2 - Identity

Summary

Rhapsody in Blue is not a real composition in the sense that whatever happens in it must seem inevitable, or even pretty inevitable. You can cut out parts of it without affecting the whole in any way except to make it shorter. You can remove any of these stuck-together sections and the piece still goes on as bravely as before. You can even interchange these sections with one another and no harm is done. You can make cuts within a section, or add new cadenzas, or play it with any combination of instruments or on the piano alone; it can be a five-minute piece or a six-minute piece, or a twelve-minute piece. And in fact all these things are being done to it every day. It's still the Rhapsody in Blue.

Before talking about Rhapsody in Blue we need to specify our object of study - which is no easy task. There are five published versions of the (more or less) complete work:

(1) “george gershwin's rhapsody in blue two pianos-four hands (original).” Warner Brothers PSO165. “Dedicated to Paul Whiteman.” This corresponds roughly to the score that Gershwin gave Ferde Grofé to orchestrate. Despite the “original” in the title it appears to have been edited, with the addition of rehearsal letters, for example, to be used as a soloist's part with the miniature orchestral score (3) rather than the original Jazz-band version.