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UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

GEORGE GERSHWIN’S CONCERTO IN F AND F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S THE GREAT GATSBY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS IN SEARCH OF THE

LOST GENERATION

By

Belinda Xiya Chen

A DOCTORAL ESSAY

Submitted to the Faculty

of the University of Miami

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts

Coral Gables, Florida

May 2020

©2020

Belinda Xiya Chen

All Rights Reserved

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

A doctoral essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

GEORGE GERSHWIN’S CONCERTO IN F AND F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S THE GREAT GATSBY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS IN SEARCH OF THE

LOST GENERATION

Belinda Xiya Chen

Approved: ________________ ________________ Tian Ying, M.M. Santiago Rodriguez, M.M. Associate Professor of Keyboard Performance Professor and Chair of Keyboard

Performance ________________ _________________ Naoko Takao, D.M.A. Guillermo Prado, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Keyboard Dean of the Graduate School Performance ________________ Juraj Kojs, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition

CHEN, BELINDA XIYA (D.M.A, Keyboard Performance) George Gershwin’s Concerto in F and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s (May 2020) The Great Gatsby: An Interdisciplinary Analysis in Search of The Lost Generation Abstract of a doctoral essay at the University of Miami. Doctoral essay supervised by Professor Tian Ying. No. of pages in text. (101)

This paper will be a comparative analysis between George Gershwin’s Concerto

in F and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The goal of this paper is to draw

parallels between the harmonic motion, harmonic language, and rhythm in Concerto in F

to the plot, imagery, and syntax in The Great Gatsby, in order to reveal the micro-

elements which contributed to expressing the restlessness, disillusionment, and

excitement that permeated the youth of the Jazz Age in America. As both works

happened to be written in 1925, they are considered monuments of American culture,

remembered and admired for Fitzgerald’s stunning and brutally honest portrayal of the

psychology behind the American dream and Gershwin’s creation of a different world of

rhythm and harmony that echoes the American spirit. Through artistic imagination,

compositional technique, and craftsmanship, Fitzgerald and Gershwin, who both insisted

on creating art that the common American people could relate to, illuminated the spirit

and emotions of their times.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Musical Examples……………………………………………………………. v Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 Overview ......................................................................................................... 1 Historical Background .................................................................................... 2 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................ 3 Need for Study ................................................................................................. 5 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................ 8 Overview ......................................................................................................... 8 Sources on Gershwin ....................................................................................... 8 Sources on Fitzgerald ...................................................................................... 13 Additional Sources for Historical Context ..................................................... 14 3 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 16 Overview ......................................................................................................... 16 Section 1: Introduction .................................................................................... 17 Section 2: Biographical and Historical Context .............................................. 18 Section 3: Overview and Analysis of Concerto in F ....................................... 18 Section 4: Overview and Analysis of The Great Gatsby ................................ 20 Section 5: Synthesis of Analyses and Conclusion ........................................... 21 4 HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT ................................... 23 The Jazz Age ................................................................................................... 23 Biography of Gershwin ................................................................................... 26 Biography of Fitzgerald ................................................................................... 31 5 OVERVIEW OF CONCERTO IN F ............................................................... 35 6 MUSICAL FORCES IN GERSHWIN’S CONCERTO IN F ........................ 49 First Movement ............................................................................................... 52 Second Movement ........................................................................................... 60 Third Movement .............................................................................................. 63 7 KRAMER’S THEORY OF MUSICAL TIME IN CONCERTO IN F ............ 66

iv

8 THE GREAT GATSBY ................................................................................... 84 Plot ............................................................................................................ 84 Themes ............................................................................................................ 86 9 ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT GATSBY ........................................................ 90 Chronology and Structure ............................................................................... 90 Syntax ............................................................................................................. 91 10 SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSION ............................................................... 97 WORKS CITED…………… ...................................................................................... 100

v

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

1 “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” …. ................................................................ 50 2 “Dido’s Lament” ............................................................................................. 51 3 Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. I measures 92-98 ........................................... 55 4 Concerto in F, mov. I measures 384-386 ....................................................... 58-59 5 Concerto in F, mov. II measures 1-10 ........................................................... 61 6 Concerto in F, mov. III mm. 1-23 ................................................................... 64 7 Beethoven String Quartet no. 7 ..................................................................... 67 8 Schumann Stuckchen ..................................................................................... 68 9 Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 1-4 ............................................................... 71 10 Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 5-9 ............................................................. 71 11 Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 9-12 ........................................................... 72 12 Concerto in F, mov. I measures 23-28 .......................................................... 72 13 Concerto in F, mov. III measures 286-287 ..................................................... 74 14 Concerto in F, mov. I measures 257-270 ....................................................... 75 15 Concerto in F, mov. I measures 352-359 ...................................................... 76 16 Concerto in F, mov. I measures 61-64 ............................................................ 79 17 Concerto in F, mov. III measures 90-94 ....................................................... 79 18 Concerto in F, mov. II measures 173-175 ..................................................... 80 19 Concerto in F, mov. III, measures 208-211 .................................................... 80 20 Concerto in F, mov. II, measures 48-55 ........................................................ 81 21 Concerto in F, mov. III measures 284-289 ................................................... 81

vi

22 Concerto in F, mov. I measures 52-57 ............................................................ 82 23 Concerto in F, mov. III measures 346-348 ..................................................... 82

1

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

..gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes – a fresh green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees…had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Overview

This paper will be a comparative analysis between two American masterpieces:

George Gershwin’s Concerto in F and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Both

written in 1925, they are considered monuments of American culture, remembered and

admired for Fitzgerald’s stunning and brutally honest portrayal of the psychology behind

the American dream and Gershwin’s creation of a different world of rhythm and harmony

that echoes the American spirit. Through artistic imagination, compositional technique,

and craftsmanship, Fitzgerald and Gershwin, who both insisted on creating art that the

common American people could relate to, illuminated the spirit and emotions of their

times. By drawing parallels from the harmonic motion, harmonic language, and rhythm

in Concerto in F to the plot, imagery, and syntax in The Great Gatsby, this paper reveals

the micro-elements that contribute to expressing the restlessness, disillusionment, and

excitement that permeated the youth of the 1920s in America.

2

Historical Background

The “Jazz Age” was a term often used by F. Scott Fitzgerald to describe the 1920s

in America: exciting, pulsating with life, and free-spirited. According to Mitchell

Breitweiser, the term “jazz age” had a satiric and humorous meaning to Fitzgerald,

especially when juxtaposed with archeological terms such as “Stone Age,” “Bronze

Age,” or “Iron Age.” Whereas the term “age” used to imply the span of centuries, during

the 1920s, the “velocity of change” had become such that a mere decade could now

constitute as an “age.1” Also, whereas the “universal plastic material” that defined

humanity used to be a material substance, such as stone, bronze, or iron, during the

1920s, it was suddenly an “intense, ungraspable, cultural energy.2” In the words of Nick

Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, the age could only be defined by “an

arrangement of notes that will never be played again.3”

Gertrude Stein described the youth of the 1920s as the “Lost Generation,4” a

quote that Ernest Hemingway later used as the first epigraph in his novel The Sun Also

Rises. While the twenties were an hour of endless possibilities reminiscent of a jazz

improvisation, it was also a period of self-delusion. As Fitzgerald portrayed through his

characters of dilettantes in his novels This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and the

Damned, the artistic youth of the 1920s lived their lives by frolicking from one café to

the next and engaging in half-hearted love affairs. It seemed as if their overall purpose in

these activities was an attempt to detach themselves from any seriousness and

1 Mitchell Breitweiser, “Jazz Fractures: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Epochal Representation,”

American Literary History 12 no. 3 (Autumn, 2000): 360. 2 Breitweiser, 360. 3 F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, ed. Matthew Bruccoli (New York: Scribner, 2003), 11. 4 Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, (New York: Scribner, 2006), i.

3

commitment in life. Some members of the Lost Generation naively believed that money

was the solution to anything; happiness could be found not through commitments and

long-term relationships, but through the momentary pleasures that material wealth could

provide.

The desire to live in the moment was the result of the disillusionment that the

First World War had brought on a generation of young men. Many had participated in the

war, believing it to be the last great cause, the “war to end all wars,” only to return lost

and confused, feeling that the fatal war had “done little more than plant the seeds for

another war.”5 The unique amalgamation of excitement, energy, restlessness, and

disappointment make up Fitzgerald’s “Jazz Age.” The ebullient and restless psychology

of it is embodied by Fitzgerald’s writing approach towards setting and chronology and

Gershwin’s use of fragmented phrase structure, unique harmonic language, and animated

rhythms. Both artists “…represented a certain kind of American who typified eternal and

highly successful youth in the strident and awakening America of the Jazz Age”6 and

their works have left eternal impressions upon their country’s culture.

Statement of the Problem

While there has been significant research on the music of Gershwin and an

abundance of research and analysis on Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, not much is out there

regarding an interdisciplinary analysis between the two artists’ compositional styles, even

though Gershwin was described as “to music what F. Scott Fitzgerald was to prose” by

5 Richard Lehan, The Limits of Wonder, (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990), 1. 6 Alan Dashiell, Forward to George Gershwin: A Study in American Music by Isaac Goldberg,

(New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1931), xiii.

4

the New York Times in his 1937 obituary.7 While other mediums of art, such as painting,

are often discussed in scholarly works on Romantic and Impressionistic music, it is rare

to find scholars who explore the relationship between music and literature. This is

problematic, because composers from centuries past have often found inspiration in their

contemporary writers. For example, Debussy admired Symbolist poets and strove to

achieve the same affect that their poems produced in his compositions. Paul Dukas, an

old friend of Debussy, has confirmed that “the strongest influence which Debussy

experienced is that of literary men, not that of musicians.8” Composer Pytor Tchaikovsky

and writer Anton Chekhov were also known for their sincere admiration of each other’s

creations. Dmitri Shostakovich also heavily admired Chekhov’s stories to the point that

he could recite them from memory, and he even remarked that they were in perfect sonata

form. In the present day, one of the most prominent writers of our time, Haruki

Murakami, often intersperses his plots with works of classical music, allowing certain

elements of the music to permeate throughout his writing style.

Since composers were so greatly inspired by their contemporary writers, and vice-

versa, a solid understanding of literature can lead to a more enlightened and inspired

interpretation of a composer’s works, just like how an accurate understanding of musical

forms can lead to even greater appreciation for writers’ approach to plot and structure.

While all interdisciplinary analysis can open up new avenues of listening and

interpreting, I believe this to be especially true in the case between music and literature

7 Howard Markel, “George Gershwin’s too-short life ended on a blue note,” PBS News Hour,

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/health/george-gershwins-too-short-life-ended-on-a-blue-note.

8 Jennifer Lea Brown, “Debussy and Symbolism: A Comparative study of the aesthetics of Claude Debussy and three French symbolist poets with an analysis of Debussy’s symbolist techniques in “Pelleas et Melisande.” (DMA essay, Stanford University, 1992), 13.

5

because both mediums of art utilize the perception of time in their formal structures as a

means of expressivity. After all, they are both works of art that happen across time,

unlike the visual arts. Therefore, there must be many similarities between musical and

literary form and style, and highlighting the parallels between a piece of music like

Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby could enlighten and inspire

our interpretations of both works in new ways. In addition, since they were written in the

same year, both artists were probably influenced by similar societal and cultural trends.

In the analysis part of my paper, I ultimately focus on the fact that Concerto in F and The

Great Gatsby most resemble each other in their formal structures and stylistic features,

and that these similarities were the result of larger societal and cultural trends that both

artists were influenced by in their desire to create art for the country and people of their

time.

Need for Study

One aim of this study is to demonstrate how interdisciplinary research can serve

as an aid in the process of solving interpretational questions in musical performance. The

study will provide an interpretative option of Gershwin’s artistic intentions within

Concerto in F. Although Gershwin is a well-known composer, especially in America, his

Concerto in F is not as widely performed or recognized as Rhapsody in Blue even though

the concerto contains some of his most sophisticated writing, masterful orchestration, and

thrilling virtuosity. One explanation for this could be that the expression and musicality

behind the concerto require a deeper understanding of the American psyche, and the spirit

of the concerto can be more difficult to grasp than the big-band pep of Rhapsody in Blue.

