Gershwin’s Lullaby: A Tender and Enduring Harmony Exercise

The 21-year-old George Gershwin composed the Lullaby for String Quartet in 1919 as a harmony exercise for his teacher, Edward Kilenyi. The effortless melody was so remarkable that it circulated among Gershwin’s friends and was performed frequently at gatherings. Gershwin later reused the melody in his 1922 one-act “jazz opera,” Blue Monday, for the aria, “Has one of you seen my Joe?” Lullaby begins with the ethereal tones of the first violin’s …

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