Porgy & Bess

Composed by George Gershwin, Porgy and Bess it has been called an

American folk opera, most probably because it includes songs in which
people are singing folk music, and most notably because it deals with the
real life of black communities in America. The opera is a melting pot of this
description incorporating the drama, the humor, the superstitions, the
religion, and the vibrant spirit of the black race in this context. Porgy and
Bess brings to the operatic form new elements of blues and jazz, or more
precisely ragtime, into the classical art form of Opera. At the beginning it
was not widely accepted and closed after 124 performances. It was not a
great hit with the public, although for an operatic work it was quite
successful. Through the years this work has been produced in uncountable
different productions, re-elaborations, interpretations, films, as well as
excellent recordings performed by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis
Armstrong, Nina Simone, Oscar Peterson, and Miles Davis among the most
famous ones. The work is now part of the standard operatic repertoire and
is regularly performed internationally. Despite this success, the opera has
been controversial by being somehow considered racist, and not inclined to
give the ideal image of its social matter by being stereotyped. Porgy and
Bess was privately premiered in its full original length at the Colonial
Theatre in Boston on 20 September 1935; shortly afterwards it was
presented again on 10 October 1935 on Broadway at
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the Alvin Theatre in New York. From its first appearance the work has been
performed with many cuts and indeed, several numbers were cut under
Gershwins supervision, probably to make it conform to the normal length of
a Broadway show, or simply to improve the dramatic content. After his
death this trend did not change and so, the multiplicity of versions places
Porgy and Bess in a confusing situation in which a certain amount of
original music and recitative were removed or added at one time or another
for various reasons leading to questions if it was a real Opera, Operetta or
pure Broadway entertainment. However, it was not until the 1976s
production by the Houston Grand Opera that this work could be seen for
the first time based on Gershwins original full length score without having
any adaptations or changes, and presenting the drama for a new
generation of African-Americans.
The production was acclaimed as an artistic triumph, winning the Tony
Award and a Grammy Award, and being the only Opera ever to gain such
an achievement. It must have seemed obvious by that time that Porgy and
Bess deserved consideration, making a distinguished step from a local
popular tradition into a world class work of art being proved by over half
century of performers commitment, audience acceptance, and to deserve
attention in being studied and appreciated on its own terms. Another
important production was in 1986 at the Glyndebourne Festival directed by
Sir Trevor Nunn, where the work was transformed by an enlarged
scenography and choreography for a television production that too, was
highly acclaimed. This production returned to a more faithful interpretation
of the original score when Nunn produced Gershwins work again for a

production in London, at the Savoy Theatre in September 2006

transforming Porgy and Bess from an Opera into a musical, replacing
recitative with spoken dialogue, and drastically reducing its four hours into
less than two and half. He treated this production as a conventional musical
with dance music, and stock scenes. Here, however, he has finally
discovered that less can mean more, and though some may accuse him of
simplifying the intellectual content by reducing the dramatic action, it has left
the critics wondering what it would be like to transform a masterpiece into a
dull representation, distorting somehow the historical perception that was by
that time being compared to that of today.

I think they could be right and

wrong at the same time for two reasons. If the Opera were performed, as it
should be faithfully produced, it would only have been for small and
privileged groups, and easily be forgotten by the public. The problem is, as
I would point out, the adaptation. It may seem to me to cause trouble to
accept that it is not an Opera any more, and the treatment of how the black
racial context of nowadays can be considered. What Nunn wanted to do
with this, was to widen the audience creating a more accessible work with a
substantial financial profit, most probably as the necessary economic goal.
Regarding the first matter mentioned above, this is a good thing, while the
second is normal in the industry. Whatever the piece may have lost in
power it may now gain in audiences. However, it is remarkable that people
can acquire the knowledge of a masterpiece like this even when it is reborn
as a musical. A once glorious, and by necessity exceptionally long work
has now been domesticated, and those with no previous frame of reference
will not know what they have missed, (which is fair enough in light of the
fact that people arrive at these cultural touchstones at different times and in
different ways), and some can later refer and see the original operatic
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version comprehending its real meaning. Apparently, some people may still
find this piece of theatre offensive, believing that the characters are being
stereotyped because it is a portrait of black Americans written by white men
principally for a white audience. Nevertheless, it needs to be admired for
the authenticity, passion, humanity, the sense of community, the and the
humor in the face of grinding poverty and desperate tragedy. The music
sounds more modern now. As an interpretation of todays musical tastes,
even though is not always achieving the rich orchestral texture of the
original score, it is now arranged for a 20 piece concert band rather than
an Opera orchestra of at least 50 players. This decision seems to me
entirely correct under this view. The work sounds thin in texture, therefore
emerging more accessibly and intimately as a vibrant show in which there
should not be the feeling of watching a reduced Opera, but rather
discovering a lost classic and an historical reality. As far I am concerned,
some are inclined to criticize negatively this production; the answers is
mainly addressed that now, Porgy and Bess the musical can be assimilated
with the pleasure of listening to such evergreen standards, Jazz tunes like
Summertime, It Aint Necessarily So, I Got Plenty of Nuttin, and now be
easily perceived by a youth generation. What I disapprove in my opinion, is
that this production does not invest with the social details of todays lifestyle.
The subject of the controversy revolves around the depiction of Black
communities nowadays. Many of the characters have the tendency to be
more described as low-life gamblers, prostitutes, killers, drug dealers,
despite the majority of the residents of Catfish Row being honest hardworking people with many of them with deeply religious convictions. This for