As Isaac Goldberg wrote back in 1931:

6

“The Concerto…has unfortunately not gained a place in orchestral repertory. Why? It is more difficult to perform than is the Rhapsody, which had so much more sensational a start than did its successor. Maimed masterpiece that it is, the Concerto awaits its rebirth.”9

From a pedagogical point of view, this paper could serve as an example of

addressing musical mastery through associative thinking. The main questions to be

answered in this study are: how do both Gershwin and Fitzgerald depict their

generation’s attitudes towards life though their art? What formalistic and stylistic

similarities are there between the two works, and what does that tell us about the 1920s in

America? Most importantly, how can knowledge of Fitzgerald’s unique and honest

portrayal of the Jazz Age, the American Dream, and the Lost Generation inspire

performers in their interpretative process when learning Concerto in F?

I hope that the conclusions of this paper lead to an increased appreciation and

understanding of the music of Gershwin and the words of Fitzgerald, and that my

analysis of The Great Gatsby will bring out the musicality of Fitzgerald’s prose while my

analysis of Concerto in F brings out the narrative elements in Gershwin’s writing. Most

importantly, I hope that the synthesis of analyses will bring a voice back to the lost

generation, demonstrating that although they were a product of a time period long past,

these two works of art still have the power to speak to us today in vital and moving ways.

As George Gershwin once said: “Music must reflect the thoughts and aspirations of the

people and the time. My people are American. My time is today.”10 The ultimate goal of

this paper is to bring life to the American people and time that Gershwin and Fitzgerald

9 Isaac Goldberg, George Gershwin: A Study in American Music, (New York: Ungar Publishing

Co., 1931), 216. 10 Dashiell, xvi.

7

were a part of, so that when we interact with their works, we will have a new-found

appreciation for, and momentary revival of, America’s lost generation.

8

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Overview

As mentioned in the previous chapter, while there has been significant research on

Gershwin’s works and an abundance of research and analysis on Fitzgerald’s Great

Gatsby, not much is out there regarding an interdisciplinary analysis between the fields of

music and literature, which is one of the primary inspirations and incentives for this

research study. Since the ultimate goal of this paper is to synthesize analyses of Gershwin

and Fitzgerald together in order to inspire a more enlightened interpretation of both

works, much of the paper will be based on my own learning experiences with both the

concerto and The Great Gatsby. However, factual information and part of the analysis

presented in this study will be drawn from sources discussed in this chapter.

Sources on Gershwin

The current research pertaining to Gershwin and his concerto will refer to the

extensive and valued biographical studies written to date on Gershwin by authors Richard

Crawford and Wayne J. Schneider11, Walter Rimler12, as well as Isaac Goldberg13 and

Katharine Weber14. Unfortunately, there has not been much literature written on the

11 Richard Crawford and Wayne J. Schneider, “Gershwin, George,” in Grove Music Online,

Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002252861?rskey=VVEAjZ&result=1

12Walter Rimler, “George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait,” (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009).

13 Isaac Goldberg, “George Gershwin: A Study in American Music,” (New York: F. Ungar Publishing Co., 1958).

14 Katherine Weber, “The Memory of all that: George Gershwin, Kay Swift, and my Family’s Legacy of Infidelities,” (New York: Crown, 2011).

9

Gershwin’s Concerto in F – in terms of Gershwin’s works for piano, it seems that

scholars much prefer to write about his Rhapsody in Blue. However, the PhD dissertation

of Anthony Charles LoBalbo did include much useful information for the purpose of this

project. In his PhD dissertation A Performance Guide to Selected Piano Music of George

Gershwin, LoBalbo provides formal diagrams for many of Gershwin’s piano pieces, as

well as performance suggestions.15 This project draws extensively on LaBalbo’s

diagrams of the form and structure of Concerto in F.

Recordings have been an invaluable asset to my study and understanding of the

concerto. This study was inspired by Oscar Levant’s recording of Concerto in F16. As one

of Gershwin’s closest friends, I believe that his interpretation must be the most authentic

one that we have access to. In his lifetime, he achieved “prominence as a sympathetic

interpreter of Gershwin's music.17” In addition to the above sources, many analytical

parts of this research paper draw on the ideas of music theory scholars Steve Larson and

Jonathan Kramer.

Richard Crawford and Wayne J. Schneider’s detailed biography of Gershwin

provide a solid starting point in achieving a basic understanding of the layout of

Gershwin’s life. They divide his life into five periods: “Boyhood,” “From Broadway to

Rhapsody in Blue,” “Years of Celebrity and Expansion,” “Gershwin as a Songwriter,”

15Anthony Charles LoBalbo, “A Performance Guide to Selected Piano Music of George

Gershwin,” (PhD diss., New York University, 1983), 108-119. 16 “Gershwin, Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra, Oscar Levant, Piano,” YouTube video,

30:21, Posted by “Serioso Serioso,” March 27, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RdmR_5kbDc.

17 George Gelles, “Levant, Oscar,” in Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000016504?rskey=9U1dAC.

10

and “Concert Works and Porgy and Bess.18” In addition, they include a table of

Gershwin’s complete works and a bibliography. Although their biographical sketch does

not provide an intimate understanding of Gershwin’s humanity, it provides readers with

an idea of Gershwin’s roots, capacity, and influence as a composer, pianist, and musician.

Isaac Goldberg’s biography of Gershwin was actually published on Gershwin’s

33rd birthday (1931), and it is the most intimate biography we will ever be able to read

because Goldberg knew Gershwin personally and was incredibly fond of him. He

described his subject as “a youth… perhaps at the beginning of his most important

work.19” This is a significant source because it was the first biography published on

Gershwin. Since it was published while Gershwin was still alive, it has the ability to give

readers an insight to how Gershwin was perceived as a composer and person during his

time by his contemporaries, and it can give readers an insight into the excitement of

Gershwin’s day regarding his talent and innovative musical ideas. Nobody could have

predicted Gershwin’s sudden death right before his 39th birthday, and a heartbreaking

aspect of reading this biography is that Goldberg falsely assumed that Gershwin was only

at the beginning of what was bound to be a vast career, while we in the present day know

that Gershwin was in fact tragically close to the end. Goldberg could not have known at

the time he was writing Gershwin’s biography that fate would have it so that his “youth”

would remain “young” and “promising” for the rest of eternity, and this gives his

biography a closeness to not only how Gershwin was viewed by his contemporary public,

18 Crawford and Schneider, “Gershwin, George.” 19 Goldberg, 6.

11

but also to what he was expected to accomplish in the vast future (which ultimately never

happened) that no other biographical source could achieve.20

Walter Rimler draws a lot on Goldberg’s biography of Gershwin in George

Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait. This biography is also rich in research and information,

detailing Gershwin’s life from his childhood to the details of how his family dealt with

his death and the passing on of his legacy.

The Memory of all that: George Gershwin, Kay Swift, and my family’s legacy of

infidelities is a fascinating memoir by Katharine Weber that reveals a humanistic and

intimate look into Gershwin’s private life. As the granddaughter of Kay Swift, who was a

conservatory trained pianist, songwriter, and Gershwin’s romantic partner of ten years,

Weber sheds light on the human soul behind the soaring melodies, jolting rhythms, and

heartfelt lyricism of Concerto in F.

Although the above biographical sources are useful in this project in shedding

light on different aspects of Gershwin’s life and his place in history, they fall short in

providing an understanding of the analytical aspects of Gershwin’s music, especially his

concerto. While much of the analysis of the Gershwin concerto in this project derives

from my own understanding of music theory and form, I also draw on the ideas of music

theorists Steve Larson in Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music21

20 Goldberg, 25. 21 Steve Larson, “Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music,” (Bloomington:

Indiana University Press, 2012).

12

and Jonathan Kramer’s The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New

Listening Strategies22.

In Musical Forces, Larson utilizes his research in music theory, cognitive

linguistics, experimental psychology, and even artificial intelligence to show that a

listener’s musical experience is largely shaped by their conceptions of physical motion.

According to Larson, listeners hear tonal music through analogies to phenomena in

physics such as gravity, magnetism, and inertia and it is through these experiences that

listeners derive the expressive meaning behind a piece of music. Because Concerto in F

cannot be analyzed like a “standard concerto” at all time, Larson’s new approach to

melody and harmony has been very useful to me.

In The Time of Music, Kramer proposes a new theory of musical time. Delving

into the qualitative and philosophical aspects of rhythm, Kramer demonstrates how

music’s expressive qualities arise from its manipulation of the perception of time. He

opens his book with the following statements: “Music unfolds in time. Time unfolds in

music. Music, as Susanne Langer wrote, ‘makes time audible…’ Music becomes

meaningful in and through time.23” Since a large part of my argument is that both

Gershwin and Fitzgerald have a similar way of manipulating their audiences’ perception

of time, Kramer’s book is an especially important source in this project.

22 Jonathan Kramer, “The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening

Strategies,” (New York: Schirmer, 1988). 23 Kramer, 1.

13

Sources on Fitzgerald

As an assigned book on virtually every high school reading list in the United

States, there is a plethora of scholarly works on The Great Gatsby. The novel is, indeed,

“a permanent monument of our literature, a national treasure.”24 For the purposes of my

research and analysis, I narrowed down my sources to the ones that focus on formalistic,

structural, and stylistic aspects of the book (as opposed to sources that focus more on

critical reviews, audience reception, distribution of sales, or characterization) so that I

could more clearly draw parallels to the formalistic, structural, and stylistic features of

the Gershwin concerto. Three invaluable resources for me were Matthew Bruccoli’s New

Essays on The Great Gatsby25, The Limits of Wonder26 by Richard Lehan, and Thomas A.

Pendleton’s I’m Sorry about the Clock: Chronology, Composition, and Narrative

Technique in The Great Gatsby27.

Besides providing the preface for the Wisehouse Classics Edition of The Great

Gatsby, Matthew Bruccoli compiled five critical essays by different literary scholars in

New Essays on The Great Gatsby, in which each scholar focuses on a different aspect of

the stylistic or formal features of Gatsby that places the novel within the context of the

American literary tradition. For example, Roger Lewis’s essay “Money, Love, and

Aspiration in The Great Gatsby” is about the psychological, political, and economic

implications in the themes of The Great Gatsby, and how they are a result of the shattered

24 George Garret, “Fire and Freshness: A Matter of Style in The Great Gatsby,” in New Essays on

the Great Gatsby, ed. Matthew Bruccoli, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 101. 25 Matthew Bruccoli, “New Essays on ‘The Great Gatsby,’” (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1986). 26 Richard Lehan, “The Limits of Wonder,” (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990). 27 Thomas A. Pendleton, “I’m Sorry about the Clock: Chronology, Composition, and Narrative

Technique in ‘The Great Gatsby,’” (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 2006).

14

visions of World War I.28 In the essay Fire and Freshness: A Matter of Style, George

Garret points out stylistic elements of Fitzgerald’s writing that, although describes a

society and time that is far removed from the American consciousness, places The Great

Gatsby for the rest of eternity in the hands of “preservers of the totems of the American

tribe.”29

In The Limits of Wonder, Richard Lehan provides a thorough analysis of The

Great Gatsby, going through each chapter. He provides detailed explanations of the

symbolism that Fitzgerald utilizes and the specific features of the Jazz Age that these

symbols represent. He also provides details about the society of the Jazz Age that are not

as commonly known, but that are still important in achieving a full understanding of the

novel.

I’m Sorry about the Clock: Chronology, Composition, and Narrative Technique

in The Great Gatsby by Thomas A. Pendleton focuses exclusively on the narrative

techniques that Fitzgerald applied in order to write Gatsby. The source demonstrates to

readers how Fitzgerald’s use of chronology in the set-up of his plot contributes to the

overall expressiveness in the story. It will be useful to me in comparing Fitzgerald’s

narrative approach to chronology to Gershwin’s harmonic approach to form.

Additional Sources for Historical Context

This paper will also utilize sources written by scholarly experts of the Jazz Age.

These sources include the book The Jazz Age by Marvin Barret and The Jazz Age:

28 Roger Lewis, “Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby,” in New Essays on the Great

Gatsby, ed. Matthew Bruccoli, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 41. 29 Garret, 107.

15

American Style in the 1920s by Sarah Coffin. Barret’s book illustrates a kaleidoscopic

view of the age that gave birth to Concerto in F and The Great Gatsby. He provides a

vast landscape of characters and trends which provide the context for these two works,

filled with details of the Charleston, flappers, jazz musicians, Prohibition, and the Ku

Klux Klan. Sarah Coffin’s book provides another context upon which to better

understand the Jazz Age: through illustrative showcases in developments in design, art,

and architecture during the Jazz Age. The visual aspects of this book provide another

avenue of associative thinking in which to place Concerto in F and The Great Gatsby in

historical context.

