George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess

Porgy & Bess

Composed by George Gershwin, Porgy and Bess it has been called an American folk opera, most probably because it includes songs in which people are singing folk music, and most notably because it deals with the real life of black communities in America. The opera is a melting pot of this description incorporating the drama, the humor, the superstitions, the religion, and the vibrant spirit of the black race in this context. Porgy and Bess brings to the operatic form new elements of blues and jazz, or more precisely ragtime, into the classical art form of Opera. At the beginning it was not widely accepted and closed after 124 performances. It was not a great hit with the public, although for an operatic work it was quite successful. Through the years this work has been produced in uncountable different productions, re-elaborations, interpretations, films, as well as excellent recordings performed by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Oscar Peterson, and Miles Davis among the most famous ones. The work is now part of the standard operatic repertoire and is regularly performed internationally. Despite this success, the opera has been controversial by being somehow considered racist, and not inclined to give the ideal image of its social matter by being stereotyped. Porgy and Bess was privately premiered in its full original length at the Colonial Theatre in Boston on 20 September 1935; shortly afterwards it was presented again on 10 October 1935 on Broadway at 1

the Alvin Theatre in New York. From its first appearance the work has been performed with many cuts and indeed, several numbers were cut under Gershwin’s supervision, probably to make it conform to the normal length of a Broadway show, or simply to improve the dramatic content. After his death this trend did not change and so, the multiplicity of versions places Porgy and Bess in a confusing situation in which a certain amount of original music and recitative were removed or added at one time or another for various reasons leading to questions if it was a real Opera, Operetta or pure Broadway entertainment. However, it was not until the 1976’s production by the Houston Grand Opera that this work could be seen for the first time based on Gershwin’s original full length score without having any adaptations or changes, and presenting the drama for a new generation of African-Americans. The production was acclaimed as an artistic triumph, winning the Tony Award and a Grammy Award, and being the only Opera ever to gain such an achievement. It must have seemed obvious by that time that Porgy and Bess deserved consideration, making a distinguished step from a local popular tradition into a world class work of art being proved by over half century of performers commitment, audience acceptance, and to deserve attention in being studied and appreciated on its own terms. Another important production was in 1986 at the Glyndebourne Festival directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, where the work was transformed by an enlarged scenography and choreography for a television production that too, was highly acclaimed. This production returned to a more faithful interpretation of the original score when Nunn produced Gershwin’s work again for a

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production in London, at the Savoy Theatre in September 2006 transforming Porgy and Bess from an Opera into a musical, replacing recitative with spoken dialogue, and drastically reducing its four hours into less than two and half. He treated this production as a conventional musical with dance music, and stock scenes. Here, however, he has finally discovered that less can mean more, and though some may accuse him of simplifying the intellectual content by reducing the dramatic action, it has left the critics wondering what it would be like to transform a masterpiece into a dull representation, distorting somehow the historical perception that was by that time being compared to that of today.

I think they could be right and

wrong at the same time for two reasons. If the Opera were performed, as it should be faithfully produced, it would only have been for small and privileged groups, and easily be forgotten by the public. The problem is, as I would point out, the adaptation. It may seem to me to cause trouble to accept that it is not an Opera any more, and the treatment of how the black racial context of nowadays can be considered. What Nunn wanted to do with this, was to widen the audience creating a more accessible work with a substantial financial profit, most probably as the necessary economic goal. Regarding the first matter mentioned above, this is a good thing, while the second is normal in the industry. Whatever the piece may have lost in power it may now gain in audiences. However, it is remarkable that people can acquire the knowledge of a masterpiece like this even when it is reborn as a musical. A once glorious, and by necessity exceptionally long work has now been domesticated, and those with no previous frame of reference will not know what they have missed, (which is fair enough in light of the fact that people arrive at these cultural touchstones at different times and in different ways), and some can later refer and see the original operatic 3

version comprehending its real meaning. Apparently, some people may still find this piece of theatre offensive, believing that the characters are being stereotyped because it is a portrait of black Americans written by white men principally for a white audience. Nevertheless, it needs to be admired for the authenticity, passion, humanity, the sense of community, the and the humor in the face of grinding poverty and desperate tragedy. The music sounds more modern now. As an interpretation of today’s musical tastes, even though is not always achieving the rich orchestral texture of the original score, it is now arranged for a 20 piece concert band rather than an Opera orchestra of at least 50 players. This decision seems to me entirely correct under this view. The work sounds thin in texture, therefore emerging more accessibly and intimately as a vibrant show in which there should not be the feeling of watching a reduced Opera, but rather discovering a lost classic and an historical reality. As far I am concerned, some are inclined to criticize negatively this production; the answers is mainly addressed that now, Porgy and Bess the musical can be assimilated with the pleasure of listening to such evergreen standards, Jazz tunes like Summertime, It Ain’t Necessarily So, I Got Plenty of Nuttin, and now be easily perceived by a youth generation. What I disapprove in my opinion, is that this production does not invest with the social details of today’s lifestyle. The subject of the controversy revolves around the depiction of Black communities nowadays. Many of the characters have the tendency to be more described as low-life gamblers, prostitutes, killers, drug dealers, despite the majority of the residents of Catfish Row being honest hardworking people with many of them with deeply religious convictions. This for

