His engagement with this breakneck evolution led him to produce music in various forms and for various outlets, including sheet music, musical theater, phonograph recordings, radio, and even films. ![]() Gershwin’s career from the 1910s through the 1930s was propelled by a whirlwind of changes in recording technology, the music industry, and the very culture and consumption of music itself. But for all the everlasting familiarity of George Gershwin’s popular tunes, he wasn’t writing them for the ages-he was writing them for a dynamic musical present. “In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble,” but the songs of Tin Pan Alley have taken on a timeless aspect: a continuous ripple through decades of orchestral performances, jazz club renditions, romantic movie scenes, coffee shop ambience, even airline commercials. But the more we search for evidence of Gershwin’s individuality and style in this lost technology, the more questions arise about the role of the composer as a visible author of music within the culture of 1910–20s music consumption, and whether during his lifetime these musical artifacts were even perceived as “recordings” at all. George Gershwin’s work creating rolls for player piano remains a source of curiosity among scholars and enthusiasts alike.
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