16

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

George Gershwin, “Made in America!” and, likewise, “Made by America”…Ours, in scene, in theme, in progress, in goal. -Isaac Goldberg, George Gershwin: A Study in American Music

Overview

This paper will be organized into five major sections, which includes:

Introduction/Thesis, Historical Information on the Jazz Age, a formal analysis of

Gershwin’s Concerto in F along with stylistic features, a formal analysis of Fitzgerald’s

The Great Gatsby along with stylistic features, and a final synthesis of how these two

works parallel each other in their formalistic and stylistic aspects.

The heart of this paper lies in the analysis of Concerto in F and The Great Gatsby.

In each section on analysis, I focus specifically on how each work deals with the

manipulation of time and how stylistic features contribute to the overall expressiveness of

the works that is unique to the Jazz Age. By manipulation of time, I mean how the

listener or reader perceives time while engaging in the work of art. In both Concerto in F

and The Great Gatsby, time does not seem to pass by in a linear fashion, and I argue that

this was an intentional device on both Gershwin and Fitzgerald’s part that allowed them

to illustrate what it was like to live in the Jazz Age. For example, sections in the

Gershwin concerto go from jam-packed and tightly syncopated rhythms to endless

ascending passages that have no harmonic goal or resolution. Similarly, in The Great

Gatsby, while some scenes from the novel leave the reader to feel almost claustrophic

17

and frantically rushed, other scenes are filled with lyrical and dreamy prose that

seems to resemble endless landscapes of imagination and dreams in which time stands

still.

I began the research project with the broad hypothesis that formalistic and stylistic

features of Gershwin’s Concerto in F could be found in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby,

and vice-versa because both artists were influenced by the larger societal and cultural

trends of the Jazz Age. The first and most obvious step in embarking on this project was

to become as familiar as possible with Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby and the music of

Concerto in F. This was made possible through my own study of the book and the

concerto, and well as through study of the sources mentioned in the previous chapter.

Only from there could I go on to have a deeper understanding of these two works and

find ways to test my hypothesis.

Section 1: Introduction

The first section, Chapters 1-3, presents an introduction of the issues covered in

this essay, as well as proposes the thesis of my essay. The purpose of the entire essay is to

argue that through their artistic imagination, compositional technique, and craftsmanship,

especially in the manner they approached timing and style, both Fitzgerald and Gershwin

illuminated the spirit and emotions of their times in The Great Gatsby and Concerto in F.

By drawing parallels from the harmonic motion, harmonic language, and rhythm in

Concerto in F to the plot, imagery, and syntax in The Great Gatsby, this paper reveals the

micro-elements that contribute to the restlessness, disillusionment, and excitement of the

1920s in America.

18

Section 2: Biographical and Historical Context

The second section of this essay, Chapter 2, will cover the historical information

that was mentioned in Chapter 1. The purpose of the historical context is that it shapes

much of my interpretation behind the works of Gershwin and Fitzgerald. I will delve into

psychological aspects of the Jazz Age, and this section will serve as the foundation that

will support my later analysis. In addition, this section will provide brief biographies of

Fitzgerald and Gershwin. These biographies illuminate the shared experiences in the lives

of these two fascinating individuals, which can account for some of the similarities in

their styles.

Section 3: Overview and Analysis of Concerto in F

Many persons had thought that the Rhapsody was a happy accident. Well, I went out, for one thing, to show them that there was plenty more where that had come from. I made up my mind to do a piece of absolute music. The Rhapsody, as its title implied, was a blues impression. The Concerto would be unrelated to any program. And that is exactly how I wrote it. I learned a great deal from that experience. Particularly, in the handling of instruments in combination. -George Gershwin

The third section of the essay, which spans from Chapters 4-7, will contain a

formal analysis of Gershwin’s Concerto in F, demonstrating how stylistic features of this

concerto can be traced back to the historical characteristics of the Jazz Age in America,

and how this is particularly seen in Gershwin’s manipulation of time in the concerto.

While the Gershwin concerto contains many aspects of a classical concerto (being

composed in three movements, opening with an orchestral tutti), his vague harmonic and

rhythmic language also often leads the listener unable to have expectations of where the

work is going. Upon the premiere of the concerto, critics were divided in their reception

of the work, with the biggest critique being that it was “…a transition piece, fragmentary

19

and uncertain in form.”30 This section of the essay utilizes the ideas of music theorists

Steve Larson and Jonathan Kramer, in order to present an analysis of the concerto.

Although critics saw the fragmentary and ambiguity in form as a result of an

ineptitude in Gershwin’s compositional skill, I firmly believe that this was the result of

Gershwin’s intuitive creativity. In analyzing the Gershwin concerto, it is difficult to do a

classic harmonic analysis of the work, because the different themes do not relate to each

other harmonically the same way they do in a classical concerto. While most sections in a

concerto are defined by their harmonic relationship to the home key (for example, the

first theme is always in tonic, the second theme in the dominant, the development section

modulates back to the tonic, etc.) sections of the Gershwin concerto can only be defined

by the rhythmic inertia that holds them together. This reminds one of Fitzgerald’s writing

technique in Great Gatsby: chapters of the book do not seem to build up to the climax of

the book in a chronological order, and they are not defined by their relationship to the

rising action, but rather, they function as seemingly independent sections that do not

seem to fit together until the very end of the book.

This section of the essay also covers stylistic features in the Gershwin concerto,

and how they can be traced back to psychological aspects of the Jazz Age. While the

outer movements of Concerto in F are reminiscent of the fragmented excitement and

recklessness of the Jazz Age, the second movement of Concerto in F is most depictive of

the endless and yet muddled aspirations of the American dream that went hand in hand

30 Goldberg, 207.

20

with the era, a time in which “a heightened and yet insubstantial carnivalesque moment”

ultimately gave way “...to resplendent emptiness.” 31

The dramatic contrast between the claustrophobic chaos of the “carnivalesque

moments” of the outer movements and waves of “resplendent emptiness” in the second

movement highlight the parodies and juxtapositions that existed during the Jazz Age.

Especially from the cadenza onwards, the second movement is filled with rising motifs,

but because of the lack of a harmonic scheme, the listener has no idea what the motifs are

rising to, or attempting to reach. When these rising motifs finally give way to melodic

gravity, falling downwards on the final page of the movement, Gershwin makes use of

intense chromaticism and dissonance, compounding the frustration that was the result of

the elusiveness, and ultimate lie, of the American Dream.

Section 4: Overview and Analysis of The Great Gatsby

The fourth section, Chapters 8 and 9, will contain a formal analysis of

Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, demonstrating how the narrative technique that Fitzgerald

used to write this book can be traced back to the historical characteristics of the 1920’s in

America. For instance, while the word “time” shows up 87 times in the novel, and there

are also 450 instances of time-related words, it is the most confusing aspect of the novel

because it is told through flashbacks from the narrator’s (Nick) present, mostly

unreliable. Since Nick is the narrator, he is the sole reporter of the story, and yet, in many

scenes that he recounts, he is either drunk, confused himself, or not the most

knowledgeable source. Time is described in ambiguous ways by Fitzgerald: “a few days

31 Lehan, 11.

21

before the Fourth of July,” “in midsummer,” “almost the last day of summer.32” This

makes it challenging to keep track of the action, and the reader is forced to piece together

these events not as the novel progresses, but after reading the entire novel. Therefore, the

form of The Great Gatsby makes reading the novel like receiving pieces of a puzzle from

Fitzgerald. It is not until the novel concludes, after the reader has received all pieces, that

he can begin constructing the novel’s aspects and making sense out of the entire image,

and he realizes that there was a chronology and structure to it all along.

This section of the essay also covers stylistic features of The Great Gatsby that

can be traced back to psychological aspects of the Jazz Age. The theme of lost and

illusory time in The Great Gatsby is compounded by the sense of ambiguous aspiration –

aspiration for more space, more material, something that will help one arrive at that far

off goal that is ultimately elusive. “But that’s no matter –,” Fitzgerald writes in his

closing passages of The Great Gatsby, in which Nick reflects on the unattainability of the

American Dream. “Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one

fine morning –33“

What made the Jazz Age in America such a significant time in its history was the

sense of unlimited wealth, unlimited possibilities, and unlimited space. Unfortunately

these dreams eventually betrayed the very people that were so drawn to it – eventually,

the bright lights of Gatsby’s elaborate parties had to dim, the orchestra reached its final

downbeat, and the party was over.

Section 5: Synthesis of Analyses and Conclusion

32 Fitzgerald, 30, 62,120. 33 Fitzgerald, 189.

22

In section 5, which is the synthesis of the two analysis, I argue that the formal

analyses of previous sections serve to prove that Fitzgerald’s and Gershwin’s approach to

structure and form in their compositions reflect the fragmented and ambiguous sense of

time in Jazz Age America. The youth of this era lived freely and recklessly, refusing to

think about the future consequences of their present actions. These dilettantes and

socialites never planned for the future, never thought too hard about tomorrow, and yet,

when the lights momentarily dimmed and the music stopped playing, they still often

found themselves in unexpected moments of reflection trying to make meaning and sense

out of the random and seemingly unrelated moments that made their life.

This section of the essay also covers the synthesis of the stylistic features in the

Gershwin concerto and The Great Gatsby, and I argue that the stylistic features from

previous sections serve to prove that both works are imbued with the theme of elusive

aspiration, the American dream, and lost time. This section also includes my final

conclusion.

In doing this project, I believe that the analysis and historical research will

demonstrate how works of music, literature, and the visual arts are representations of the

views and experiences of a generation, and that the value in studying past masterpieces

lies in the resulting sharpened ability to understand the history that preceded our

contemporary life. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Concerto in F by George

Gershwin give us an insight into the heart and soul of a fascinating time in American

history. Through brilliant and refined craftsmanship, both artists gave a voice to

America’s lost generation, allowing that generation’s unlimited vitality and hopeless

optimism to live on forever.

23

Chapter Four

Historical and Biographical Context

The Jazz Age

“The Jazz Age” was a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald himself; it is a term that

encapsulates the sounds and sensations of the era in which Fitzgerald’s glamorous youths

and beautiful flappers blossomed and came of age. According to historian Marvin Barret,

the Jazz Age lasted from the years 1919-1929. This decade can be summarized as one

that was “hilarious and vicious, productive and destructive, [and] ultimately

exhausting.”34 The decade is also known as “The Roaring Twenties,” “the Age of

Confusion,” “the Gaudiest spree in History,” “the Golden Boom,” “the Age of Wonderful

Nonsense,” and “the Lawless Decade.”35 Regardless of the name, it was a time of

excitement and spontaneity – “an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.”36

The Jazz Age began with Woodrow Wilson signing the Treaty of Versailles in

June 1919, ending a war which had cost 27 billion dollars and 364,000 American lives.37

Unfortunately, the road back from war was filled with resentment and unrelieved

emotional tension. Turmoil wreaked havoc all over America in the form of riots, strikes,

and the notorious Wall Street Bomb. The nation was filled with the frustrations and

disillusionment of citizens who felt that the war had made them suffer for no reason other

than for “the most colossal farce of all time.”38 The outcomes of the first World War

caused many to question the values and legitimacy of Western civilization. Afterall,

World War I was essentially a war in which “civilized” Western Countries had declared

34 Barret, 1. 35 Ibid. 36 Fitzgerald, 13. 37 Lehan, 1. 38 Barret, 26.

24

war on each other for vague or uncertain reasons. The peace settlement at Versailles did

nothing to settle whatever underlying tensions had actually brought about the war, and

many felt that the war had done nothing more than “plant the seeds for another war.”39

These sentiments were the defining features of the “Lost Generation:” the artists, writers,

and intellectuals who came of age during the First World War and the Jazz Age that

followed.

While F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise focuses on the disillusionment

of the American youth following the First World War, Fitzgerald himself was actually

disappointed that he did not have the opportunity to serve overseas like his fellow

compatriots. It made him feel like he had missed out on some sort of collective

experience. However, there is probably no writer who could identify more with the

collective experience of the following decade, the twenties, more than Fitzgerald could.

