin was only 17 years old and earned him 50 cents. His 1917 novelty rag, Rialto Ripples, was a commercial success, and in 1919 he scored his first big national hit with his song, Swanee, with words by Irving Caesar. Al Jolson, a famous Broadway singer of the day, heard Gershwin perform Swanee at a party and decided to sing it in one of his shows.[14]In 1916, Gershwin started working for Aeolian Company and Standard Music Rolls in New York, recording and arranging. He produced dozens, if not hundreds, of rolls under his own and assumed names (pseudonyms attributed to Gershwin include Fred Murtha and Bert Wynn). He also recorded rolls of his own compositions for the Duo-Art and Welte-Mignon reproducing pianos. As well as recording piano rolls, Gershwin made a brief foray into vaudeville, accompanying both Nora Bayes and Louise Dresser on the piano.[15]In the late 1910s, Gershwin met songwriter and music director William Daly. The two collaborated on the Broadway musicals Piccadilly to Broadway (1920) and For Goodness Sake (1922), and jointly composed the score for Our Nell (1923). This was the beginning of a long friendship, Daly was a frequent arranger, orchestrator and conductor of Gershwins music, and Gershwin periodically turned to him for musical advice.[16]In the early 1920s, Gershwin frequently worked with the lyricist Buddy DeSylva. Together they created the experimental one-act jazz opera Blue Monday, set in Harlem. It is widely regarded as a forerunner to the groundbreaking Porgy and Bess. In 1924, George and Ira Gershwin collaborated on a stage musical comedy Lady Be Good, which included such future standards as Fascinating Rhythm and Oh, Lady Be Good!.[17] They followed this with Oh, Kay! (1926),[18] Funny Face (1927),[19] Strike Up the Band (1927 and 1930). Gershwin gave the song, with a modified title, to UCLA to be used as a football fight song, Strike Up The Band for UCLA.[20]The Gershwin brothers created Show Girl (1929),[21] Girl Crazy (1930),[22] which introduced the standards Embraceable You, debuted by Ginger Rogers, I Got Rhythm, and Of Thee I Sing (1931),[23] which was the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the winners were George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, and Ira Gershwin.[24]Europe and classical musicGeorge Gershwin, c. 1935.In 1924, Gershwin composed his first major classical work, Rhapsody in Blue, for orchestra and piano. It was orchestrated by Ferde Grofe and premiered by Paul Whitemans concert band in New York. It proved to be his most popular work.In the mid-1920s, Gershwin stayed in Paris for a short period of time, during which he applied to study composition with the noted Nadia Boulanger, who, along with several other prospective tutors such as Maurice Ravel, rejected him. They were afraid that rigorous classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style.[25] Maurice Ravels rejection letter to Gershwin told him, Why become a second-rate Ravel when youre already a first-rate Gershwin? While there, Gershwin wrote An American in Paris. This work received mixed reviews upon its first performance at Carnegie Hall on December 13, 1928, but it quickly became part of the standard repertoire in Europe and the United States.[26] Growing tired of the Parisian musical scene, Gershwin returned to the United States.In 1929, Gershwin was contracted by Fox Film Corporation to compose the score for the movie Delicious. Only two pieces were used in the final film, the five-minute Dream Sequence and the six-minute Manhattan Rhapsody, which in expanded form was later published as the Second Rhapsody. Gershwin became infuriated when the rest of the score was rejected by Fox Film Corporation, and it would be seven years before he worked in Hollywood again.OperaGershwins first opera, Blue Monday, is a short one-act opera which was not a financial success and has received only limited performances. Gershwins most ambitious composition was Porgy and Bess (1935). Gershwin called it a folk opera, and it is now widely regarded as one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century. From the very beginning, it was considered another American classic by the composer of Rhapsody in Blue—even if critics couldnt quite figure out how to evaluate it. Was it opera, or was it simply an ambitious Broadway musical? It crossed the barriers, says theater historian Robert Kimball. It wasnt a musical work per se, and it wasnt a drama per se – it elicited response from both music and drama critics. But the work has sort of always been outside category.