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“Rhapsody in Blue stands as an icon of American music.  Its popularity largely results from the ingenuity of its melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements.  However, the reason the piece has circulated so widely is the fact that, almost since its 1924 premiere, it has existed in multiple arrangements: solo-piano and piano-duo as well as jazz-, theatre-, and symphony orchestra.  Critical editions of the Rhapsody in these different combinations will restore the multifaceted experience of the work.”

Ryan Bañagale
Assistant Professor Colorado College
Editorial Board Member, George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition
Editor for Rhapsody in Blue


Click here to download the Volume Editor’s Guide for the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition.

Click here to download the edition’s proposal guidelines.

These are some of the projected volumes of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, organized into ten categories.  This list is preliminary and not exhaustive. Volumes will be not be released in the order presented here. Volumes currently being negotiated or in process have been marked with an asterisk. The editors have been identified for volumes in production. Names are provided if works are composed or written by someone other than George or Ira Gershwin.

Series One · Works for Orchestra

I/1 An American in Paris (1928)* [Mark Clague]
I/2 Cuban Overture (1932)*
I/3 Suite from Porgy and Bess (“Catfish Row,” 1935–36)

Series Two · 

Works for Piano and Band/Orchestra

II/1 Rhapsody in Blue for Piano and Jazz Band (orch. Ferde Grofé, 1924)* [Ryan Raul Bañagale]
II/2 Rhapsody in Blue for Piano and Orchestra (orch. Ferde Grofé, pub. 1942)* [Jessica Getman]
II/3 Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra (1925)* [Tim Freeze]
II/4 Second Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra (1931) [James Wierzbicki]*
II/5 “I Got Rhythm” — Variations for Piano and Orchestra (1934)

Series Three · Piano and Chamber Music

III/1 Lullaby for String Quartet (1919/20)* [Susan Neimoyer]
III/2 Works for Piano (1927)
III/3 George Gershwin’s Song Book (1932)* [Andrew Hauze]

Series Four · Operas

IV/1 Blue Monday (1922, libretto and lyr. Buddy DeSylva)
IV/2 Porgy and Bess (1935, George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, Ira Gershwin),* [Wayne D. Shirley]

Series Five · Stage Shows

V/1 Half Past Eight (1918, lyr. Edward B. Perkins)
V/2 La-La-Lucille! (1919, lyr. Arthur Jackson and Buddy DeSylva)
V/3 Morris Gest’s Midnight Whirl (1919, lyr. Buddy DeSylva)
V/4 George White’s Scandals of 1920 (lyr. Arthur Jackson)
V/5 A Dangerous Maid (1921)
V/6 George White’s Scandals of 1921 (lyr. Arthur Jackson)
V/7 Two Little Girls in Blue (1921, comp. Paul Lannin and Vincent Youmans)
V/8 George White’s Scandals of 1922 (lyr. Buddy DeSylva, E. Ray Goetz, and Ira Gershwin)
V/9 Our Nell (1922, comp. George Gershwin and William Daly, lyr. Brian Hooker)
V/10 The Rainbow (1923, lyr. Clifford Grey)
V/11 George White’s Scandals of 1923 (lyr. Buddy DeSylva)
V/12 Sweet Little Devil (1924, lyr. Buddy DeSylva)
V/13 George White’s Scandals of 1924 (lyr. Buddy DeSylva and Ballard MacDonald)
V/14 Primrose (1924, lyr. Ira Gershwin and Desmond Carter)
V/15 Lady, Be Good (1924)
V/16 Tell Me More (1925, lyr. Ira Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva)* [Bradley Martin]
V/17 Tip-Toes (1925)
V/18 Song of the Flame (1925, comp. George Gershwin and Herbert Stothart, lyr. Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II)
V/19 Oh, Kay! (1926)
V/20 Strike Up the Band (First Version, 1927)
V/21 Funny Face (1927)
V/22 Rosalie (1928, comp. George Gershwin and Sigmund Romberg, lyr. Ira Gershwin and P.G. Wodehouse)
V/23 Treasure Girl (1928)
V/24 Show Girl (1929, lyr. Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn)
V/25 Strike Up the Band (Second Version, 1930)
V/26 Girl Crazy (1930) [Ian Sapiro]
V/27 Of Thee I Sing (1931)
V/28 Pardon my English (1933)
V/29 Let ’Em Eat Cake (1933)
V/30 Ziegfeld Follies (1936, comp. Vernon Duke, lyr. Ira Gershwin and David Freedman)
V/31 Park Avenue (1946, comp. Arthur Schwartz)

Critical editions of Ira Gershwin’s two collaborations with Kurt Weill, Lady in the Dark (1941) and The Firebrand of Florence (1945), already have been published by the Kurt Weill Critical Edition.

Series Six · Songs

Series Seven · Film Music

VII/1 Delicious (1931)*
VII/2 Shall We Dance (1937)*
VII/3 A Damsel in Distress (1937)*
VII/4 Cover Girl (1944, comp. Jerome Kern, lyr. Ira Gershwin, E.Y. Harburg, Fred Lei)
VII/5 The Barkleys of Broadway (1949, comp. Harry Warren)
VII/6 A Star is Born (1954, comp. Harold Arlen)

Series Eight · Textual and Prose Works

VIII/1 The Gershwins Abroad (Ira Gershwin’s 1928 Travel Journal)* [Michael Owen]

Series Nine · Miscellany