What was the original length of George Gershwins “Rhapsody in Blue”?
You are correct. It was, in fact, about twice as long. (When I play it, it’s more than three times that!) From: Jeffrey James Arts Consulting Author: Jeffrey James “THE Rhapsody in Blue: WHAT GERSHWIN REALLY WROTE” “The Original Manuscript for The Rhapsody in Blue” “In the piano part of the original 1924 piano/orchestra edition, over fifty measures had been deleted in the published versions. Remarkably, eighty-eight measures were missing from the piano solo version. Where Gershwin left blanks or few indications, necessary editing had been made. However, in over sixty-five measures, Gershwin’s own phrasing, chords, notes, dynamic and other interpretive clues had been altered! Grofe’s orchestration of Gershwin’s manuscript had not been shortened, and Grofe had not personally made any deletions from Gershwin’s piano manuscript. The final result of Harms’ decision to shorten the Rhapsody was a fragmented and truncated work, thus lending credence to the “structurally flawed” judgment of the
