Abstract
The current paper is devoted to analyzing the outstanding work by the composer George Gershwin called Porgy and Bess. The research includes the following aspects: the analysis of the composer’s biography, the opera’s ideas, plot, and themes in relation to the social conflict of races. Moreover, a comparison of the two scenes from the opera will be provided. Comparing the different scenes of the same opera can help to understand the implicit ideas of the work.
George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
George Gershwin is a famous American composer and pianist who is recognized all over the world for his outstanding operas. The most exceptional works which made Gershwin famous are Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess (Reynolds 19). The second composition addresses the essential topic of American national drama revealing the sufferings of the ordinary people. The musician’s most creative period of life is considered in the 20th years of the last century when the “jazz era” was flourishing in America (Reynolds 23). This musical style had a significant impact on Gershwin, who tried to express his ideas through music. The composer uses similar melodic patterns in the different scenes of the opera to describe the results of characters” decisions. Using the choir and vocal parties, music rhythm, Gershwin illustrates the dramatic lives of ordinary black people.
George Gershwin Life and His Musical Output
The main themes of George Gershwin’s works included the spirit of modernity and the way of life of ordinary Americans. The composer has repeatedly stated that jazz is the music of the people, in which he hears the national life impulse and the actual US life (Starr 29). Gershwin achieved everything through hard work, found his calling, and reached incomprehensible heights and world fame during his lifetime. At the age of eighteen, he released his first work of authorship (Block, “The Gershwin Style” 478). It did not become popular, but it helped attract the attention of some famous composers to the young composer.
At the age of sixteen, he was offered a job in a music publishing house, where he was supposed to compose music. Soon, his works began to be used in musicals on Broadway. Over seven years, the composer wrote music for forty performances (Block, “The Gershwin Style” 479). Critics and spectators were delighted with the young musician, calling him a genius, and predicted a great future (Leffert 422). Gershwin often collaborated with his older brother, who became a poet.
The triumph of the talented composer continued when he toured Europe. As a result, Gershwin became the most prosperous composer in America. He wrote music for films in Hollywood and was a mentor to many young musicians. Gershwin died of a tumor in 1937; he was thirty-eight years old (Block, “The Gershwin Style” 479). George has significantly influenced the musical sphere to create meaningful masterpieces that addressed the racial aspects of American life.
Opera Description, Themes, and Social Significance
The opera Porgy and Bess has a fascinating history of creation. In 1926, George decided to read DuBose Hayward’s novel Porgy (Block 196). The work impressed the composer so much that he immediately began to invent musical melodies in his head. After reading the book, George sent the writer a letter asking whether he could create an opera based on the book. Dubose Hayward kindly agreed to the musician’s proposal and offered the cooperative work (Reynolds 4). Gershwin began writing music for the opera Porgy and Bess only in 1934 because he believed that such marvelous work requires a lot of effort and time (Block, “The Memory of All That” 196). George left New York and settled in a remote village in South Carolina to completely immerse himself in a grandiose work. In general, the musician spent almost two years creating this opera (Reynolds 6). George made a stunning masterpiece in which jazz fantasies, folk motifs, and orchestral parts were flawlessly combined. Porgy and Bess was the first performance in American history that people of different races could attend.
As was mentioned above, the composer often worked in collaboration with his brother. This opera was not an exception because the person who wrote the libretto for the Porgy and Bess was Ira Gershwin (Block, “The Memory of All That” 197). DuBose Heyward, the original story’s author, also participated in writing the text for the opera (Reynold 20). Generally, the Porgy and Bess consists of three acts and nine scenes (Reynold 22). The opera’s main characters are Porgy, the legless pauper, his beloved Bess, and Crown, Bess’s husband. Many secondary characters in the opera are an essential part of the chorus component vital for conveying the American national spirit.
Since the release date, the opera has been staged many times. Thus, it has some theatrical and musical features, which all the productions followed to. The scenery should represent the particular time of action and location: 1920th and Charleston, South Carolina, USA (Monod 283). The costumes also should be suitable for the American fashion traditions of that period of time. It is also essential to mention that according to the playwright’s idea, all the actors should be Afro-Americans. Therefore, the acting and accent should be similar to the traditional behavioral patterns of this national minority.