One of the reasons The Great Gatsby is such a literary masterpiece is because it

“…evokes both the romance and the sadness of that strange and fascinating era we call

the twenties.”40 Subject matters of The Great Gatsby include: “the loss of an ideal, the

disillusionment that comes with failure to compromise, the efforts of runaway prosperity

and wild parties, the fear of the intangibility of that moment, the built-in resentment

against the new immigration, the fear of a new radical element, the latent racism behind

half-baked historical theories, the effect of Prohibition, the rise of a powerful underworld,

[and] the effect of the automobile and professional sports on postwar America,” which

39 Lehan, 1. 40 Lehan, 2.

25

are all important events that came to define the mood of a “glamorous” and “wild time

that seemingly will never come again.”41

After the war, the economy in America went into a slight recession, but the

recession was then followed by an unprecedented economic prosperity that came to

define the twenties. As many middle-class Americans began to generate more disposable

income for the purchase of consumer goods, the economic growth of the Jazz Age

brought optimism and extravagance to a country recovering from war. The rise of

consumerism ushered in an era of advertisement and industry. In addition, the expansion

of credit also led to the sale of alluring products to more consumers, who were spurred on

by mass advertisement. In 1920, the gross national product was $73 billion, and by 1929,

it was $104 billion. While the top five percent controlled 23.96 percent of the wealth in

1920, by 1929, the top five percent controlled 33.49 percent of the wealth. In addition,

the policies of Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover made it so that these people

paid less taxes. Americans were also encouraged by the growing Stock Market, and more

and more citizens began to participate in the buying and selling of stocks. During this

decade, “production, sales, bank deposits, brokers’ loans, stocks, and especially brokers’

loans and stocks,” continued to “zoom upward.”42

In September of 1929, the soaring stocks hit “a permanently high plateau.”43

However, on October 24, the market suddenly declined by $5 million, and then it

declined another $10 million on October 28.44 On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, in the

41 Lehan, 2. 42 Barret, 188. 43 Barret, 194. 44 Lehan, 10.

26

worst panic attack of American history, over sixteen million shares were dumped on the

market, “along with the fever dreams of a nation.”45 In other words, the stocks collapsed,

and the “gaudiest spree in history” was officially over, ushering in the era of the thirties:

the Great Depression.

George Gershwin and F. Scott Fitzgerald are two individuals who defined the

Jazz Age through their artistic creations, and also in their personal life styles. As

precocious youths who seemed to have unlimited energy and vitality, their talent and

freshness charmed all who encountered them. Admired for their accomplishments and

seemingly unlimited potential, each garnered wide-spread admiration and attention at

parties and social gatherings. Outside of their work, Gershwin and Fitzgerald each

enjoyed and lived their lives with the same amount of vigor that they used to consume

themselves in their artistic creations. The relationship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and

Zelda Satyr would be a love story for the ages, one that was as passionate as it was

tumultuous, and the open love affair between George Gershwin and Katharine Warburg

defied old-age taboos and conventions about marriage and fidelity. There is no doubt that

Gershwin and Fitzgerald were the physical embodiment of the Jazz Age in their lives of

charm, glamor, achievement, and defiant recklessness.

Biography of Gershwin

George Gershwin has been described as a “creative genius” who was able to

eloquently portray in his music “the blood and feeling of the American people.”46

Although it has been said that his preferred idiom in music was jazz, Gershwin despised

45 Barret, 196. 46 F. Campbell-Watson, foreword to Concerto in F (NY: Alfred Music, 1994).

27

the use of that term because of its vagueness and over-generalization. Instead, Gershwin

himself would probably describe his music to be in the idiom of the American people, the

people he himself chose to musically express. He liked to refer to himself as a “modern

romantic,” one who was determined to allow the voices of his compatriots to be heard

through his music.47

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1898 to Russian-Jewish immigrants Morris and

Rose Bruskin Gershwine, Gershwin “…came to us from the very soil of our great

American melting pot.”48 His parents were not well off, and therefore, Gershwin was well

aware of the grind and struggle that came with the American Dream. Gershwin was the

second of four children, including his older brother Ira Gershwin, who would become his

long-time collaborator. As a child, Gershwin’s parents did not initially have high hopes

for him. Unlike his obedient older brother Ira, he was a “hyperactive, scrappy street

kid.”49 His parents suspected that he would probably end up in jail. However, the young

Gershwin’s friendship with fellow school mate Max Rosenzweig, who played the violin,

was fated to change the course of Gershwin’s life. Mesmerized by Max’s violin playing,

the young Gershwin slowly entered the world of music.

George Gershwin began his career in New York’s Tin Pan Alley in 1914 after

finishing the ninth grade and leaving school. Tin Pan Alley was the collection of music

publishers and songwriters in New York City. Prior, Gershwin had been a piano pupil of

Charles Hambitzer, who was convinced that the young Gershwin possessed genius.

47 Alan Dashiell, foreword to George Gershwin: A Study in American Music (NY: Frederick

Ungar Publishing Co., 1931). 48 Campbell-Watson, foreword to Concerto in F. 49 Rimler, 1.

28

Gershwin worked as a song plugger at Tin Pan Alley, which meant that he was

responsible for demonstrating music on the piano in order to help promote and sell new

sheet music. While working at Tin Pan Alley, Gershwin became a skilled vocal

accompanist and songwriter. He left the Tin Pan Alley in 1917, and soon became

distinguished in the Broadway scene; his first full Broadway score, La La Lucille, opened

in 1919.

The twenties marked a golden decade for Gershwin, who experienced success

both as a Broadway composer, and also as a composer for the concert halls. Although

Gershwin happened to begin his career with Tin Pan Alley, he admitted later on that “for

a long time, as far back as my eighteenth year – I have wanted to work at big

compositions.”50 Gershwin began to seek out additional training, studying harmony,

musical form, and orchestration with Edward Kilenyi. His break-through came in 1924

with Rhapsody in Blue, which he premiered himself as the pianist, along with the

orchestra of Paul Whiteman. Rhapsody in Blue garnered both the attention of critics and

the approval of audience members.

While Rhapsody in Blue had been orchestrated by Ferde Grofe, Gershwin was

determined to orchestrate Concerto in F himself. He referred to the first trial run of

Concerto in F as the “greatest thrill of his life.”51 The rest of the twenties and thirties saw

an expansion of Gershwin’s celebrity and success. He had stays in Hollywood, where he

and Ira rented a house in Beverly Hills, maintained an active career on Broadway,

continued to compose pieces for the piano, and travelled to Europe, all while being

50 Crawford and Schneider, “Gershwin, George.” 51 Crawford and Schneider, “Gershwin, George.”

29

surrounded by an array of lovers and admirers including such personages as the sister of

renowned violinist Jascha Heiftez. In Europe, he became acquainted with the likes of

Sergei Prokofiev, Alban Berg, and Maurice Ravel, composers whom he highly admired.

During this time, he continued his study of composition, staying committed to taking

lessons and improving his skills as a composer. Compositions such as An American in

Paris and the opera Porgy and Bess continued to bring him high acclaim.

In the foreword to Isaac Goldberg’s biography George Gershwin: A Study in

American Music, Alan Dashiell described Gershwin, along with contemporaries Scott

Fitzgerald, Lindbergh, and “Red” Grange, as one who typified the “eternal and highly

successful youth in the strident and awakening America of the Jazz Age.”52 Goldberg

described Gershwin as one who “is as simple, as unaffected, as modest and as charming a

youth as one would desire to meet,” one who gave the immediate impression of

“wholesomeness.”53 These same qualities are also apparent in his music; it charms not

through flashy virtuosity, nor complexity for its own sake. Rather, Gershwin’s music is

filled with sincerity, a genuine desire to make all members of America’s melting pot feel

welcome and at home in the concert hall. In the words of concert pianist Katharine Swift,

with whom Gershwin had a long-term affair with, Gershwin’s music was “nourishing,

and he was nourishing.”54

For all the joy and charm in Gershwin’s music, his music is seldom associated

with any sort of profoundness, the way the music of composers such as Beethoven or

Brahms is. Gershwin refused to believe that only gloomy music could be profound. In

52 Dashiell, foreword to George Gershwin, xiv. 53 Goldberg, 6. 54 Rimler, 10.

30

fact, in Gershwin’s opinion, the dreary music is that which lies “near the top of the

composer’s mind;” the “happier stuff” required “digging.”55 In this way, the joyous and

the cheerful lay a realm below the sorrowful in music, which is counter-intuitive to what

music listeners might intuitively have thought; there is accomplishment and triumph in

the simplicity and freshness of Gershwin’s music. When Goldberg published Gershwin’s

biography in 1931, he was convinced that Gershwin was only at the beginning of his

career, and he already had plans to update his biography as Gershwin’s career expanded.

Unfortunately, this never happened, because Goldberg could have no idea that Gershwin

was actually tragically close to the end of his career when the biography was published in

1931. Gershwin died of a brain tumor in Hollywood, California in 1937.

While many music scholars and enthusiasts today still think of Gershwin’s music

as being synonymous with “jazz,” I believe that this is a true disservice to Gershwin’s

legacy. First of all, Gershwin himself hated it when people used “jazz” to describe his

music, and I think it is because he understood that this was an incorrect usage of the term.

Second of all, upon studying Gershwin’s biographies, one can sense that he had a

profound love and enthusiasm for classical music. Working at Tin Pan Alley is just

something he did because it seemed a proper choice for him at the age, and Broadway

seemed to be a logical step to follow Tin Pan Alley. Since Gershwin did not come from a

well-off family, song-writing provided attractive and alluring opportunities for him

because it was easy money. On the other hand, Gershwin admired greatly the classical

composers of his day, such as Arnold Schoenberg, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky;

he always wanted to find ways to include their innovative methods into his own

55 Ibid.

31

compositions. It is a pity that those plans never came into fruition and that Gershwin left

the world when he did. It is my true belief that had Gershwin had more time, we would

today know him as much more than simply somebody who brought “jazz” into the

concert halls.

Biography of Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1986 in Saint Paul,

Minnesota. His parents were Edward Fitzgerald and Mollie Quillan, who married in

February of 1890, and they provided Fitzgerald with the comforts of an upper-middle

class family. Similar to Gershwin, Fitzgerald also cut his formal education short. After

leaving Princeton University halfway through his final year, Fitzgerald served for two

years as a second lieutenant in the Stateside Army. His first novel This Side of Paradise

was published in 1919, and he married Zelda Sayre one week later. This Side of Paradise

established Fitzgerald overnight as an esteemed writer, and brought to him much

financial success. He and Zelda eventually became one of the most iconic couples of the

decade; they were a perceived as a physical representation of the exuberance, brilliance,

and youthfulness of the era. They walked around New York City as if they had just come

from the sun, fascinating all around them.

Unfortunately, the shiny surface of the Fitzgerald’s marriage eventually had to

deteriorate, and their marriage soon became chaotic. This was due to hot tempers,

Fitzgerald’s growing ego, and the devastating decline of Zelda’s mental health. The

Fitzgeralds gave birth to their only child in 1921, and readers are able to receive more

insight into the domestic lives of the Fitzgeralds through the following letter that F. Scott

Fitzgerald wrote to his daughter in 1938:

32

When I was your age I lived with a great dream. The dream grew and I learned how to speak of it and make people listen. Then the dream divided one day when I decided to marry your mother after all, even though I knew she was spoiled and meant no good to me. I was sorry immediately I had married her but, being patient in those days, made the best of it and got to love her in another way. You came along and for a long time we made quite a lot of happiness out of our lives. But I was a man divided – she wanted me to work too much for her and not enough for my dream. She realized too late that work was dignity, and the only dignity, and tried to atone for it by working herself, but it was too late and she broke and is broken forever.56

The above letter is heartbreaking, because it reveals the disintegration of a marriage that

seemed so promising and brilliant in the beginning. Many historians and literary scholars

have related the disintegration of the Fitzgeralds’ marriage as an analogy to the

eventually decline of America during after the glorious twenties had fallen into the past.

While Fitzgerald was able to receive much financial success as a writer from This

Side of Paradise, it was not until the publication of The Great Gatsby in April of 1925

that he received critical success. Fitzgerald expected his fourth novel, Tender is the Night,

to be an ultimate triumph, but critics unfortunately denounced the novel as a “rather

irritating type of chic.”57 Tender of the Night had no success in sales, and Fitzgerald spent

the rest of his life working for Hollywood, which also happens to be where Gershwin

ended up. Not only were Fitzgerald and Gershwin equally precocious and admired, but

their lives ended up taking similar paths.

