Blue Monday (Opera a la Afro-American) was the original name of a one-act "jazz opera" by George Gershwin, renamed 135th Street during a later production. The English libretto was written by Buddy de Sylva. Though a short piece, with a running time of between twenty and thirty minutes, Blue Monday is often considered the blueprint to many of Gershwin's later works, and is often considered to be the "first piece of symphonic jazz" [1], in that it was the first significant attempt to fuse forms of classical music such as opera with American popular music, with the opera largely influenced by Jazz and the African-American culture of Harlem. Gershwin redirects here. ... Buddy Gard DeSylva, often credited as Buddy De Sylva, Buddy DeSylva, Bud De Sylva and B.G. DeSylva (January 27, 1895 - July 11, 1950), He was born George Gard DeSylva in New York, New York, USA, but grew up in California and attended the University of Southern California. ... Buddy Gard DeSylva, often credited as Buddy De Sylva, Buddy DeSylva, Bud De Sylva and B.G. DeSylva (January 27, 1895 - July 11, 1950), He was born George Gard DeSylva in New York, New York, USA, but grew up in California and attended the University of Southern California. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... For other uses, see Opera (disambiguation). ... Gershwin redirects here. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Antonio Ghislanzoni, nineteenth century Italian librettist. ... Buddy Gard DeSylva, often credited as Buddy De Sylva, Buddy DeSylva, Bud De Sylva and B.G. DeSylva (January 27, 1895 - July 11, 1950), He was born George Gard DeSylva in New York, New York, USA, but grew up in California and attended the University of Southern California. ... For other uses, see Orchestra (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... For the music genre, see Pop music. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... African-Americans affiliate with subcultures of all kinds; race is not itself an absolute determinant of ones culture. ... For other uses, see Harlem (disambiguation). ...

Characters

• Roles
  • Joe, a gambler, tenor
  • Vi, his sweetheart, lyric soprano
  • Tom, café entertainer and singer, baritone
  • Mike, café proprietor and manager, bass
  • Sam, café worker and custodian, baritone
  • Sweetpea, café pianist
• Chorus
  • Guests

As in Gershwin's later opera Porgy and Bess, all characters are African-American singers. Unlike Porgy and Bess, however, the original production of Blue Monday was performed by white singers in blackface, since, according to conductor Erich Kunzel, "there were no black people on Broadway during that period."^[1] This article is about Tenor vocalists in music. ... This article is about the voice-type. ... For other uses, see Baritone (disambiguation). ... A bass (or basso in Italian) is a male singer who sings in the deepest vocal range of the human voice. ... For other uses, see Baritone (disambiguation). ... The cast of Porgy and Bess during the Boston try-out prior to the Broadway opening. ... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... A conductor conducting at a ceremony A conductors score and batons Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ... Erich Kunzel (also known as Erich Kunzel Jr. ...

Synopsis

Place: A basement café near the intersection of 135th Street and Lennox Avenue in Harlem, New York City.

Time: An evening during the Jazz Age, beginning at around 9:30 P.M.

After a brief overture, the gambler Joe appears in front of the curtain as a Prologue, in an obvious reference to the character Tonio's opening aria in Pagliacci. Like that number, which explained the serious nature of Leoncavallo's opera as if it were an actual event, Joe tells his audience that just like "the white man's opera", this "colored [Harlem] tragedy enacted in operatic style" focuses on primal human emotions such as love, hate, passion and jealousy, and that the moral of the story is that tragic results come from when a women's intuition goes wrong (Joe: "Ladies and gentlemen!"). Discussing the War in a Paris Café, Illustrated London News 17 September 1870 Coffee shop redirects here. ... For other uses, see Harlem (disambiguation). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The Jazz Age , 1929 movie poster: A Scathing Indictment of the Bewidered Children of Pleasure. ... Overture (French ouverture, meaning opening) in music is the instrumental introduction to a dramatic, choral or, occasionally, instrumental composition. ... A prologue (Greek πρόλογος, from προ~, pro~ - fore~, and lógos, word), or rarely prolog, is a prefatory piece of writing, usually composed to introduce a drama. ... An aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. ... Cover of the first edition of Pagliacci published by E. Sonzogno, Milan, 1892 Pagliacci (Clowns) is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. ... Ruggiero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857- August 9, 1919) was an Italian opera composer. ... For other uses, see Love (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hate (disambiguation). ... Jealous redirects here. ... Intuition is an unconscious form of knowledge. ...