me is enough to direct the matter as being distorted on the preconceived

idea related to the quality of life of black communities. The fact is that the
characters cannot truly symbolize the middle and the working class of
today. Despite the fact it is unfair to judge a re-adapted work of 1935 by
the political standards of today, there is a touch of unreality in this, as well
as in the assumption that Porgy is happy to celebrate his impoverished
condition with I Got Plenty o Nuttin. This production is essentially
conservative showing no reflection of real-life as it is today among large
parts of the black communities in developed countries such Great Britain
and US. If Trevor Nunns revival proves anything, the production itself is
intriguing, rather than being cast as a timeless classic as he did at the
Glyndebourne Festival.

The lyrics of I Got Plenty O Nuttin use a dialect known as Gullah; the
language of the people living on the coast of South Carolina and nearby
the islands along with some African words. It is an attractive piece and
appears when all the characters of the Opera are established. It portrays
Porgys happiness when he has found love in Bess. The lyrics describe the
reality of the situation of black Americans reflecting the nature of those
communities, and their poverty. An extra musical meaning is intended even
through the euphoric melodic line; especially at the very beginning when
Porgy is apparently happy to celebrate is own condition of misery through
happiness. He seems to accept this state because there is no way to change
or to improve; he is hopeless. The attention can be focused in this passive
acceptance of an inevitable condition; this optimism is manifested through
the Opera in strong religions faith, where the people of Catfish Row
encourage themselves to carry on a modest life thinking positively.
However, these hopes were not only addressed to the wealthy matter, but
more importantly for the obtainment of civil rights, and the elimination of the
racial segregation.

Example 1: Based on a major scale arpeggio in G the melody ascending to D, and descending nearly in the same
way employing a familiar early Jazz syncopation.

The modernist musical elements introduced from popular are represented by

simple folky pentatonic scales despite the chromatic richness in passages
common in the Art Opera. Interesting in this song is the banjo playing in
the introduction which gives a joyful timbre, while the score emphasizes this
by having the expression being marked with Moderato con Gioja, which I
suppose would be used to play Swing-Jazz or Dixieland-Jazz music. The
harmonic progression starts with the introduction of the chords
G Am7/G and Bm - Am7/G with the banjo, being supported by the
clarinets. Then the progression makes use of the B7 chord in the keys of G
major to modulate in E major

(when actually its relative minor is the E

minor chord). During this the strings appear providing melodic contours,
accompanying tone colors, and harmony. To go back to the key of G
major, Gershwin employs a transitory harmonization, from the chord of C
sharp major, (replacing the C sharp minor as the relative minor of E major)
towards D major; the dominant chord of the key of G.

The E A C

sharp D G progression sounds perfectly pleasant to the ear because it

uses chords of the same types: all major triads.

Example 2: The chord progression of I Got Plenty o Nuttin.

Notable is the figure in the example below, a technique that recalls word
painting. Porgy sings in crescendo an ascending melody passing through a
tritone interval above the chord of Am, to change in D major, then establish
this melody made by a triadic sequence in the progression of D major,
Am7, D7, closing in G major.

Example 3: The word prize on F sharp, then goes to E, singing stars, again rising a tone reaching the word
skies on A, finally the climax on top C singing free. The entire sentence is treated with an obvious liberating
meaning.

Conclusions

The early death of George Gershwin at the age of 38 was a sort of

calamity for the American music. It lost a very eclectic composer that was
just at the beginning of his career. He expressed at his best the first middle
20th century musical culture in USA; he blended different elements of jazz,
blues,

popular

song,

European

classical

styles,

modernist

and

experimentation, and after almost 80 years since George Gershwins death,

nobody still has even come close. I would ask to myself what the young
Gershwin could have achieved later, considering the close friendship with
Arnold Schoenberg, observing that he was a real innovator, and the lessons
from Joseph Schillinger that had taught him the use of innumerable new
combinations to develop its compositions. The secret of Gershwin, in my
opinion, was not that he imitated the music that he liked, but absorbed and
filtered it through his musical education.