After the twenties had passed, Fitzgerald felt that “ten years this side of forty-

nine,” he had “prematurely cracked.”58 Fitzgerald suffered a “crack-up,” which was

exacerbated by his alcoholism, his wife’s frail mental health, and the failure of Tender is

56 F. Scott Fitzgerald, Letters to his Daughter, ed. Andrew Turnbull (New York, 1965), 51. 57 Arthur Mizener, The Far Side of Paradise (Boston, 1951), 238. 58 F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up, ed. Edmund Wilson (New York, 1945), 88.

33

the Night, which he was so sure would be a success.59 During this time period, Fitzgerald

felt that “his dream failed utterly and he was no longer able to assert his identity upon the

world.”60 To Fitzgerald, the loss of his vitality equated to the loss of meaning in life. He

wrote that he felt he was “standing at twilight on a deserted range, with an empty rifle in

my hands and the targets down. No problem set – simply a silence with only the sound of

my own breathing.”61 Unfortunately, all of this private information was made public by

Fitzgerald himself in 1936 when he published three essays, which are now part of a series

entitled The Crack-Up, in Esquire Magazine. The essays especially detailed his issues

with alcoholism and the decline of his physical health as a result. This action was the

equivalent of professional suicide; not only was alcohol consumption frowned upon

during that period, but it was still illegal due to Prohibition laws. For one who had been

so charming in his youth, when Fitzgerald left the world, he was unfortunately

remembered for less glorious reasons by those who were closest to him.

On December 21 of 1940, Fitzgerald passed away in Hollywood, California

following two heart attacks. He had been working furiously on his fifth novel, The Last

Tycoon, and had been optimistic about it. Unfortunately, it remains to this day

uncompleted. Fitzgerald died with the fear that he was a forgotten failure, remembered

only by a few people for his alcoholism and wide array of personal issues. However, as

time has come to tell, in the canon of American writers, Fitzgerald has remained

immortal. His masterpiece of a novel The Great Gatsby is not only a product of his

fascinating era of flappers, extravagance, and glamor, but the work also continues to

59 Ernest Lockridge, Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Great Gatsby

(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.). 60 Ibid. 61 Fitzgerald, Crack-Up, 78.

34

speak to us and move us in vital ways today with its genuine and brutally honest portrayal

of the America he lived in and knew.

35

Chapter Five

Overview of Concerto in F

Concerto in F was commissioned by Walter Damrosch, and the concerto was

performed for the first time with Gershwin as a soloist under Damrosch’s baton at

Carnegie Hall on December 3, 1925. 62 Damrosch declared that in writing this concerto,

Gershwin had accomplished a miracle: he had dresssed up an “extremely independent

and up-to-date young lady [jazz] in the classic garb of a concerto.”63 In other words,

Damrosch believed Concerto in F to be essentially a jazz composition, but written within

the boundaries of a classical concerto.

While Rhapsody in Blue had been written in a hurry, “a three weeks’ affair,” it

was important to Gershwin that Concerto in F would be regarded as a “piece of absolute

music.”64 He wanted Concerto in F to be compared to the concertos of Beethoven,

Brahms, and Chopin, not regarded as another fun showpiece like Rhapsody in Blue; he

wanted audience members and critics alike to set a higher bar for him. The young

composer was determined to continue to prove to audience members and critics his worth

as an artistic voice, and as a skilled composer and orchestrator who had mastery over a

complex form. Premiered one year and ten months after Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F

was placed on a program with Glazounov’s Symphony no. 5 in E-flat Major, and

Rabaud’s Suite Anglaise. To audience members, the premiere was a triumph; the final

62 Campbell-Watson, foreword to Concerto in F. 63 Goldberg, 206. 64 Goldberg, 204-205.

36

trills of the third movement were met with “an outburst of thunderous applause that

enmeshed George in its broken rhythms.”65

Although Concerto in F was received warmly by audience members, the critics

were divided. For example, Mr. Gilman described the concerto as “only

fairish…conventional, trite, at its worst a little dull.”66 Mr. Sanborn believed Concerto in

F to be somewhat of a “transition piece:” it was “fragmentary and uncertain in form.”67

On the other hand, Mr. Henderson wrote that Concerto in F possessed an “Americanism”

of which there could be no question: “It has the moods of the contemporaneous dance

without their banality…It is interesting and individual…It very frequently reminds one of

the frantic efforts of certain moderns. It drops into their language, sometimes, but it has

more to say.” 68 In a similar vein, Mr. Chotzinoff wrote: “[Gershwin] alone actually

expresses us. He is the present, with all its audacity, impertinence, its feverish delight in

its motion, its lapses into rhythmically exotic melancholy.”69 It is my belief that what

makes Concerto in F a masterpiece of the American canon has to do with Gershwin’s

ability to somehow, as Henderson and Chotzinoff wrote, express the American people of

his time, and Chapters six and seven will deal with analyzing the micro-elements of the

concerto that contributed to that quality.

According to Isaac Goldberg, Concerto in F is “but outwardly a concerto.”70 All

of Gershwin’s compositions, whether they were named rhapsody, concerto, or tone poem,

65 Goldberg, 207. 66 Goldberg, 207. 67 Ibid. 68 Goldberg, 208. 69 Ibid. 70 Goldberg, 209.

37

are, in fact, fantasie, “the outpourings of impulse and inspiration.”71 Therefore, it is

pointless to trace key changes and harmonic developments within the concerto, as one

would most likely do in a traditional analysis. It is rather far more exciting and significant

to discover that in Concerto in F, Gershwin has “taken a dance like the Charleston and

clothed it in dignity, - that he has sublimated the blues into one of the loveliest andantes,

not untipped with humor, in American symphonic literature, and not America’s alone, -

that, amid recurrent ineptitudes of theme and treatment, he has climbed his way to

summits of magic and mastery.”72

As can be seen in the below formal diagrams, which come from Anthony Charles

LoBalbo’s Ph.D dissertation A Performance Guide to selected Piano Music of George

Gershwin, Concerto in F is indeed music only dressed up outwardly in the form of a

classical concerto. While certain aspects of the form can be compared to that of a

traditional concerto, certain stylistic features of it gave it a flavor that can only be

attributed to the Jazz Age. Much in the style of a traditional concerto, Concerto in F has

three movements. The first movement adheres to a large ternary design, although it

sounds sectional. The second movement adheres to a four-part design, and the third

movement is also a large ternary design.

Stylistic features to note include Gershwin’s use of “Charleston” rhythms in the

first movement, the influence of the blues in the second movement, and the cyclic return

of certain themes in the third movement. Below are formal diagrams of the Gershwin

71 Ibid. 72 Goldberg, 212.

38

concerto from the PhD dissertation of Anthony Charles LoBalbo.73 These diagrams show

that Concerto in F is made up of a lot of sectional materials and the cyclic return of them

in the third movement, but on a broader scope, the concerto can still be divided in the

larger forms of a classical concerto.

73 Anthony Charles LoBalbo, “A Performance Guide to Selected Piano Music of George

Gershwin” (PhD diss., New York University, 1983), 108-119.

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

Chapter 6

Musical Forces in Gershwin’s Concerto in F

In his book A Theory of Musical Forces, Larson argues that music can be both

described and felt in terms of our experiences with the forces of physics: gravity,

magnetism, and inertia. These forces can be applied to both the melodic and rhythmic

features of a piece. The combination of how physical forces work in both the melody and

the rhythm provide a comprehensive overview of why music can move us in the way it

does. The musical forces pertaining to melody are melody gravity, melodic magnetism,

and musical inertia.

Laron defines melodic gravity as “the tendency of a note to descend.”74 Without

the dissension, the unfinished melody feels as if it were left hanging in the air. Therefore,

large ascending leaps fill the listener with the desire to hear descending steps, in order to

dissipate and balance the motion of the initial ascent. This is parallel to how we

experience physical gravity in our everyday lives: what goes up must come down. Larson

utilizes the nursery song “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in order to demonstrate his point

that we feel the path that music traces out. We experience the effects of melodic gravity

when we perceive the music to be “falling.”

74 Larson, 83.

50

Musical Example number 1: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Melodic magnetism is “the tendency of an unstable note to resolve to the closest

stable pitch,” the way a leading tone resolves to the tonic, which is only half a step

away.75 Likewise, we also experience rhythmic magnetism when we desire for a note in

an “unstable” part of the bar to “resolve” to a more stable part, like when an eighth note

following a dotted quarter note moves into the next stable downbeat. The effects of

melodic magnetism show up in the rules of species counterpoint, which favor melodic

motion by smaller intervals and which emphasize the stepwise resolution of all

dissonances. As an example, the half steps in the bass line of “Dido’s Lament” uses the

effects of melodic magnetism to enhance the quality of it being inevitably drawn

downwards, while the melodic line is filled with half-step resolutions. Because of the

effects of melodic magnetism, listeners feel that the line has no other way to go but

downwards, emphasizing the emotions of defeat and devastation in the lament.

75 Larson, 88.

51

Musical Example number 2: “Dido’s Lament”

Finally, musical inertia is “the tendency of a pattern of motion to continue in the

same fashion.”76 This is portrayed in music by sequences, or the repetition of gestures.

Larson’s concept of musical inertia is central to the understanding and experience of not

only musical melodies, but also musical rhythm; when we hear a pattern of notes with a

certain duration, “inertia leads us to expect that pattern to continue.”77 In the words of

Newton’s first law of motion: “In an inertial frame of reference, an object either remains

at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force.”78

According to Larson’s theory, the embodied knowledge that we have of physical

forces from the mundane experiences in our everyday lives is what shapes our

understanding of melodic expectation. These same forces also shape the way we perceive

and process musical rhythm and meter. Larson defines rhythm as the experience of “a

quality of motion.”79 Because rhythm is primarily considered with motion, it does not

76 Larson, 96. 77 Larson, 143. 78 Newton, Sir Isaac, Principia, (1727 translation), 19. 79 Larson, 139.

52

have to solely be associated with music, but can also be used to describe other art forms

such as poetry, architecture, and painting. In the zwords of John Dewey, “all interactions

that effect stability and order in the whirling flux of change are rhythms.”80 Therefore,

Larson’s theory of physical forces can be applied not only to the musical features of

Gershwin’s Concerto in F, but also to the syntactical features of Fitzgerald’s The Great

Gatsby.

Although musical meaning has more to do with just cultural conventions, culture

does play a huge role in associations between meaning and musical material. For

instance, music theorists Becker, Feld, and Lomax suggest connections between the

Javanese calendar and the organization of gamelan music, which both have to do with the

complex of cycles.81 In Musical Forces, Larson argues that these higher-level musical

meanings emerge from “patterns of lower-level interactions of musical materials and

musical forces,” and that is why analysis of these micro-elements is so significant and

necessary.82 Therefore, it is significant to analyze the particular musical forces in

Concerto in F, because from these lower-level patterns can emerge an understanding of

the American cultural conventions of the Jazz Age.

First movement

There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam.83

80 Ibid. 81 Larson, 14. 82 Larson, 20. 83 F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (NY: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1925), 43.

53

The first movement of Concerto in F goes through a plethora of scenery and

moods: at times it is celebratory, at times noble, at times sarcastically humorous, and at

times agitated. It is not until listening to the entire movement that one realizes that these

seemingly disjointed fragments are actually all subtly connected together by the

composer. However, at first listen, it seems that the first movement of the concerto is

made up of jagged fragments with sudden transitions.

As stated before, while the Gershwin concerto contains many aspects of a

classical concerto (being composed in three movements, opening with an orchestral tutti),

Gershwin’s vague harmonic and rhythmic language also often leads the listener unable to

have expectations of where the work is going. In analyzing the Gershwin concerto, it is

impossible and pointless to do a harmonic analysis of the work. While most sections in a

concerto are defined by their harmonic relationship to the home key (for example, the

first theme is always in tonic, the second theme in the dominant, the development section

modulates back to the tonic, etc.) sections of the Gershwin concerto can best be defined

by the rhythmic inertia that holds them together. This reminds one of Fitzgerald’s writing

technique in Great Gatsby: chapters of the book do not build up to the climax of the book

in a chronological order, and they are not defined by their relationship to the rising

action, but rather, they function as seemingly independent sections that do not seem to fit

together until the very end of the book.

The first movement begins with a bold and almost jittery orchestral opening. The

first sounds to meet listeners’ ears and capture their attention are accented fifths in the

timpani followed by a symbol crash and the rattling of the snare drum. It is as if Gatsby

has arrived and the party has begun. The orchestral opening is comprised of exchanges

54

between that initial timpani opening, and ascending dotted-eighth note passages passed

off between the instrumental sections of the orchestra. The orchestral opening ends with a

final symbol crash, before a trill from the snare drum that eventually fades out. Listeners

can almost imagine themselves at one of Gatsby’s legendary and extravagant parties: they

can hear the popping of champagne bottles, the sparkling laughter, and the overall feeling

of crowdedness bordering on claustrophobia as one navigates amongst the swirls and

eddies of strangers.

