{"id":6376,"date":"2025-03-19T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=6376"},"modified":"2025-02-28T14:46:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T19:46:53","slug":"arachnophonia-george-gershwins-piano-concerto-in-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2025\/03\/arachnophonia-george-gershwins-piano-concerto-in-f\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: George Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student assistant Alexandra (class of 2026) and features American composer George Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F”<\/a>. Thanks, Alex!<\/em><\/p>\n

George Gershwin<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Piano Concerto in F<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

George Gershwin<\/a> was an American composer who revolutionized the music scene in the early 1900s, merging the new jazz<\/a> genre with classical. His experimental piece Rhapsody in Blue<\/a><\/em> merged a classical orchestra with concert piano in a pseudo-piano concerto form to wild acclaim. Despite classical music\u2019s rigid and highly critical tradition, Gershwin created a way for listeners to experience the new American jazz style in a concert hall setting. The rapid success of Rhapsody in Blue<\/a><\/em> gave Gershwin a chance to compose a full-length concerto in 1925, his now immortal Piano Concerto in F<\/a><\/em>. Gershwin\u2019s longest work, the concerto<\/a> is divided into three movements which each highlight a distinct style of jazz.<\/p>\n

The first movement, I. Allegro moderato, uses the Charleston<\/a> and features syncopation in a swing style just debuting in the US at the time. Its first climax introduces the piano into the concerto in a melancholy start, quickly dazzling listeners with key changes and pentatonic scales uncommon to classical piano concertos. A second climax features sweeping strings and huge chord progressions before descending into more syncopated rhythms that one could imagine dancing to in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

The second movement, II. Andante con moto, is a slow section similar to an Adagio or Largo movement but uses a blues<\/a> feel to characterize the emotional equivalents in typical classical movements. His alternations of instruments soloing the main theme, whether that be violin, piano, or trumpet, represent the big band<\/a> jazz style growing during the concerto\u2019s premier. <\/p>\n

The third movement, III. Allegro agitato, starts with a flourish of woodwinds and brass to begin an exciting, fast-paced theme introduced in the first movement. Gershwin continues to experiment with jazz-inspired chords and syncopated rhythms, emblematic of his American heritage and pride in the new music genre.<\/p>\n

Overall, Gershwin\u2019s experimental Piano Concerto in F<\/a><\/em> expands upon his work with Rhapsody in Blue<\/a><\/em> and the excitement surrounding American jazz during the 1920s. Gershwin<\/a> once asked another modernizing composer, Maurice Ravel<\/a>, to mentor him. Ravel<\/a> promptly rejected the request, stating \u201cWhy would I teach you to become a second-rate Ravel when you are already a first-rate Gershwin?\u201d The unique output of Gershwin and his exciting Piano Concerto in F<\/a><\/em> leave a lasting impression on listeners about the development of American music to rival great classical composers of Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Arachnophonia (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library\u2018s collection. All links included in these … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[231704,15223,15242],"tags":[162480,231031,231817,61217,231411,37975,15326,120741,231815,15232,15246,231816,61314,231818,120742],"class_list":["post-6376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arachnophonia-arachnophonia","category-collection","category-promotional","tag-alex","tag-alexandra","tag-andre-previn","tag-arachnophonia","tag-arachnophonia-24-25","tag-blues","tag-classical-music","tag-george-gershwin","tag-gershwin","tag-jazz","tag-piano","tag-piano-concerto-in-f","tag-piano-concertos","tag-pittsburgh-symphony-orchestra","tag-rhapsody-in-blue"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgMV3E-1EQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6376"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6380,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6376\/revisions\/6380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}