As the curtain rises on a café with a bar, gambling room and dance floor, café owner Mike berates his worker Sam for his laziness and commands him to get to work. As Sam sweeps the floor, he relates that he resents "Blue Monday" because he always loses at dice gambling and it is the day when people die, and concludes that there is no use working on Mondays (Sam: "Blue Monday Blues"). The pianist Sweetpea arrives and plays for a while until the arrogant singer Tom comes in and knocks her out of the way, claiming that the only reason the café is still in business is his singing. Joe's sweetheart Vi enters, asking if anyone has seen her "lovin' man" Joe, for which she is supposed to meet for a date (Vi: "Has Anyone Seen My Joe?"). Singles bar redirects here. ... Gamble redirects here. ... Blue Monday can refer to more than one thing. ... A short grand piano, with the lid up. ...

When Mike goes to the backroom to ask if anyone has seen Joe, Tom attempts to seduce and woo Vi. When Tom tells her that he loves her and asks what she sees in the gambler Joe, Vi angrily that retorts that even if he gambles, Joe is a man and unique. Tom continues to try to persuade Vi to leave Joe for him and attempts to kiss her, when Vi threatens him with a revolver that Joe had given her. Mike returns with the news that no one has seen Joe, and Vi leaves. Mike again calls Sam and scolds him for being lazy, and as Sam again sweeps the floor he sings a reprise the song "Blue Monday" (Sam: "Monday's the day that all the earthquakes quiver"). This time Sam more directly foreshadows the event to come, as he states that "Monday's a day full of sad, sad news /... That's when a gal will pull a trigger, / A gal will pull a trigger". // In sociology, seduction is the process of deliberately enticing a person into an act. ... For other uses, see Revolver (disambiguation). ...

Joe enters the café and Tom hides behind the piano to eavesdrop on his conversation with Mike. After Mike tells Joe that Vi has been looking for him and that he has heard that Joe won a large deal of money in a crap game, Joe tells him that he is going to use the money to travel to the South the next morning to visit his mother, whom he hadn't seen in years and to whom he has recently sent a telegram (Joe: "I'll tell the world I did"). Joe says that he can not tell Vi that he is going, and when asked why by Mike he says that she gets jealous and angry for irrational reasons. He then relates how he yearns to see his mother and return home (Joe: "I'm Gonna See My Mother"). Craps (previously known as crabs[1]) is a casino dice game. ... Historic Southern United States. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ...

Joe goes upstairs to meet Vi, and slowly the night's guests and customers arrive. After a dance, Vi tells him that she loves only him and although she is a jealous woman, if he remains true to her then she will be his (Vi: I love but you, my Joe, my Joe"). When Joe leaves to wait for a telegram from his mother, Tom tells Vi that he overheard Joe's conversation and that the telegram is from another woman. Vi initially refuses to believe him, but when Sweetpea arrives with Joe's telegram, Vi accuses Joe of infidelity and demands to see the telegram. Joe rebukes her by pushing her away, and when he opens the envelope Vi shoots him with the revolver from her handbag.

Vi reads the letter, which says that there is no need for Joe to come because his mother had been dead for three years. When she realizes what she has done, she sinks to the floor and begs Joe for forgiveness, which she receives. As Joe dies, he sings that he is finally going to see his mother in heaven. (Joe: "I'm Gonna See My Mother").

Performance History, Reception and Legacy

By 1922, the improvisational and melodic talent of George Gershwin, a former song-plugger for a music publishing firm on Tin Pan Alley, allowed him to write songs for three Broadway shows and then write complete scores for four (although because every one of his previous shows was a revue, Gershwin had basically no dramatic experience). Two of Gershwin's most successful works at this time were the scores to the 1920 and 1921 productions of George White's Scandals, a popular annual revue. Paul Whiteman, the music director and conductor of the Scandals of 1922 (with his Orchestra in the pit), which Gershwin was again hired for, had previously worked with him when the Paul Whiteman Orchestra recorded the latter's song "South Sea Island" in 1921. Gershwin redirects here. ... This article deals with contemporary popular music publishing. ... Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... A revue is a type of theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches that satirize contemporary figures, news, or literature. ... George Whites Scandals were a long-running string of Broadway revues that ran from 1911-1939, modelled after the Ziegfeld Follies. ... 1928 Columbia Records label with caricature of Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was a popular american orchestral leader. ... The title of music director is used by many symphony orchestras to designate the primary conductor and artistic leader of the orchestra. ... A conductor conducting at a ceremony A conductors score and batons Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ... George Whites Scandals were a long-running string of Broadway revues that ran from 1911-1939, modelled after the Ziegfeld Follies. ...