[27]Based on the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, the action takes place in the fictional, colored neighborhood of Catfish Row, Charleston, South Carolina. With the exception of several minor speaking roles, all of the characters are African-American. The music combines elements of popular music of the day, with a strong influence of African-American music, of the period, with techniques typical of opera, such as recitative, through-composition and an extensive system of leitmotifs. Porgy and Bess contains some of Gershwins most sophisticated music, including a fugue, a passacaglia, the use of atonality, polytonality and polyrhythm, and a tone row. Even the set numbers (of which Summertime, I Got Plenty o Nuttin and It Aint Necessarily So are well known examples) are some of the most refined and ingenious of Gershwins compositions. For the performances, Gershwin collaborated with Eva Jessye, whom he picked as the musical director. One of the outstanding musical alumnae of Western University in Kansas, she had created her own choir in New York and performed widely with them. The work was first performed in 1935, it was a box-office failure in the middle of the Great Depression. The musical has since been recognized as one of the greatest musical and theatrical compositions of the 20th Century.Last yearsAfter the commercial failure of Porgy and Bess, Gershwin moved to Hollywood, California. He was commissioned by RKO Pictures in 1936 to write the music for the film Shall We Dance, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Gershwins extended score, which would marry ballet with jazz in a new way, runs over an hour in length. It took Gershwin several months to compose and orchestrate.Gershwin had a ten-year affair with composer Kay Swift, whom he frequently consulted about his music. The two never married, although she eventually divorced her husband James Warburg in order to commit to the relationship. Swifts granddaughter, Katharine Weber, has suggested that the pair were not married because Georges mother Rose was unhappy that Kay Swift wasnt Jewish.[28] Oh, Kay was named for her.[29] After Gershwins death, Swift arranged some of his music, transcribed several of his recordings, and collaborated with his brother Ira on several projects.[30]Illness and deathEarly in 1937, Gershwin began to complain of blinding headaches and a recurring impression that he smelled burning rubber. On February 11, 1937, Gershwin performed his Piano Concerto in F in a special concert of his music with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the direction of French maestro Pierre Monteux.[31] Gershwin, normally a superb pianist in his own compositions, suffered coordination problems and blackouts during the performance. He was at the time living with his brother Ira, and Iras wife Leonore in a rented house in Beverly Hills while they worked on other Hollywood film projects. Leonore Gershwin began to be disturbed by Georges mood swings and his seeming inability to eat without spilling food at the dinner table. She suspected the onset of mental illness and she insisted he be moved out of their house to lyricist Yip Harburgs empty quarters nearby, where he was placed in the care of his valet, Paul Mueller. The headaches and olfactory hallucinations continued, and on June 23, after an incident in which Gershwin tried to push Mueller out of the car in which they were riding, Gershwin was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles for observation. Tests showed no physical cause and he was released on the 26th with a diagnosis of likely hysteria. His troubles with coordination and mental acuity worsened, and on the night of July 9, Gershwin collapsed in Harburgs house, where he had been working on the score of The Goldwyn Follies. He was rushed back to Cedars of Lebanon,[32] where he fell into a coma. Only at that point did it become obvious to his doctors that he was suffering from a brain tumor. Leonore called Georges close friend Emil Mosbacher and explained the dire need to find a neurosurgeon. Mosbacher immediately called pioneering neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing in Boston, who, retired for several years by then, recommended Dr. Walter Dandy, who was on a boat fishing in Chesapeake Bay with the governor of Maryland. Mosbacher then called the White House and had a Coast Guard cutter sent to find the governors yacht and bring Dandy quickly to shore.[33] Mosbacher then chartered a plane and flew Dandy to Newark Airport, where he was to catch a plane to Los Angeles, however, by that time, Gershwins condition was judged to be critical and the need for surgery immediate. An attempt by doctors at Cedars to excise the tumor was made in the early hours of the 11th, but it proved unsuccessful, and Gershwin died on the morning of July 11, 1937, at the age of 38.Gershwins mausoleum in Westchester Hills Cemetery[34]Gershwins many friends and fans were shocked and devastated. John OHara remarked: George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937, but I dont have to believe it if I dont want to.[35] He was interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. A memorial concert was held at the Hollywood Bowl on September 8, 1937, at which Otto Klemperer conducted his own orchestration of the second of Gershwins Three Preludes.[36]Gershwin received his sole Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 1937 Oscars for They Cant Take That Away from Me, written with his brother Ira for the 1937 film Shall We Dance. The nomination was posthumous, Gershwin died two months after the films release.[37]

Summary

Wikipedia Source: George Gershwin