University of Michigan News
September 5, 2019
Met Opera to premiere new performance edition of 'Porgy and Bess' prepared by UM Gershwin Initiative
ANN
ARBOR—Toward the end of his life, Ira Gershwin said to Robert Kimball,
music adviser to the Gershwin family at the time, "We must do right by
Porgy and Bess."
According
to Wayne Shirley, the music editor tapped to create a new scholarly
performance edition of the work nearly 20 years ago, this wish will be
realized at the Metropolitan Opera in New York when it premieres Sept.
23.
The
performance also marks the first time that George and Ira Gershwin's
beloved and controversial "folk opera"—adapted from the work of Dubose
and Dorothy Heyward—returns to the Met's stage in nearly 30 years.
Shirley,
who has been working with a team of students and faculty from the
University of Michigan's Gershwin Initiative to complete the new
performance edition, says the musical score never received a proper
editing in the years since its first debut on Broadway at the Alvin
Theatre in October 1935.
"One
of the things that happens to important operas is that they get
published into a full orchestral score—they get into libraries," said
Shirley, a former specialist in the Music Division at the Library of
Congress. "It's a right of passage and it has never happened for 'Porgy
and Bess' until now."
In
fact, many of George and Ira Gershwin's works have never received the
benefit of scholarly editing or official publication, which was
partially due to George's premature and tragic death from a brain tumor
at age 38.
In
an effort to publish their extensive and treasured catalog, the
Gershwin family partnered with the U-M School of Music, Theatre &
Dance in 2013 to establish the U-M Gershwin Initiative.
"While
readily accessible in print and recordings, the scores and parts to
many Gershwin works circulate in substandard editions that contain
notational errors and confusing inconsistencies," said Jessica Getman,
managing editor of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition. "Our
new editions of 'Porgy and Bess'—as well as 'American in Paris' and
'Rhapsody in Blue'—bring a fresh spirit to these masterpieces."
According
to Shirley and Getman, many of the restored notes and corrections may
not be immediately recognizable to the untrained ear.
"The
piano score and the vocal score for 'Porgy and Bess' have never
matched, making it very hard for directors to sort out in rehearsals,"
Shirley said. "That was one of the big outcomes of this new edition."
Other
updates will be more noticeable. Shirley mentions two major changes
that audiences can look for in the new version premiering at the Met
later this month. The first is the introduction of an 11-piece band that
marches on stage and plays for about three minutes just before the cast
goes off to the church picnic in Act 2, Scene 1.
Second,
in the same scene, there are a few meaningful lines of dialogue that
have been restored. Here, Bess affirms her affection for Porgy, just
before their duet, "Bess, You Is My Woman Now." Bess now says to Porgy,
"If you ain't goin', I ain't goin'."
To
figure out how to best incorporate the changes, a concert performance
of "Porgy and Bess," facilitated by the University Musical Society,
performed by U-M students and guest soloists, and conducted by SMTD's
Kenneth Kiesler, took place at U-M's Hill Auditorium in February 2018.
"The
feedback from that performance was incredibly important in getting to a
definitive score," Getman said. "What is really special about what
we're doing at Michigan is that students are so embedded into every step
of the process—it has been a great opportunity for them to work on a
project that fully legitimizes the work of two of America's great
creative minds."
The
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has premiered and recorded the
initiative's new critical edition of "An American in Paris," prepared by
Mark Clague, U-M associate professor of music and editor-in-chief of
the Gershwin Edition.
Other
titles currently in development include "Rhapsody in Blue," "Concerto
in F," "Second Rhapsody" and Geroge Gershwin's string quartet "Lullaby,"
among others. Beyond the musical scores, the Gershwin Initiative will
also publish Ira Gershwin's 1928 European travel journal.
Clague believes this project is essential to the university's mission.
"The
University of Michigan's landmark partnership with the Gershwin
families gives our students a vital role in our mission to create the
best in scholarly research and musical excellence. We are so proud to
finally make it possible for the Gershwins' music to be heard as the
brothers imagined."
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