A Critical Edition of the Works of American Composers George Gershwin (1898–1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896–1983)

FAIN: RQ-286922-22

Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1015)
Andrew S. Kohler (Project Director: November 2021 to September 2022)
Andrew S. Kohler (Project Director: September 2022 to March 2023)
Mark Allan Clague (Project Director: March 2023 to present)
Andrew S. Kohler (Co Project Director: March 2023 to present)

Preparation of a critical edition and performance scores of An American in Paris and Porgy and Bess by George (1898-1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896-1983), and to commence work on nine other musicals that include Cuban Overture, I Got Rhythm Variations, Primrose, and Blue Monday, among others. (36 months)  

While the works of George and Ira Gershwin are readily accessible in non-scholarly imprints and recordings, they too often circulates in inconsistent and inaccurate versions. Until our project, even such landmark musical scores as Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, and Porgy and Bess suffered from substandard editions that misrepresented the Gershwins’ artistic vision. The George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition provides scholarly yet practical editions to restore the brothers' intentions. We also have a public educational program, with three primary goals: 1. To inform the public of the GCE’s research and performance activities through its website, blogs, and informational videos. 2. To provide scholars and performers with each volume’s critical reports, as well as with associated forums through which they can discuss the Initiative’s research. 3. To mentor U-M students in writing and research, particular through editorial work as assistants and through the Initiative’s blog.

Media Coverage

Long-Lost Gershwin Sheet Music Discovered After Nearly a Century (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Maya Pontone
Publication: Hyperallergic
Date: 3/4/2024
Abstract: Coverage of Associate Jacob Kerzner's rediscovery of materials previously thought lost from La, La, Lucille.
URL: https://hyperallergic.com/874970/long-lost-george-gershwin-sheet-music-discovered-after-nearly-a-century/

A Lost Gershwin Musical Has Been Found Nearly 100 Years After It Was Last Performed (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Julia Binswanger
Publication: Smithsonian Magazine
Date: 3/11/2024
Abstract: Coverage of Associate Jacob Kerzner's rediscovery of materials previously thought lost from La, La, Lucille.
URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/gershwins-first-ever-musical-is-rediscovered-after-almost-100-years-180983920/

Lost Gershwin Musical La La Lucille Recovered (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Margaret Hall
Publication: Playbill
Date: 2/22/2024
Abstract: Coverage of Associate Editor Jacob Kerzner's rediscovery of materials previously thought lost.
URL: https://playbill.com/article/lost-gershwin-musical-la-la-lucille-recovered#:~:text=La%2C%20La%2C%20Lucille%2C%20George,1920%2C%20and%20California%20in%201922.

Associated Products

Assembling Of Thee I Sing (Article)
Title: Assembling Of Thee I Sing
Author: Jacob Kerzner
Abstract: Jacob Kerzner, Volume Editor for Of Thee I Sing and Associate Editor of the Gershwin Initiative, describes the process sorting archival materials and editing the Gershwins' 1931 collaboration with George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind.
Year: 2024
Primary URL: https://www.shubertarchive.org/the-passing-show.html
Primary URL Description: Homepage for the journal; article in Volume 37.
Secondary URL: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.shubertarchive.org/uploads/1/6/9/1/16916350/passingshowvol372023-2024finalwithcorrections.pdf
Secondary URL Description: Link to the specific volume.
Access Model: Open access
Format: Other
Periodical Title: The Passing Show: Newsletter of the Shubert Archive, Volume 37
Publisher: Shubert Archive

Rediscovering La, La, Lucille (Blog Post)
Title: Rediscovering La, La, Lucille
Author: Jacob Kerzner
Abstract: In this post, Associate Editor Jacob Kerzner describes discovering materials that had been thought lost from George Gershwin’s first full musical, La, La, Lucille (1919), and some of the challenges of preparing the new critical edition.
Date: 02/09/2024
Primary URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20240612092003/https://smtd.umich.edu/ami/gershwin/?p=35520
Blog Title: The Gershwin Initiative Blog

Gershwin Centennial Celebration: Rhapsody in Blue at 100 (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Gershwin Centennial Celebration: Rhapsody in Blue at 100
Abstract: We presented a concert with the original version of Rhapsody in Blue to celebrate its centennial, using the recently published edition. We also included an announcement of Jacob Kerzner's discovery of materials for La, La, Lucille that had been thought lost, excerpts of Of Thee I Sing, selections from the four Gershwin musicals of 1924, and Gershwin arrangements by Logan Skelton and Kevin Cole. The concert was attended by about a thousand people.
Author: Gershwin Initiative with Contemporary Directions Ensemble, Jayce Ogren, Kevin Cole, and others
Date: 02/11/2024
Location: Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVy2jdQD7GRxmglc8n_S-3AYUdRfBuety
Primary URL Description: Video footage of the concert may be found here.
Secondary URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20240612135739/https://smtd.umich.edu/ami/gershwin/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CDE-2.11.24-for-website-1.pdf
Secondary URL Description: The concert program may be read here.

