Rotational Form in the Opening Scene of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess

• Published in: Journal of the American Musicological Society Vol. 60; no. 2; pp. 373 - 414
• Main Authors: Davis, Andrew, Pollack, Howard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Richmond University of California Press 01.08.2007; University of California Press Books Division
• Subjects: Abridged operas; Analysis; Catfish; Composers; Compositional Techniques; Criticism and interpretation; Drama; Fugues; Gershwin, George; Gershwin, George (1898-1937); Heyward, DuBose (1885-1940); Musical Analysis; Musical Structure; Novels; Opera; Operas; Organization; Production costs; Stories, plots, etc; Teleology; Theater; Themes; Versions; Works; United States; New York
• ISSN: 0003-0139; 1547-3848
• DOI: 10.1525/jams.2007.60.2.373

Although George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess has the reputation of being casually constructed and amenable to cuts, a close look at the unexpurgated opera—including its first scene, the focus of this essay—reveals a through-composed work of considerable architectural complexity. Specifically, the opening scene may be understood as a rotational form—a large-scale organizational strategy in which thematic materials are restated cyclically—exhibiting teleological genesis—a procedure by which the form leads the listener gradually toward a goal-point or climax. In this particular case, two alternating themes eventually conjoin to form the subject of a climactic fugue, thereby closely tracing the scene's dramatic design, in which a craps game degenerates into violence and murder. The presence of rotational form in this scene, among other criteria, suggests that abridged versions of the opera, including the one premiered by New York's Theatre Guild in 1935, need to be reconsidered, especially with regard to the work's motivic, tonal, and formal coherence as well as its proportion and pacing.