When the piano soloist comes in after this initial opening with a completely

different theme and melody, one that is nocturnal and introspective in nature, everything

changes. This theme is referred to as “Theme 1” in the formal diagrams of LoBalbo’s

PhD dissertation. The mood, character, and key signature serve as the constantly

changing light which shines above a sea-change of faces, voices, and color. After Theme

1 is echoed by a counter-melody in the English horn, the soloist and the orchestra

together continue to build up the initially quiet melody. The piano and orchestra respond

to each other in creating ascending sequences off of fragments from the piano melody,

reminiscent of the ascending dotted-eighth note passages in the orchestral opening.

Finally, just when the music has reached its pinnacle and feels as if it has no more room

to expand upward, the pianist plays a brilliant passage of descending chromatic

sixteenths, like a cymbal crash in slow motion, before “crashing” into a bold C Major

chord, ensuing in the next section.

55

Musical Example number 3: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. I measures 92-98

The bold C Major chord that the pianist landed on begins the lively and

celebratory Allegro, filled with Charleston-inspired rhythmic patterns. Similar to what

Gershwin did in the previous sections, he uses the same rhythmic pattern in ascending

sequences to build up the excitement and tension. The pianist interrupts the orchestra

with a new playful rhythmic pattern, which the orchestra builds upon, but then there is a

sudden cesura. This dramatic pause is followed by another slow-motion cymbal crash

into a reinstatement of the first piano theme.

In just these first few sections of the first movement of the Gershwin concerto,

listeners are already acquainted with the exciting and rhythmic characteristics that

continue to define the rest of the concerto. Although this concerto cannot be analyzed to a

56

deeper extent using traditional methods, Larson’s theory of musical forces provides an

alternative of analysis that can also be applied to Concerto in F.

Applying Larson’s theory of musical forces to the A section of the Gershwin

concerto can help listeners understand how it is all held together, as well as what

specifically makes this work of music unique. As Larson wrote, expressive meanings in

music arise metaphorically when musical events reflect “the patterns of our intellectual,

emotional, imaginative, and kinesthetic lives.”84 Therefore, it is not enough to simply

identify where the specific forces of physics happen in the Gershwin concerto; that in

itself is a simple enough task. On the other hand, figuring out how these physical forces

in the music can stand for a metaphor of, in this case, life in 1920s America, is what

makes Larson’s theory of music significant and interesting.

As mentioned before, Concerto in F opens with fortissimo, accented fifths in the

timpani, followed by an abrupt symbol crash accompanied by a shrill chord in the winds,

and a rattle of snare drum. This rhythmic figure opens the entire 30-minute long concerto,

and it is as if Gershwin is immediately giving listeners the hint that although this is a

concerto in the classical sense, it is a concerto in which the role of rhythm takes

precedence over the role of harmony. As mentioned earlier, Gershwin makes abundant

use of dotted rhythms from the very first page of the concerto. Larson would probably

identify these as micro-moments of rhythmic magnetism, in which bars of music are

filled with tiny instances of rhythmic instability, and brief moments of rhythmic

84 Larson, 153.

57

resolution. In other words, the orchestral opening of Concerto in F is the integration of

moments of jam-packed tension and resolution.

Theme 1 in the piano features a syncopated and lyrical melody soaring over

chromatic chords in the left hand. The first note of every phrase in this theme in the piano

part is always an upbeat, and notes are often tied over across bar lines. Therefore, this is

an instance of rhythmic magnetism that refuses to resolve until the Molto Meno Mosso,

when the pianist plays a series of agitated, descending, chromatic sixteenth-note

figurations that crash into a C Major chord on the strong downbeat of the next section,

Allegro. This bold C Major chord not only serves as the final resolution of rhythmic

magnetism that listeners have missed out on for the entire previous section, but it is also

the result of the melodic line finally giving way to the gravity, announcing to listeners

that C Major is the “tonic” that the melody needed to fall on top of.

The harmonic language of the section featuring Theme 1 is vague, filled with

chromaticism and iridescent harmonies in the left hand. However, the overall shape of the

melodic contour is worth noting. When the orchestra joins the pianist at rehearsal number

five, the pianist introduces the repetition of the second half of the opening theme in an

ascending series, like a sequence. As Larson’s laws of musical forces would have it, these

sequences will either immediately resolve to the closest stable note, melodic magnetism,

or descend by melodic gravity. In this case, gravity is the musical force that takes over at

the Molto meno mosso. While Gershwin took his time in building up the tension, the

hopeful possibility of a magnetic resolution is quickly dissipated by the abrupt sixteenth

passages in the molto meno mosso, reminiscent of the suddenness of crushed or

58

interrupted dreams. Gershwin continues to use this same technique throughout the rest of

the first movement.

Throughout the first movement, Gershwin makes constant use of the manipulation

of melodic and rhythmic inertia. There are many instances in which a specific melodic or

rhythmic motif is insistently repeated, before suddenly being interrupted by a fragment

from a different motif. For example, near the end of the first movement at rehearsal 31,

the piano is playing a variation on a motif previous played by the orchestra, while the

Musical Example number 4: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 384-396

59

orchestra is playing a repeat of what LoBalbo refers to as “motif f,” a motif previously

played by the piano.85 Just as listeners are getting used to the ascending line that both

piano and orchestra are creating, Gershwin suddenly interrupts the action with the

opening accented fifths of the timpani, jolting the attention of listeners. The sudden

interruption of the rhythmic and melodic inertia denies listeners the resolution of either

gravity or magnetism. Instead, listeners are forced to divert their attention elsewhere.

As mentioned before, the expressive meanings in Concerto in F can be

understood metaphorically, because the musical events of the concerto reflect the patterns

of the intellectual, emotional, imaginative, and kinesthetic lives of Americans during the

Jazz Age. The sudden interruptions of melodic and rhythmic inertia are an audio

representation of the ever changing landscapes of the emotional lives of youths during

85 LoBalbo, 135.

60

this exciting decade. In just the A section of the first movement of Concerto in F, there

are so many instances of long, drawn-out ascensions, only to be ruined and over with in

an instant. This use of the sudden downfall of gravity can be applied to so many areas of

life in the Jazz Age: the rise of the economic bubble, the rise of a nation’s optimism, and

the rise of hope in the American dream. As history has taught us, all of these illusions

were shattered immediately with the stock market crash of 1929 – perhaps it was the only

possible result of such an uncontrollable ascension. It is, as Nick Carraway described in

the opening chapter of The Great Gatsby, an audio representation of the “short winded

elations of men.”86

Second Movement

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther….And one fine morning –

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” 87

The second movement of Concerto in F is subdued and hazy in character, which

serves as a stark contrast from the first movement. From the opening, listeners are

immediately struck by the loss of melodic direction, or, in Larson’s terms, melodic

magnetism. It creates the mood and atmosphere of “lying-awake-in-the-night stillness

and restlessness.”88 The first horn solo consists of only two notes, fluctuating in a set

rhythmic pattern until simply landing on a fermata. Then, the clarinet section introduces

one of the main motifs of the movement under the solo trumpet which repeats a variation

of the opening horn solo. It is as if the melodies are allowing the physical forces of

86 Fitgerald, 7. 87 Fitzgerald, 189. 88 Rimler, 14.

61

gravity and inertia to momentarily take over, with no regard for magnetism or resolve.

The notes wander aimlessly, with no set down-beat or tonic to resolve towards, like a

boat being gently rocked by waves with no sense of where it will eventually end up. In

the poignant words of Fitzgerald, its ultimate fate is to be “borne back ceaselessly into the

past.”89 Overall, the entire orchestral opening is listless and directionless, and I think that

this is due to the lack of an establishment of any kind of magnetism; all the notes run into

each other with the same amount of weight and significance.

Musical Example number 5: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. II, measures 1-10

After the orchestral introduction, the pianist introduces the jolly main theme of

the second movement. The prevalence of upbeats and grace notes suggests a play on

89 Fitzgerald, 189.

62

rhythmic magnetism, and a prolonged denial of its resolution. There is a strong sense of

underlying rhythm with the strummed chords in the strings, which builds up rhythmic

inertia – this makes for a strong contrast from the orchestral opening. The underlying

rhythmic inertia creates an even stronger desire in the listener for the rhythm of the

melody to resolve on to a clear downbeat, and this creates a tension between the solo and

orchestral part. At rehearsal 5, there is even more built up excitement as the strings

accompany the piano melody with accented sixteenth notes which ascend. The piano

eventually takes up these sixteenth notes in rehearsal 6. These rhythmic and articulate

sixteenth notes create even more contrast between the two lines. While one line pushes

towards the future with rhythmic inertia, the other line lingers aimlessly with its lack of

rhythmic magnetism resolution.

The section following features a violin solo with the opening clarinet motif and it

leads directly into the piano cadenza. The aimless and colorful cadenza features virtuosic

passages from the soloist which linger in the air, before the orchestra comes in at the

luscious Espressivo con moto, which is a variation on the rhythm of the clarinet motif.

Romantic and sentimental, with spaced out accompanying chords in the piano, this is one

of the most heartwarming moments of the entire concerto. It is a melody that is

reminiscent of endless space and possibilities, though the occasional interruption of brief

descending chromatic chords in the strings foreshadow the possibility of a crash. This

melody builds up to a climax, which lingers into space, before reluctantly allowing for

63

the return to the opening clarinet melody again. Indeed, the entire movement has been

brought “…back ceaselessly into the past.”90

While the first movement was filled with moments of jam-packed tension

bordering on claustrophobia, the second movement gives one the sense of endless time

and space. As stated before, I believe that this is due to the lack of tonal magnetism in the

piece, and also due to the lack of resolution of rhythmic magnetism. Because of those two

qualities, this movement is the most intimate of the three movements in Concerto in F.

The unresolved rhythmic magnetism of the piano motif and the lingering ascensions

bring to mind the disillusionment of the youth post-World War I.

Third movement

“’Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried out incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’

He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.”91

The third movement of Concerto in F features the rhythmic inertia of percussive

chords in both the piano and orchestral part that contain chromatic clusters. The

percussiveness and chromatic nature of both parts contributes to the overall character of

agitation. This movement is entirely driven by rhythm, and when melodies are featured,

they are mostly altered versions of melodies from the previous two movements. The third

movement is notable is its use of cyclic form. Cyclic form is a common technique

amongst romantic and contemporary composers. However, in Concerto in F, the cyclic

form contributes to a very specific feeling of the Jazz Age. While Gershwin brings back

themes and ideas from the first and second movement into the third movement, but they

90 Fitzgerald, 189. 91 Fitzgerald, 116-117.

64

are usually so varied that at first that the listener cannot tell that he has heard that melody

before. This technique is reminiscent of Fitzgerald’s muddled and confusing flashbacks,

in which the reader needs to make sense of them in his own time. These “flashbacks”

Musical Example number 6: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. III, measures 1-23

65

occur throughout the third movement, and it is reminiscent of the illusory nature of time

that is such a prominent theme in The Great Gatsby.

While the effects of rhythmic inertia give the entire movement a feeling of

forward motion, this momentum in contrasted by the way Gershwin continues to bring

back events from the past. This is reminiscent of the character of Jay Gatsby in

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: Gatsby was able to propel himself forward at astonishing

rates. He went from being a poor “no-name” soldier to somebody who was able to

purchase a mansion in the same neighborhood as the wealthy Tom and Daisy Buchanan.

He accomplished his goals at breakneck speed, but it was all while holding onto dead

memories, and the hope of regaining back a lover from his past.

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Chapter 7

Kramer’s Theory of Musical Time in Concerto in F

As previously stated, in Jonathan Kramer’s The Time of Music, he argues that

“music becomes meaningful in and through time.”92 Not only is time the “essential

component of musical meaning,” but it is also “the vehicle by which music makes its

deepest contact with the human spirit.”93 Because time is such a central theme in my

argument about the expressive meaning in both Gershwin’s Concerto in F and

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Kramer’s theories of musical time provide an invaluable

resource to my analysis of both works.

