Summertime (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other songs with this title, see Summertime (disambiguation)
Summertime is the name of an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, and the song soon became a popular jazz standard.
Gershwin is said to have based this song on a Ukrainian lullaby, Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (A Dream Passes By The Windows), which he heard in a New York City performance by Oleksander Koshetz’s Ukrainian National Chorus.
Gershwin began composing the song in December 1933, attempting to create his own spiritual in the style of the African American folk music of the period. It is sung multiple times throughout Porgy and Bess, first by Clara in Act I as a lullaby and soon after as counterpoint to the craps game scene, in Act II in a reprise by Clara, and in Act III by Bess, singing to Clara's baby.
[edit] Popularity
It is widely believed that "Summertime" ties with The Beatles' "Yesterday" as one of the most recorded songs in popular music, with an estimated 2,600 different versions recorded.
Due to its popularity, "Summertime" has been recorded in many different languages, and on many different instruments.
[edit] References
- Pierpoint, Claudia Roth. "Jazzbo: Why we still listen to Gershwin." The New Yorker, January 10, 2005.[1]
[edit] External links
- List of more than 4000 cover-versions of Summertime
- The site of The Summertime Connection
- A second site of TSC with texts in different languages
- Summertime in MP3 format
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