An American in Paris

• Prix: 22.51 USD

• Instrument: Musique de chambre
• Instrumentation: 2 Violons, Alto & Violoncelle
• Sous-catégorie: Quatuor á cordes
• Compositeur: Gershwin, George
• Éditeur/Arrangeur: Graf, Alexander
• Publisher Code: 6189
• # Produit: GERSH016

for String Quartet

Gershwin's programmatic note to the work: "My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor to Paris, as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere. The rhapsody (Gershwin originally titled this work An American Rhapsody) is programmatic only in a general impressionistic way, so that the individual listener can read into the music such as his imagination pictures for him. The opening section is followed by a rich blues with a strong rhythmic undercurrent. Our American friend, perhaps after strolling into a café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness. The harmony here is both more intense and simple ... This blues rises to a climax followed by a coda in which the spirit of the music returns to the vivacity and bubbling exuberance of the opening ... impressions of Paris. Apparently, the homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air, has disowned his spell of the blues and is once again an alert spectator of Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant."