Video: The story of one hit: was the composition "Summertime" inspired by a Ukrainian lullaby?
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Probably a melody Summertime heard everyone. This is an aria from the opera Porgy and Bess, a work that critics call the main American opera. To date, up to 20,000 versions of this hit are known, in terms of the number of cover versions this composition has surpassed even “Yesterday” and got into the top 10 best jazz melodies in history. There is a version that the famous hit was written under the impression of a lullaby once heard by the composer.
The libretto for the opera was written by Dubose Hayward and Ira Gershwin based on the play Porgy by Dorothy and Dubose Hayward. In turn, the play was a reworking of Dubose Hayward's novel of the same name about the life of poor black people. The plot is based on pictures of the life of a small African American fishing village in the South of the United States. The time of events is the end of the 1920s.
Before the creation of the opera, George Gershwin lived for several months in one of the provincial villages with blacks, striving for maximum accuracy in reproducing the life, speech, and demeanor of local residents. It is not for nothing that the opera "Porgy and Bess" is called popular, although its conflict is of a private nature - the emotional throwing of the beautiful Bess between the real love of the beggar, simple-minded cripple Porgy for her and the corrupted morality of the drug dealer and a regular at the New York taverns of Sportin-Life.
Considering the theme of the opera, the main source of inspiration for the composer can be called African American folklore: lyric blues, psalms and hymns, spiritual - spiritual chants performed by the chorus. However, there is a version that the basis of the most famous aria from the opera "Porgy and Bess" is the Ukrainian lullaby "Oh walk a dream, colo vіkon", heard by the composer during the tour of the Ukrainian National Choir in America.
The aria "Summertime" sounds in the opera 4 times - twice the heroine sings it as a lullaby. This song became a kind of lyrical exposition of the performance. However, in this melody, the intonations of not only the Ukrainian lullaby, but also the African-American blues are recognizable, giving the lyric music a sensual sound.
The mass popularity of the tune "Summertime" did not immediately conquer, despite the success of the opera "Porgy and Bess". The composition gained national fame after its performance by the duet of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald in the 1950s. After that, the aria took on an independent life and became a world hit. Jazz versions of the composition were also created by Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.
The cover version of The Zombies is considered one of the best interpretations of Summertime in the 1960s. With this song, The Zombies won the 1964 competition among British young bands. At the moment "Summertime" holds the record for the number of cover versions.
George Gershwin lived a short life - at the age of 39 he died of a brain tumor, but during this time he managed to create more than a hundred musical compositions, most of which gained popularity after his death. However, “Summertime” is still the most famous all over the world.
The history of the creation of another of the most popular hits of the last century is interesting. "Vertical expression of horizontal desires": how one of the best hits of the 20th century was born. "Besame Mucho"
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