{"id":15458,"date":"2024-11-25T15:35:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T15:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/?p=15458"},"modified":"2024-12-02T12:00:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T12:00:02","slug":"canadian-singer-behind-gershwins-rhapsody-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/2024\/11\/25\/canadian-singer-behind-gershwins-rhapsody-blue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Canadian Singer Behind Gershwin\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rhapsody
Rhapsody in Blue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Organizations, orchestras, and even city mayors<\/a> are marking the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue (1924). A favourite amongst music and Disney-fans alike, the work has felt omnipresent since F. Scott Fitzgerald penned in 1927 that it captured the youthful zeitgeist of the Jazz Age.<\/p>\n

Omitted from these celebrations is mention of the French-Canadian singer responsible for the commission of Gershwin\u2019s seminal work – \u00c9va Gauthier (1885-1958).<\/p>\n

Wait, who?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you haven\u2019t heard of her, mezzo-soprano \u00c9va Gauthier was a pioneer in both ethnomusicology and classical crossover music. Born in Ottawa in 1885, Gauthier studied singing in Paris with support from Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier and his wife Zo\u00eb. Gauthier toured with fellow-Canadian Emma Albani before marrying the Dutch importer Frans Knoote and moving to Java, Indonesia in 1910.<\/p>\n

Cultural appreciation or appropriation?<\/h3>\n

In Java, \u00c9va Gauthier was entranced by folk music and the unique sounds of the Javanese gamelan. She studied Javanese folk traditions, upon which she hoped to capitalize when returning to the West. After moving to New York City in 1914, Gauthier made a name for herself performing Javanese music in Indigenous costumes. She became friends with composers Maurice Ravel, \u00c9rik Satie, and Igor Stravinsky, and premiered their own Far East homages including Stravinsky\u2019s Trois po\u00e9sies de la lyrique japonaise. When Gauthier tired of these, her friend Ravel suggested she try singing another popular idiom of the time – jazz.<\/p>\n

Classical crossover comes to New York<\/h3>\n

Gauthier took to jazz. In the 1920s, she performed hybrid recitals with the young pianist and composer, George Gershwin (1898-1937). Impressed by Gershwin\u2019s compositions, Gauthier featured his music in a controversial recital at New York\u2019s Aeolian Hall that also included pieces by Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin alongside classical works. The bandleader Paul Whiteman was in attendance, who commissioned Gershwin to compose Rhapsody in Blue.<\/p>\n

Gauthier\u2019s historical erasure<\/h3>\n

While Rhapsody in Blue remains one of the canon\u2019s most beloved works, Gauthier\u2019s contributions to its creation have been largely forgotten. Warner Bros. omitted Gauthier from its 1945 Gershwin biopic, Rhapsody in Blue. And while the New York Times wrote about Gauthier\u2019s death in 1958, the Canadian press stayed quiet.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no denying the groundbreaking creativity of \u00c9va Gauthier, who could be considered a co-creator of some of the 20th century\u2019s seminal works. Let\u2019s ensure she isn\u2019t forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Organizations, orchestras, and even city mayors are marking the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue (1924).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":15459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[360,2],"tags":[487,486],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/11\/Gauthier-Gerrshin.gif","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15458"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15526,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458\/revisions\/15526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15458"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}