In accepting that “music creates time,” Kramer postulates different types of

musical time through the means of linearity and nonlinearity.94 Linear time is defined as

“the determination of some characteristics of music in accordance with implications that

arise from earlier events of the piece,” while non-linear time is defined as “the

determination of some characteristics of music in accordance with implications that arise

from principles or tendencies governing an entire piece or section.”95 Linear time is

processive; non-linear time is nonprocessive. According to Kramer, all Western music is

linear to an extent, because a defining characteristic of Western thought is the fact that it

is filled with linear ideas of cause and effect, progress, and goal orientation. It is no

coincidence that the golden age of tonality took place during the height of linear thinking

in Western civilization.

92 Kramer, 1. 93 Kramer, 2. 94 Kramer, 6. 95 Kramer, 20.

67

One example that Kramer utilizes in order to demonstrate linear time is the first

movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, opus 59, no.1. Kramer points

out that after the development section, which goes through multiple modulations, an F

Major chord returns as the tonic, the main theme returns in the tonic, and finally, after

much anticipation which has lasted the entirety of the movement, listeners can hear the

Musical Example number 7: Beethoven String Quartet no. 7

96

96 Ibid.

68

main theme with a full root-position tonic underlying it, unlike the opening. It is not

simply that Beethoven is utilizing sonata form, but he is also dealing with “…the linear

consequences of earlier events.”97 The opening of the string quartet is strange in that it

utilizes an incomplete harmony, and listeners are immediately struck by its strangeness,

waiting for an explanation, which they eventually receive in the restatement of the main

theme with a full root-position chord.

Although Western music has until recently been predominantly linear, it has

always had non-linear aspects as well. Kramer utilizes Schumann’s Stṻckchen, from

Album for the Young as an example of nonlinearity in tonal music. In Stṻckchen, the

rhythmic pattern of the left hand is constant. This is not a consequence of earlier events

Musical Example number 8: Schumann Stṻckchen

98

97 Kramer, 26. 98 Ibid.

69

of the music, but “it is determined by the surface of the composition.”99 This is in-line

with Kramer’s definition of nonlinearity: “the determination of some characteristics of

music in accordance with implications that arise from principles or tendencies governing

an entire piece or section.”100 In other words, aspects of music that are nonlinear are those

that are not defined by teleological processes.

While ordinary livid time is the amount of time a piece takes to be performed or

listened to in its entirety, musical time is the certain quality of time that a piece evokes.

According to Kramer, musical times can include: “goal-directed linear time, non-directed

linear time, multiply-directed linear time, moment time, and vertical time.”101 Kramer

comments that in Western society, “we manipulate time rather than submit to it.”102

Indeed, in the Western world, our entire lives seem to be dictated by schedules and

clocks, start times and end times; it makes sense therefore that different pieces of music

evoke to us different qualities of time, and that those evocations release a lot of emotional

reactions within us. It also makes sense that music from various cultures sound different

to Western ears due to the different ways it presents time. In the words of Kramer, “Time

is not an absolutely reality. Rather, it means different things to different peoples.”103

One of Kramer’s musical times that could possibly be applied to Concerto in F

(and also The Great Gatsby) is multiply-directed linear time. In multiply-directed linear

time, linear processes are interrupted, only to be completed later on. In defining multiply-

directed linear time, Cramer utilizes an analogy of a professor who holds three different

99 Kramer, 40. 100 Ibid. 101 Kramer, 57. 102 Kramer, 163. 103 Kramer, 25.

70

teaching posts in the country: one on the east coast, one in the Midwest, and one on the

West coast. In order to make it to all of his classes, he takes multiple plane rides a week

through the different locations. However, once he arrives to each university campus,

there is a type of continuity that takes place, as if he is continuing each week right where

he left off in each course. Therefore, although his presence at each university is always

interrupted by a plane ride to the next university, to members of each community, his

presence seems more continuous than interrupted. In other words, multiply-directed time

can be understood as “a distortion of linear time.”104 Multiply-directed time can be

understood as a linear process, but one that is filled with interruptions, giving the sense of

discontinuities which “segment and reorder linear time.”105

The first couple of measures of the orchestral opening of Concerto in F give the

sense of interruptions because of the scattered dialogue between the different

instrumental sections of the orchestra. Instead of analyzing the opening in a strictly linear

way, one could think of the orchestral opening as four distinct motifs that interrupt each

other at seemingly random moments. Here they are below:

104 Kramer, 166. 105 Kramer, 50.

71

Motif 1

Musical Example number 9: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 1-4

Motif 2

Musical Example number 10: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 5-9

72

Motif 3

Musical Example number 11: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 9-12

Motif 4

Musical Example number 12: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 23-28

These four motifs are built upon throughout the entire concerto, which is in line with

Kramer’s description of multiply-directed linear time as a series of discontinuities which

“segment and reorder linear time.”106 For example, Motif 1, the timpani motif, comes

back again at the very end of the third movement, but since it is marked meno mosso, it is

usually played almost out of tempo, in order to build up the drama and grandeur of the

106 Kramer, 50.

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conclusion of the concerto. This is an instance of cyclic form. Motifs 2 and 3 play a big

role throughout the concerto; the Charleston-inspired theme becomes a distinct section of

its own at rehearsal 14 in the first movement, and the ascending figures of motif 3 are

used throughout the concerto in order to build up drama and suspense. Rehearsal 22

features a minor variation of motifs 2 and 3. Finally, a variations of motifs 3 and motifs 4

are brought back at the end of the first movement, rehearsal 28, serving as a transition

and build-up into the grandioso climax. Below are images which show how the primary

four motifs in the orchestral opening are brought back throughout the concerto. These are

just a few examples of many instances where the first four motifs in the orchestra, which

at first listen come off to be scattered and random, are continually built up throughout the

concerto.

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1) Motif 1 in the first movement vs. Motif 1 in third movement

Musical Example number 13: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. III measures 286-287

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2) Variations of Motifs 2 and 3 in the orchestral opening at rehearsal 14 and 22

Musical Example number 14: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. 1 measures 257-270

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3) Variations of motif 4 in the orchestral opening at rehearsal 28

Musical Example number 15: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. I, measures 352-359

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Besides thematic transformation within the first movement, Gershwin’s use of

cyclical form throughout the concerto gives the impression that linear time is constantly

interrupted and reordered. Cyclic form can be defined as “music in which a later

movement reintroduces thematic material of an earlier movement.”107 Cyclic form, which

was elevated to great importance during the Romantic era by composers such as

Beethoven, Berlioz, and Franck, was originally associated with the “widespread

application of thematic transformation and the desire for greater continuity between

separate movements.”108 However, in the Gershwin concerto, I believe that the cyclic

form used to bring back material from previous movements is utilized in a way that

creates the effect of loose ends being “magically sewn together.”109 These same effects

can be found in the plot of The Great Gatsby.

There are multiple places in the third movement where Gershwin utilizes cyclic

form. At rehearsal 4, the orchestra plays a fragment that comes from the opening piano

theme of the first movement. When this fragment was introduced in the piano solo in the

first movement, the broad tempo as well as the arpeggiated and spaced out chords of the

left hand gave it a character of expansiveness and dreaminess. However, at the faster

tempo, with articulated and virtuosic sixteenth notes played by the pianist in the

background, it is barely recognizable, and comes off as energetic and cheerful, instead of

dream-like and soaring as it did before. At rehearsal 13, the orchestra plays the espressive

con moto theme from the second movement. However, during the second movement, it

107 Hugh Macdonald, “Cyclic Form,” in Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford

University Press, https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.access.library.miami.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000007001?rskey=Iim0Jl.

108 Ibid. 109 Kramer, 48.

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was played by all members of the orchestra at a broad tempo, supported by luscious

harmonies. In the third movement, the strings play the melody at unison, but the faster

tempo and the virtuosic sixteenth in the piano in the background make it barely

recognizable. Again, the altered form of it makes it come off as if it were a pleasant

memory that happened to return in a different time. At rehearsal 19, the orchestral plays

the jolly piano theme from the second movement on top of a virtuosic piano

accompaniment. The fact that the accompaniment is now straight sixteenth notes makes it

barely recognizable from the easy strummed chords and syncopated accompaniment of

the melody in the second movement. Finally, at rehearsal 22 Gershwin writes an exact

repeat of the Grandioso from the first movement; the melody of the grandioso comes

from the opening melody of the piano solo. This is the only theme that is brought back in

the exact form as the beginning, giving the concerto the final sense of unity and closure.

Below are images which give a visual representation of the instances of cyclic form in the

third movement.

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1) Melody in the opening piano solo in mov. I and cyclic return in mov. III

Musical Example number 16: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. I, measures 61-64

Musical Example number 17: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. III, measures 90-94

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2) Espressivo con moto in mov. 2 and cyclic return in mov. III

Musical Example number 18: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. II, measures 173-175

Musical Example number 19: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. III, measures 208-211

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3) Piano theme from mov. 2 and cyclic return in mov. III

Musical Example number 20: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. II, measures 48-55

Musical Example number 21: Gershwin Concerto in F, mov. III, measures 284-289

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4) Opening piano solo in mov. 1 and cyclic return in grandioso of mov. III

Musical Example number 22: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. I, measures 52-57

Musical Example number 23: Gershwin Concerto in F, Mov. III, measures 346-348

The second movement of Concerto in F also utilizes multiply-directed time,

because it features four distinct themes, but they are divided by the opening theme. In

other words, the opening clarinet motive serves as both a primary theme, but also a

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transition that connects the arc together. It gives the piece a sense of continuity through

its multiple interruptions.

Both Kramer and Larson’s way of analyzing music can be applied to both

Concerto in F and The Great Gatsby. In the following section, I will argue that

Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby also utilizes multiply-directed linear time in its plot, and also

contains moments of unresolved rhythmic magnetism, the sudden downfall of gravity,

and sudden interruption of inertia. In the preface to The Great Gatsby, Matthew Bruccoli

wrote: “One gauge of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s achievement is that many admiring readers are

unaware of the complexity of The Great Gatsby because the novel is a pleasure to

read.”110 The same can be said of Gershwin Concerto in F. The music is such a pleasure

to listen to that many critics overlook Gershwin’s sound skills as a composer, not

understanding that this in itself is a testament of Gershwin’s innate genius and

craftsmanship as a composer.

110 Bruccoli, foreword to The Great Gatsby, (NY: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1925), i.

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Chapter 8

The Great Gatsby

Plot

Published in 1925, the same year as Concerto in F, The Great Gatsby is

ultimately a novel about American history, and it compounds the themes of time and

aspiration. Told from the point of view of Nick Carraway, it is a story of his elusive and

incredible neighbor Jay Gatsby. Through a foray into the wild and extravagant lives of

the denizens of East Egg, which is home to the established upper class, Carraway gains

insight into his mysterious neighbor. He learns from others about Gatsby’s love and

obsession with Daisy Buchanan, whom he had briefly dated, but who is now married to

Tom Buchanan. Gatsby spends his nights staring at the green light that comes from the

Buchanan’s dock, and everything he does in life, from his decision to purchase the

specific mansion he lives in to the extravagant parties he hosts at that mansion, are all for

the sake of possibly impressing and getting closer to Daisy.

The tension of The Great Gatsby begins to accumulate when Nick eventually gets

invited to one of Gatsby’s notorious parties at his mansion. As Nick begins more

acquainted with Gatsby, Gatsby begins to open up to Nick. Gatsby asks Nick for a favor,

convincing him to set up a reunion between himself and Daisy. Although their initial

reunion is awkward, Gatsby and Daisy rekindle their connection, and Daisy eventually

begins an extra-marital affair with him. Gatsby is so deeply and passionately in love with

Daisy that he cannot disguise his feelings; he makes them obvious to everyone around,

including Daisy’s husband Tom.

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Although Tom himself was involved in an extra-marital affair with a character

named Myrtle Wilson, Daisy’s affair with Gatsby outrages him, and he forces the group

to drive out to New York City so that he can find Gatsby and confront him. When Tom

confronts Gatsby about his affair with his wife, Tom announces to his wife that Gatsby is

actually a criminal. His extravagant lifestyle is all financed by bootlegging alcohol,

which, in the era of Prohibition, was illegal. Although Daisy decides that her allegiance is

to Tom, Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg in a car with Gatsby out of

pride.

After a while, Nick, his girlfriend Jordan, and Tom find out that Gatsby’s car had

struck and killed Myrtle. Although Daisy was the one driving the car, Gatsby takes the

blame. Out of vengeance, Tom tells George, Myrtle’s husband, that Gatsby is the one

who killed Myrtle. George finds Gatsby at his mansion and shoots him, before shooting

himself.