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me is enough to direct the matter as being distorted on the preconceived idea related to the quality of life of black communities. The fact is that the characters cannot truly symbolize the middle and the working class of today. Despite the fact it is unfair to judge a re-adapted work of 1935 by the political standards of today, there is a touch of unreality in this, as well as in the assumption that Porgy is happy to celebrate his impoverished condition with I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin. This production is essentially conservative showing no reflection of real-life as it is today among large parts of the black communities in developed countries such Great Britain and US. If Trevor Nunn’s revival proves anything, the production itself is intriguing, rather than being cast as a timeless classic as he did at the Glyndebourne Festival.

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The lyrics of I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin use a dialect known as “Gullah”; the language of the people living on the coast of South Carolina and nearby the islands along with some African words. It is an attractive piece and appears when all the characters of the Opera are established. It portrays Porgy’s happiness when he has found love in Bess. The lyrics describe the reality of the situation of black Americans reflecting the nature of those communities, and their poverty. An extra musical meaning is intended even through the euphoric melodic line; especially at the very beginning when Porgy is apparently happy to celebrate is own condition of misery through happiness. He seems to accept this state because there is no way to change or to improve; he is hopeless. The attention can be focused in this passive acceptance of an inevitable condition; this optimism is manifested through the Opera in strong religion’s faith, where the people of Catfish Row encourage themselves to carry on a modest life thinking positively. However, these hopes were not only addressed to the wealthy matter, but more importantly for the obtainment of civil rights, and the elimination of the racial segregation.

Example 1: Based on a major scale arpeggio in G the melody ascending to D, and descending nearly in the same way employing a familiar early Jazz syncopation.

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The modernist musical elements introduced from popular are represented by simple “folky” pentatonic scales despite the chromatic richness in passages common in the Art Opera. Interesting in this song is the banjo playing in the introduction which gives a joyful timbre, while the score emphasizes this by having the expression being marked with Moderato con Gioja, which I suppose would be used to play Swing-Jazz or Dixieland-Jazz music. The harmonic progression starts with the introduction of the chords G – Am7/G and Bm - Am7/G with the banjo, being supported by the clarinets. Then the progression makes use of the B7 chord in the keys of G major to modulate in E major

(when actually its relative minor is the E

minor chord). During this the strings appear providing melodic contours, accompanying tone colors, and harmony. To go back to the key of G major, Gershwin employs a transitory harmonization, from the chord of C sharp major, (replacing the C sharp minor as the relative minor of E major) towards D major; the dominant chord of the key of G.

The E – A – C

sharp – D – G progression sounds perfectly pleasant to the ear because it uses chords of the same types: all major triads.

Example 2: The chord progression of I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin.

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Notable is the figure in the example below, a technique that recalls word painting. Porgy sings in crescendo an ascending melody passing through a tritone interval above the chord of Am, to change in D major, then establish this melody made by a triadic sequence in the progression of D major, Am7, D7, closing in G major.

Example 3: The word “prize” on F sharp, then goes to E, singing “stars”, again rising a tone reaching the word “skies” on A, finally the climax on top C singing “free”. The entire sentence is treated with an obvious liberating meaning.

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Conclusions

The early death of George Gershwin at the age of 38 was a sort of calamity for the American music. It lost a very eclectic composer that was just at the beginning of his career. He expressed at his best the first middle 20th century musical culture in USA; he blended different elements of jazz, blues,

popular

song,

European

classical

styles,

modernist

and

experimentation, and after almost 80 years since George Gershwin’s death, nobody still has even come close. I would ask to myself what the young Gershwin could have achieved later, considering the close friendship with Arnold Schoenberg, observing that he was a real innovator, and the lessons from Joseph Schillinger that had taught him the use of innumerable new combinations to develop its compositions. The secret of Gershwin, in my opinion, was not that he imitated the music that he liked, but absorbed and filtered it through his musical education.

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