In the center of the narration are the Afro-Americans, whose emotions and suffering are reflected as being tragic and worth sharing. The composer wanted to highlight the importance of a tolerant attitude towards black people. Gershwin depicted the everyday problems and lives of Afro-Americans to prove to the whole world that they are also ordinary people who can suffer morally (Nauert 22). Even though the main idea of the play is striving for the dream, the implicit intention is to show that all people are similar, never mind their race. This work reflects the main problem of the American society of these times: racial prejudices. The Harlem movement modified the Americans’ perception of culture and life in the 90th (Brown 108). However, there were still many negative stereotypes about black people. Many doubted the role of Afro-Americans in the national culture and tradition. Thus, George creates this opera to show that all races are equal and have the same significance for forming the cultural identity.
Plot Summary
A quarrel breaks out during the dice game in the Afro-American district. Crown kills Robbins and runs away to Kittyway Island. All neighbors turn away from Bess, Crown’s wife, treating her as a killer’s woman. Only the disabled beggar Porgy pities the woman and offers her his home. Porgy and Bess live together and later fall in love with each other. Residents of Catfish Row go for a picnic on Kittyway Island together with Bess, Porgy’s wife. Bess meets with Crown, and she succumbs to his harassment. After a while, Crown comes to Catfish Row, aiming to take Bess away, but she decides to stay with Porgy.
Protecting his wife, Porgy kills Crown, and on the next day, the police take Porgy away to identify the corpse. Another man convinces Bess that her husband will be convicted and will not return. Promising her a “sweet life,” he takes Bess to New York. Porgy returns acquitted and finds out about what happened. The women persuade him to stay, but the disabled person is adamant: he will find Bess. In a cart pulled by a goat, Porgy travels thousands of miles from Catfish Row.
Act 1 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 3 Comparison
In two chosen scenes, the essential role from the musical point of view plays the choir. The musical language of the opera is flexible, rich, and varied. The primary function in disclosing stage images is played by vocal parts – expressive, based on a bright song melody. In Porgy and Bess, the composer does not quote Afro-American themes, but all of the opera’s music grew out of folk origins. Gershwin inserted Afro-American folklore’s melodic-harmonic, rhythmic features, and elements of national genres – blues, spirituals. Gershwin also used the expressive means of jazz to convey that this black minority has its own culture and traditions.
Scene 2 of Act 1 describes the sighing over the dead body of Robbins. The melody and song represent the Afro-American funeral tradition. It is essential to mention that the choir performs it. Later, Bess’s part includes the narration of the plot through the accelerating rhythm of the music. Thus, the composer uses such pace to show that various events await characters in the future.
Scene 4 of Act 2 takes place in the exact location and again depicts the choir singing the prayer to save their lives from the terrifying tempest. After some time, Crown is ready to help the man who was trapped in the sea by storm. Music at this moment also becomes more active, and the pace accelerates fast. The author uses the same sample as in scene 2 but expresses another idea – the dangerous decision. In the first time, on the contrary, such pace emphasized the uncertainty: good and evil events while at the second time, it is a bad omen. Thus, the similarity of the scenes is that the choir music is used to show the decisive moments of the characters’ lives when they are supposed to make a decisive choice. Gershwin masterfully uses the same melodic pattern to convey different ideas.
Works Cited
Block, Geoffrey. “The Gershwin Style: New Looks at the Music of George Gershwin.” American Music, vol. 19, no. 4, 2001, pp. 476-480.
Block, Geoffrey. “The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin by Joan Peyser.” Notes: Second Series, vol. 51, no. 1, 1994, pp. 195-197.
Brown, Gwynne. Problems of Race and Genre in the Critical Reception of Porgy and Bess. 2006. PhD dissertation. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
Leffert, Mark. “The Psychoanalysis and Death of George Gershwin: An American Tragedy.” Journal of The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, vol. 39, no. 3, 2011, pp. 421-452. Web.
Monod, David. “Disguise, Containment and the Porgy and Bess Revival of 1952–1956.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 35, 2001, pp. 275-312. Web.
Nauert, Paul. “Theory and Practice in “Porgy and Bess“: The Gershwin-Schillinger Connection.” The Musical Quarterly, vol. 78, no. 1, 1994, pp. 9-33. Web.
Reynolds, Christopher. “Porgy and Bess: “An American Wozzeck”.” Journal of the Society for American Music, vol. 1, no. 1, 2007, pp. 1-28. Web.
Starr, Lawrence. “Toward a Reevaluation of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.” American Music, vol. 2, no. 2, 1984, pp. 25-37. Web.