In 1924, an audience in Aeolian Hall in New York heard an-ear opening, sensual glissando on clarinet introduce a new work by the young songwriter George Gershwin.  The piece, “Rhapsody in Blue,” heralded the arrival of Gershwin as a serious composer, one whose music was distinctly American, informed by jazz and popular song.  On September 30,  1935, another new Gershwin work was presented in New York and, as with “Rhapsody in Blue,” audiences knew right from the beginning that they were hearing something different, something exciting and very American, as Jasbo Brown’s rhythmic piano playing slipped into the luscious “Summertime.”  The new work was Gershwin’s masterpiece, Porgy and Bess, with the libretto by George’s brother Ira and DuBose Hayward, based on the latter’s book and play. Today, Porgy and Bess is considered the American opera.  The setting is in this country, to be sure -  Charleston, South Carolina – but that is not what makes it American; it is the language, both musical and spoken, that mark it as such.  The composer called it a folk opera.  He explained in an article in the New York Times: “Porgy and Bess is a folk tale. Its people naturally would sing folk music. When I first began work in the music I decided against the use of original folk material because I wanted the music to be all of one piece. Therefore I wrote my own spirituals and folksongs. But they are still folk music – and therefore, being in operatic form, Porgy and Bess becomes a folk opera.”

By whatever name, the work was not universally well-received at first.   Part of the problem was that it couldn’t quite be pigeonholed.  Weren’t operas supposed to be in a foreign language?  With swords?  Further, the cast was almost entirely African-American, something unheard of at the time.  There was also controversy generated by the apparent negative stereotypes in the work.

Over the years, Porgy and Bess has undergone various approaches.  It has been presented on Broadway, in films and on television, and in opera houses around the world in various versions.  It has attracted an array of stellar artists like Leontyne Price, William Warfield, Cheryl Crawford, Trevor Nunn and Audra McDonald.

 The work has held up over the 80 years of its existence because, like other operatic masterpieces, it has substance and something to say to an audience.  Gershwin knew its worth, even in the face of early criticism. Tragically, he died less than two years after Porgy and Bess premiered, but at least he was confident in his creation.  (This in contrast to George Bizet, who also died young and went to his grave thinking that Carmen was a failure.)   Porgy and Bess is very much an American opera, but it has universal appeal, a sure sign of a great work of art.