Porgy a Bess

Porgy and Bess is the first American opera. Today it is one of the world famous. It was a not very successful premiere in New York in 1935 and fully pushed into the permanent repertoire in the US after Gershwin's death. Between the wars, the socially colored topic was probably unbearable socially sensitive, similar to the need to engage the operatively trained African -Americans. The credibly captured story, based on the novel Porgy writer Edwin Dubos Heyward from 1925 and later adapted to the theater play celebrating success on Broadway, is situated in Charleston in South Carolina, the Creole -speaking African community. George Gershwin decided to compose in the spirit of songs and spirituals that people sing there. Along with scenes reminiscent of opera classics, Porgy and Bess also co -create the stylized manifestations of the culture of black slave descendants from the American south, including pleasures, magical wedging or calling street vendors. And with them they are blues, jazz and typical Gershwin's songs. These elements appeared together for the first time in the opera. Meanwhile, some songs have already established themselves as real hits independently and live their own lives. Most of them probably summertime . Gershwin has not only become the one who convincingly opened the possibilities of a new combination of two worlds, jazz and classical music, but was also the first to perfectly blend in African -American music with the European Opera.

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• George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (Andrew Litton Orchestration)