Gershwin's lyricist Buddy DeSylva originally conceived a plan for writing a "jazz opera" set in Harlem and based on the Italian language verismo opera Pagliacci with Gershwin in the early 1920s, and Whiteman, who had built much of his reputation on such experimental fusions of different musical and dramatic genres, persuaded producer George White to include it in the 1922 Scandals. White was initially enthusiastic about an idea of a black "opera" because "A recent Broadway success was Shuffle Along, a show with an all-black cast—its words and music by the black creative team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake... White seems to have imagined that a black-oriented segment in the new edition of his revue would capitalize on Shuffle Along's appeal." [2] However, after considering his decision, White realized that a thirty-minute operatic tragedy, or "one act vaudeville opera", as Gershwin called it, would disrupt the flow of his review, and promptly reconsidered before Gershwin and DeSylva had begun writing. The latter two, however, were still the composer and lyricist of the rest of the revue, as it would include the later-famous song "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise." Buddy Gard DeSylva, often credited as Buddy De Sylva, Buddy DeSylva, Bud De Sylva and B.G. DeSylva (January 27, 1895 - July 11, 1950) was a songwriter, one third of the songwriting team DeSylva, Brown and Henderson, one of the top Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the era, and a... Italian ( , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people,[4] primarily in Italy. ... Verismo was an Italian literary movement born approximately between 1875 and 1895. ... Cover of the first edition of Pagliacci published by E. Sonzogno, Milan, 1892 Pagliacci (Clowns) is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. ... A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatrical production. ... George White (August 21, 1872 - December 15, 1953) was a Democratic politician from Ohio. ... Shuffle Along premiered in 1921, written and composed by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and was the first major African American hit musical of the 1920s. ... Noble Sissle (born July 10, 1889 in Indianapolis, Indiana, died December 17, 1975 in Tampa, Florida) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright. ... James Hubert Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983), was a composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. ...

Three weeks before the opening of the show, White found that he was in need of a longer program and reverted to allowing the (unwritten) opera to be included in the show. Gershwin and DeSylva wrote the work in five days and five nights, and soon after completion it was orchestrated by Will Vodery, a very talented but relatively unknown African-American composer who had befriended Gershwin. Will Vodery (October 8, 1885 - November 18, 1951) was an African-American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and arranger, and one of the few black Americans of his time to make a name for himself as a composer on Broadway, working largely for Florenz Ziegfeld. ...

The premiere performance of Blue Monday was at the four Scandal's tryouts in New Haven, Connecticut, and it was received there very warmly and enthusiastically. Gershwin later wrote that what he referred to as his "composer's stomach", ailments which he would have for the rest of his life, originated in his nervousness on the opening night of Blue Monday. A few days after, it opened (and closed) on Broadway at the Globe Theatre on August 28, 1922. The opera itself did not gain a lot of acceptance because of its tragic ending, and was removed from the Scandals after only one performance. New Haven redirects here. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a Broadway theatre, located at 205 West 46th Street. ... is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Some critics saw the work as worse than just inappropriate for the Scandals, as Charles Darnton's review in the New York World called it "the most dismal, stupid, and incredible blackface sketch that has probably ever been perpetrated. In it a dusky soprano finally killed her gambling man. She should have shot all her associates the moment they appeared and then turned the pistol on herself." [3] According to Reed University Professor of Music David Schiff, "With the appearance of black musicals like Shuffle Along and the emergence of black stars such as Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters, the minstrel convention of blackface, which survived in the vastly popular performances of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, had become an embarrassment - at least to some critics."^[2] The New York World was a newspaper published in New York from 1860 until 1931. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... Shuffle Along premiered in 1921, written and composed by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and was the first major African American hit musical of the 1920s. ... Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was a multi-lingual American actor, athlete, bass-baritone concert singer, writer, civil rights activist, fellow traveler, Spingarn Medal winner, and Stalin Peace Prize laureate. ... Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896–September 1, 1977) was an Oscar-nominated American blues vocalist and actress. ... Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... Al Jolson (May 26, 1886–October 23, 1950) was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian and actor of Jewish heritage whose career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950. ... One of 12 Eddie Cantor caricatures by Frederick J. Garner for a 1933 Brown & Bigelow advertising card set. ...

