Rhapsody In Blue: Gershwin ⇒ 【SIMPLE】

Gershwin was initially reluctant to take on the challenge, reportedly only starting work after reading a news report that Whiteman was already planning the performance.

: The iconic opening clarinet wail was not originally in the score. During rehearsals, clarinetist Ross Gorman played the opening scale with a humorous, sliding glissando. Gershwin loved it so much he asked Gorman to keep it as a permanent "ice-breaker" for the piece. Rhapsody In Blue: Gershwin

The work is characterized by five primary musical themes that repeat and expand in a call-and-response style: : The main opening theme. Gershwin was initially reluctant to take on the

: Gershwin claimed the piece's full construction came to him during a train journey from Boston to New York, where the "steely rhythms" and "rattlety-bang" of the train inspired the work's momentum. Gershwin loved it so much he asked Gorman

: The lush, slow middle theme (famously used for years in United Airlines commercials). Impact and Controversy

'Rhapsody in Blue,' Gershwin's musical melting pot, at 100 : NPR