Classical Composer: | Gershwin, George |
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Work: | Cuban Overture |
Year Composed: | 1932 |
Instrumentation: | 3(picc)2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbsn/4331/timp.perc.bells.bgos.clv.gro.mrc.xyl/str |
Publishers: |
Warner-Chappell Music, Inc. New World Music Company, Ltd. Schott Music |
Duration: | 00:11:00 |
Period: | 20th Century |
Work Category: | Orchestral |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, described aptly as a Rhumba, was written in 1932. It is a lively evocation of the spirit of Cuba, bringing together the two sides of the composer’s abilities, a synthesis of art, jazz and Latin America.
Following the premiere in Boston’s Symphony Hall of his Second Rhapsody, conducted by Serge Koussevitsky on 29 th January 1932, Gershwin and several friends took a two-week holiday in Havana. The composer, fascinated by the small Cuban dance orchestras with their novel rhythms and unusual percussion instruments such as guiros, maracas, claves and bongos, was inspired to write the Cuban Overture. He orchestrated the work between 1st and 9th August 1932, completing it just a week before the first All-Gershwin Concert at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York, an open-air concert attended by some 18, 000 people which was, according to the composer, “at the most exciting night I have ever had”. Cast in Gershwin’s characteristic fast-slow-fast form, he wrote that he had endeavoured to combine the Cuban rhythms with my original thematic material. The result is a symphonic overture which embodies the essence of Cuban dance.
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