What Would Beethoven, Bach, Mozart.......

In My Humble Opinion
1

…have thought of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue?

Thanks

Quasi

2

Bach probably would have had a fit. Doesn’t fit over a figured bass, no order to it.

Mozart probably would have dug it, and stolen major parts of it to improvise on.

Beethoven - eh, who knows? Probably can’t be sure he’d be able to hear it in the first place.

3

Orchestral version, or original (arranged for piano and Paul Whiteman-style jazz band [trumpets/trombones/saxophone choir plus clarinet/rhythm section/small complement of strings])?

“What’s with all them HORNS…? Ya kin barely hear the fiddles!”

4

Ike, don’t forget the banjo. God, I wish I could find where I wrote down the name of the guy who reconstructed the Paul Whiteman version for CD… I heard it once and it was da bomb, no question about it.

5

George Gershwin: The Birth of Rhapsody in Blue
Paul Whiteman’s Historic Aeolian Hall Concert of 1924
Reconstructed and Conducted by Maurice Peress
with Piano Soloists Ivan Davis and Dick Hyman
MusicMasters 60113T
(2 Compact Discs)
1986

And for the record, the original orchestration (according to the original 1924 program, and in the order given) was:

7 violins
one guy doubling violin and accordian
banjo
2 horns in F
2 trumpets (doubling on flugelhorn)
trombone (doubling on euphonium)
bass trombone
piano
another guy on piano, doubling on celesta
2 tubas (doubling on string bass)
drums (tympani plus traps)

…and 3 reed players, who jumped backed and forth on:
soprano saxophone
alto saxophone
oboe
bass oboe (heckephone)
Eb, Bb, alto and bass clarinets
octavion (huh?)
tenor saxophone
baritone saxophone
flute

6

…come to think of it, the saxophones alone would have thrown the three of them into a tizzy.

Wolfgang: Gott in Himmel! Dey haff der schpeed und agility uff der klarinet, und der carrying power uff der drumpet!

Ludwig: Yet dey zeem not to haff der ability to schtay in tune!

Johann: Der Teufel!