FLASH FRIDAY: Ninety-Two Years Ago Today, Gershwin's RHAPSODY IN BLUE Premieres

One hundred years ago, New York was just establishing itself as the cultural capital of a country that was still figuring out its artistic culture.

In terms of theatre, opera, ballet and classical music, the first century of Americans generally enjoyed what was imported from Europe, or local productions that replicated the proper European style.

But the music of America's black people - gospel, ragtime and eventually jazz - began growing in popularity, especially after recorded sound became available. While today jazz is considered to be America's greatest contribution to world music, the sad irony is that it originated from people who were often restricted from playing it for the general public in high-profile venues.

For most white Americans the "king of jazz" was Paul Whiteman. Indeed a white man, the large and jovial bandleader preferred presenting jazz without its improvisations, carefully arranged for classical orchestras. The white public loved it, but traditional music critics and classical conductors were wary of this new syncopation being introduced into their concert halls.

To answer back the critics, Whiteman arranged for a symphonic jazz concert at New York's Aeolian Hall, a 1,100 seat venue located inside the Aeolian Building on West 42nd Street, named for the piano manufacturing Aeolian Company. Titled "An Experiment in Modern Music," it would feature selections from many composers in an attempt to demonstrate jazz's suitability for the concert halls.

By that time George Gershwin had contributed songs or full scores to nineteen Broadway productions and had composed the experimental one-act jazz opera BLUE MONDAY. When, in November of 1923, Whiteman asked him to write a jazz concerto for the concert, scheduled for February 12th, 1924, Gershwin turned him down, saying there wasn't enough time.

The subject was brought up again when the composer read a January 4th New York Tribune article stating that he was indeed writing a concerto for Whiteman. Backed into a corner, he agreed to write it with only three weeks before needing to submit his work to orchestrator Ferde Grofé.

The penultimate piece of a long concert, Gershwin himself played piano while Whiteman conducted the premiere performance of RHAPSODY IN BLUE. It's not completely known exactly what he played during the piano solo sections because he was still improvising a bit. Grofé's orchestrations instructed musician to come in when they saw Gershwin nod his head.

The piece was a huge success and remains a quintessential, often-performed example of American music.

In 1927, Gershwin joined Whiteman again for this recording of RHAPSODY IN BLUE. Though the concerto had to be abridged and tempos had to be raced in order to fit onto a standard-sized record, it remains the closest possible example of what the audience heard 92 years ago.