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Director: David Alan Miller
Producer: Naxos Records
Abstract: First recording of three of our editions, with pianist Kevin Cole and the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, conducted by David Alan Miller: Rhapsody in Blue, symphonic version, ed. Jessica Getman Second Rhapsody, ed. James Wierzbicki Cuban Overture, ed. Gershwin Initiative and Loris Schissel
Date: 02/01/2024
Primary URL: https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.559934
Primary URL Description: Naxos catalogue page.
Access Model: Available for purchase, or through subscription to Naxos.
Format: CD

The Gershwins Abroad, or Four Americans in Paris: A 1928 Notebook (Book)
Title: The Gershwins Abroad, or Four Americans in Paris: A 1928 Notebook
Author: Ira Gershwin
Editor: Michael Owen
Abstract: On March 10, 1928, the celebrated American lyricist Ira Gershwin and his wife Leonore set sail for Europe aboard a luxury ocean liner, accompanied by Ira’s brother George, the esteemed composer of Rhapsody in Blue, and his sister Frances (“Frankie”). Over the course of the next several months, Ira recorded their experiences visiting five countries during the height of the American expatriate period in Europe. Ira’s extensive account of their travels includes vivid – oftentimes humorous – descriptions of the numerous parties given for the Gershwins; the concerts of George’s compositions and his work on the tone poem An American in Paris; meetings with such artistic luminaries as Sergei Prokofiev and Alban Berg; encounters with members of high society; Ira’s wide-ranging choice of reading material; and entertaining anecdotes about the food and drink consumed along the way, so different from that available in Prohibition-era New York City. This notebook has been a valuable archival source for previous scholarship on the Gershwins, and now it appears, in full, for the first time in print. Ira Gershwin’s biographer, Michael Owen, who has been the archivist and historian for the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts since 2005, has provided illuminating commentary and annotations to guide us through the Gershwins’ European journey.
Year: 2024
Primary URL: https://www.schott-music.com/en/the-gershwins-abroad-no577202.html
Primary URL Description: Publisher website. [Note: Our office copies have been dispatched to us recently from Germany; we can send this NEH a copy at that point.]
Access Model: Commercially purchasable.
Publisher: Schott Music
Type: Edited Volume
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 978-3-7957-316
Copy sent to NEH?: No

Of Thee I Sing in concert (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Of Thee I Sing in concert
Abstract: This was a concert performance and the first test of our materials, edited by Jacob Kerzner, for Of Thee I Sing, the 1931 musical that won the Pulitzer Prize for drama the next year (the first musical to win that award). The Gershwin brothers worked with George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, who wrote the dialogue and scenario. The performance was a collaboration with students from the Musical Theatre Department of the University of Michigan, with an orchestra comprising locally hired musicians (some students). Larry Maslon, executor of the estates of Kaufman and Ryskind, supplied modified dialogue for this concert presentation. The concert was attended by about 750 patrons and enthusiastically received.
Author: George and Ira Gershwin, George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind
Date: 11/03/2024
Location: Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
Primary URL: https://events.umich.edu/event/127657
Primary URL Description: Event page for the concert performance.

Jewishness and the Gershwin Brothers (Article)
Title: Jewishness and the Gershwin Brothers
Author: Andrew S. Kohler
Abstract: This article is a summary of a presentation Managing Editor Andrew S. Kohler gave on September 10, 2023 for the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.jhsmichigan.org/JHSM%20Bulletin%202023%20compressed.pdf
Secondary URL: https://www.jhsmichigan.org/JHSM%20Bulletin%202023%20compressed.pdf
Access Model: Subscription bulletin; it should be openly available on the internet after the publication of the next volume.
Format: Other
Publisher: Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan (Volume 9/10, January 2024, pages 26–27)

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