However, "Another critic... said it was a genuine human plot of American life and foreshadowed things to come from Gershwin" [4], and another wrote that "This opera will be imitated in a hundred years." Most importantly, a third critic was relieved that "Here at last, is a genuinely human plot of American life, set to music in the American vein, using jazz only at the right moments, the Blues, and above all, a new and free ragtime time recitative. In it we see the first gleam of a new American musical art."^[3] Many biogrophers and musicologists would see such an assessment and a prophetic prediction of the accomplishment that Gershwin would make thirteen years later with Porgy and Bess. The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale as well as a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ... Look up ragtime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Recitative, a form of composition often used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas (and occasionally in operettas and even musicals), is melodic speech set to music, or a descriptive narrative song in which the music follows the words. ... The cast of Porgy and Bess during the Boston try-out prior to the Broadway opening. ...

Blue Monday was one of Gershwin's premature works and lacks the musical and dramatic sophistication of his later musicals and Porgy and Bess, but jazz conductor Paul Whiteman, who conducted the original performance of the piece in 1922, was so impressed by it that he asked Gershwin to compose a symphonic jazz piece for Whiteman to conduct at a concert Whiteman was planning. The resulting piece, "Rhapsody in Blue," became Gershwin's most famous composition. For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... 1928 Columbia Records label with caricature of Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was a popular american orchestral leader. ... Cover of the original sheet music of the two piano version of Rhapsody in Blue. ...

Arts consultant Jeffrey James claims that Blue Monday is the "genesis of the Rhapsody", and "the missing link in Gershwin's evolution into the Rhapsody in Blue" as well as a source to his Preludes, Piano Concerto and Porgy and Bess. [5] Three Preludes are short piano pieces by George Gershwin and were first performed by the composer at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York in 1926. ... Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than the earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue. ... The cast of Porgy and Bess during the Boston try-out prior to the Broadway opening. ...

After its disastrous flop on Broadway, Blue Monday was subsequently renamed 135th Street when Ferde Grofé re-orchestrated it in 1925, with a concert performance at Carnegie Hall on December 29. In an unusually daring move for 1950's television, it was presented in that medium in 1953, as part of the famous anthology, Omnibus, under the title 135th Street. This production featured black singers, not white singers in blackface. [6] Blue Monday is occasionally, though sparingly, revived both inside and outside of the United States, including a 1970 New York revival and recent productions in Adelaide, Australia, Livorno, Italy, Arlington, Virginia and Linz, Switzerland. It has also been recorded complete, and released on CD. A vocal score and adaptation by George Bassman was published in 1993. Ferde Grofé in 1921 as pianist with Paul Whitemans orchestra. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street. ... is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Omnibus was a commercially-sponsored educational TV series broadcast in the United States, primarily on Sunday afternoons, from November 9, 1952 to 1961. ... For other uses, see Adelaide (disambiguation). ... Livorno (archaic English: ) is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. ... Arlington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia (which calls itself a commonwealth), directly across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. By an act of Congress July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac was returned to Virginia effective in 1847 As of 2000... For the town in Germany, see Linz am Rhein. ... CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit ÄŒeské Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s... George Bassman (February 2, 1914 - June 26, 1997) was an American composer and songwriter. ...

An abbreviated version of Blue Monday, performed in blackface, was included in the 1945 film biography of Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue. The sequence was a fictionalized, but basically true re-creation of the work's opening performance. Bandleader Paul Whiteman appeared as himself. Rhapsody in Blue is a 1945 biopic of George Gershwin. ... 1928 Columbia Records label with caricature of Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was a popular american orchestral leader. ...

References

1. ^ Hutton, Mary Ellyn. "Kunzel revives Gershwin", The Cincinnati Post, E. W. Scripps Company, 1997-05-15. Archived from the original on 2003-05-23. 
2. ^ Schiff, David (1997). Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55953-7. 
3. ^ Alpert, Hollis (1990). The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-58339-6. 

The Cincinnati Post is an afternoon daily newspaper published since 1881 in Cincinnati, Ohio. ... The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) is an American media conglomerate founded by Edward W. Scripps on November 2, 1878, originally known as the Cleveland Penny Press. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 143rd day of the year (144th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the city in England. ... The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press, in Trumpington Street, Cambridge. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Colophon of the publisher Alfred A. Knopf. ...

External links

• Libretto
• Entry at the Internet Broadway Database
• Entry at Operabase
• Work Information