At the end of these events, Nick ends his relationship with Jordan and makes the

decision to move back to the Midwest. Though he still respects and contains a mild

fascination for Gatsby, he is disgusted by the greed that has corrupted Gatsby’s life, as

well as the lives of those who surround him. Though he cannot deny that Gatsby is

indeed “Great,” as the title suggests, everything about Gatsby was also tainted with the

darkest aspects of life in the Jazz Age. Nick finally concludes that, just as with Gatsby’s

dream of winning Daisy’s love, the American dream has also disintegrated into nothing

more than dishonesty and corruption – the era of dreams has indeed come to an end.

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Themes

According to Matthew Bruccoli, the themes of The Great Gatsby center on

mutability and loss.111 Gatsby has also been said to be a novel about the “withering of the

American dream.”112 While Fitzgerald was working on Gatsby, he wrote in a letter:

“That’s the whole burden of this novel – the loss of those illusions that give such color to

the world so long that you don’t care whether things are true or false, as long as they

partake of the magical glory.”113 Just like The Great Gatsby, Concerto in F also brings

about the theme of lost illusions, whether through the magical ascending passages in the

second movement which ultimately disappear, or through the charming melodies that

continuously show up in the first and third movements, only to be interrupted by

something else.

In The Great Gatsby, money and love are often linked together, because to the

characters in the novel, money and love hold the same allures and possibilities. In

Chapter six, Gatsby describes Daisy’s voice as being “full of money.”114 This remark

shows Gatsby’s innate understanding that his love for Daisy and his attraction to wealth

is correlated. Indeed, money was “…the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in

[Daisy’s voice], the jingle of it, the cymbal’s song of it…High in a white palace the

king’s daughter, the golden girl…”115

According to Roger Lewis in his essay Money, Love and Aspiration, such a

statement about Daisy’s voice is one that only Gatsby could make, because Gatsby is the

111 Bruccoli, foreword to Gatsby, 15. 112 Bewley, 264. 113 Bruccoli, xv. 114 Fitzgerald, 127. 115 Ibid.

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representation of “new money, money in the process of being acquired.”116 Tom’s

(Daisy’s husband) attraction to Daisy has nothing to do with her wealth, and that is

because he is “old money.” He is accustomed to his wealth, and he understands that

although his money can buy him whatever he pleases, these objects in the end are only

materials and nothing more. In other words, “his money was divested of dreams before he

was even born.”117 On the other hand, the newness of Gatsby’s money gives it purpose

and meaning. Gatsby does not spend his money carelessly; the money he spends is for the

sole purpose of winning Daisy. Therefore, the money he spends on his mansion is not the

simple purchasing of property; it is the purchase of a dream. Gatsby’s ultimately tragic

fate at the end of the novel is Fitzgerald’s representation of the death of the American

dream.

The fact that money and love are often linked together in The Great Gatsby, and

the fact that at the conclusion of the novel, money fails in its ability to bring Gatsby what

he truly wants, is connected to the theme of lost time and tragic aspiration. The greatest

subject of the novel, which is “the tragic nature of aspiration,” links money and love

together in ways that “deepen in the broadest, profoundest way our sense of who we

are.”118 While money and aspiration fail in The Great Gatsby, “social convention and

time triumph.”119 Tom and Daisy’s marriage remains intact, not because they love each

other the way Gatsby and Daisy did, but because they are from the same social circle and

were able to marry out of convention.

116 Roger Lewis, “Money, Love, and Aspiration,” in New Essays on The Great Gatsby, ed.

Matthew Bruccoli (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 51. 117 Ibid. 118 Lewis, 57. 119 Lewis, “Money, Love, and Aspiration,” 54.

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Most of Gatsby’s journey in the novel centers on his conviction that as long as he

accumulates a certain amount of wealth, he can bring back the love that he and Daisy

once shared. “’Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you

can!’”120 The heartbreaking naivete of Gatsby is eventually shattered by the end of the

novel, when he has no way of winning Daisy back, realizing that the past indeed cannot

be repeated – the passage of time will always triumph on. Perhaps there is no better

symbolism to represent this than when Gatsby first encounters Daisy after years apart. In

his nervousness, “his head leaned back so far that it rested against the face of a defunct

mantelpiece clock…the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his

head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back in

place.”121 Gatsby may have been able to “bring time back” in his rescue of the clock, but

unfortunately, that was the most he could do.

The Great Gatsby is a novel about several characters who desire to repeat the

past, besides Jay Gatsby. After all, the “nature of things is irreversible change,” but

“memory by itself gives man a handhold upon reality.”122 Early on in the novel, Tom

Buchanan is described as “one of those men who reach such acute limited excellence at

twenty-one that everything afterwards savors of anti-climax…[He] would drift on forever

seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football

game.”123 At the beginning of the novel, Nick describes that he moved from the Midwest

to New York in order to “unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and

Maecenas knew,” but he ultimately decides to return to the Midwest, in hopes of

120 Fitzgerald, 116. 121 Fitzgerald, 91. 122 Lockridge, 11. 123 Fitzgerald, 10.

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returning to a past time in which the world was “in uniform and at a sort of moral

attention forever.”124 Ultimately, aspiration and lost time are linked as one in The Great

Gatsby.

Similar to The Great Gatsby, in Gershwin’s Concerto in F, the lyrical passages he

writes are of such a magical quality because it gives the listeners the sense that they are

soaring in infinite heights in some sort of aspiration. The music is made all the more

expressive when Gershwin meets these ascending passages with the sudden impact of

gravity. The final sentence of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reveals the heartbreaking

truth of the American dream: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back

ceaselessly into the past.”125 In this one sentence, Fitzgerald points out that all the dreams

we harbor are “grounded in impossibility.”126 We naturally move towards those

impossible dreams that we desire, whether they are dreams of a past love, a past career,

or a past standard of morals. These dreams give our lives color and brilliance, which is

what make them so tantalizingly beautiful. However, the natural forces of life, including

gravity or retrograde, always take over - ultimately, we die.

124 Fitzgerald, 8-9. 125 Fitzgerald, 189. 126 Lewis, 56.

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Chapter 9

Analysis of The Great Gatsby

Chronology and Structure

The Great Gatsby can be said to be written in multiply-directed linear time,

because while the structure is functional, the true chronology of events is revealed

through flashbacks which interrupt the present action of the summer of 1922. Therefore,

the responsibility falls upon the reader to sort through the flashbacks in order to

reconstruct the actual chronology that the events unfold in.

According to James E. Miller in The Fictional Technique of Scott Fitzgerald, the

plot of Fitzgerald’s novel works both “backwards and forwards” over Gatsby’s past and

present until “the complete portrait finally emerges at the end of the book.”127

Fitzgerald’s way of interspersing events from Gatsby’s past life throughout the plot can

seem bizarre at times: Gatsby’s childhood is not covered until the very last chapter,

events in Gatsby’s life when he was seventeen years old are covered in Chapter six, and

the love affair between Gatsby and Daisy, which is the singular most significant event

leading up to the present action of the novel, is covered in chapters four, six, and eight,

but sporadically, and from different points of view. The summer of 1922, which is to be

the last season of Gatsby’s life, serves as a “string onto which these varicolored beads of

the past have been haphazardly strung.”128

127 James Miller, “Boats against the Current” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Great

Gatsby, (New Haven: Yale University Press), 24. 128 Miller, 25.

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In order to make better sense of the chronology and form of The Great Gatsby,

Miller constructed the plot of the novel through a simple diagram. In his diagram, “X”

stands for the

chronological account of events which happened in the summer of 1922, while “A,” “B,”

“C,” “D,” and “E” represent the events of Gatsby’s past, such as his boyhood, his

courtship with Daisy, and his mysterious business endeavors with Wolfsheim.

Throughout the chapters, the chronology of The Great Gatsby can therefore be charted:

X, X, X, XCX, XBXCX, X, XCXDX, XEXAX.129

As mentioned earlier, Kramer’s definition of multiply-directed time is linear

processes that need to be interrupted and completed later (or earlier).130 As can be seen

above in Miller’s simple diagram, the events of Gatsby’s life are indeed linear, just like

anybody’s life follows the pattern ABCDE, etc. However, Fitzgerald scrambles the

events up and intersperses them into the events of the summer of 1922. This forces

readers to recognize the interruptions, and wait for Fitzgerald to give them the remaining

pieces of Gatsby’s past, in order that they can reconstruct the events themselves upon

finishing the novel. Therefore, just like in Gershwin’s Concerto in F, multiply-directed

linear time plays a significant role in the formal structure of The Great Gatsby.

Syntax

Another element that contributes to the expressiveness and multiply-directed time

in The Great Gatsby, besides Fitzgerald’s use of structure, is his use of syntax. In

literature, syntax refers to the exact arrangement of words and phrases to create larger

129 Miller, 25. 130 Kramer, 47.

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structures. On one hand, Fitzgerald’s writing has moments of enchanting lyricism which

perfectly capture the nature of the elusive American dream: “…for a transitory enchanted

moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent…face to face for

the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity of wonder.”131 This

is one of the many passages in The Great Gatsby which capture the magic and the

wonder of the twenties. This imagery and lyricism of the sentence captures how coming

face to face with a dream could inspire awe and enchantment.

One element of syntax that contributes to the lyricism in Fitzgerald’s writing is

his use of “rhythmic expansion.”132 This use of syntax contributes to an aura of magic

and mystery. The final pages of The Great Gatsby read:

“As the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailor’s eyes – a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breathe in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one fine morning –

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”133

131 Fitzgerald, 189. 132 Miller, 34. 133 Fitzgerald, 189.

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These final paragraphs of Fitzgerald’s monumental novel use language to extend

meaning. Nick first parallels Gatsby’s dream with the dreams of the initial settlers of the

American continent, the New World. Next, Nick parallels Gatsby’s loss of his dream to

be with Daisy to the lost dreams of America; these dreams lie somewhere in the “dark

fields of the republic.”134 Finally, Nick realizes that all of these dreams are one, a

collective experience that is shared by everyone, so he begins using the pronouns “we”

and “us.” The dream has eluded us, but we continue to beat our boats on against the

current. Fitzgerald’s use of rhythmic expansion in language is at heart a musical device,

which is why the above passage comes across as so lyrical. It is just like how the lyrical

sections of the Gershwin concerto are based upon the expansion of a smaller fragment of

the motif, like at the beginning of the first movement during the piano solo, or how this

initial piano solo is eventually expanded into the grandioso finale of both the first

movement, and the third movement, concluding the entire concerto.

The breathtaking lyricism in certain passages of The Great Gatsby serve as a

sharp contrast and juxtaposition to instances in the novel of terse dialogue and edgy

passages. These moment contribute to expressing the awkwardness or tension that the

characters at times experiences. One instance of this is at the beginning of the novel,

during Nick’s very first dinner with Tom and Daisy. The dialogue between Nick, Daisy,

Tom, and Jordan is filled with terse sentences and sudden interruptions:

“’How gorgeous! Let’s go back Tom. Tomorrow!’ Then [Daisy] added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’

‘I’d like to.’

‘She’s asleep. She’s two years old. Have you ever seen her?’

134 Fitzgerald, 189.

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‘Never.’

‘Well, you ought to see her. She’s –‘

Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder.

‘What you doing, Nick?’

‘I’m a bond man.’”135

Throughout this scene, the topic of conversation seems to never settle, as characters

continue to interrupt each other with their own half-formed thoughts. In the middle of

dinner, the Buchanans’ butler comes to the table to interrupt the fragmented

conversations Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan are having, in order to tell Tom that he has a

telephone call from his mistress. The focus of the dinner then becomes on deciphering the

meaning behind fragmented phrases of Tom’s phone conversation. When the telephone

rings a second time, “all subjects…vanished into air. Among the broken fragments of the

last five minutes at table I remember the candles being lit again, pointlessly, and I was

conscious of wanting to look squarely at everyone and yet avoid all eyes.”136 In all, this

scene, which is the very first scene of action in the entire novel, leaves the reader feeling

overwhelmed in trying to make sense of the distracted conversation, disoriented, and yet

curious and filled with significant information at the same time. This is reminiscent of the

scattered dialogue of the orchestral opening in Concerto in F: the spontaneous entrances

of various characters and instruments, the sudden interruptions, and the fragments that

make the listener cannot help but to wonder where it will all eventually lead to. In the

terminology of Larson, the scattered dialogue makes it impossible for any sort of inertia

to pick up.

135 Fitzgerald, 14. 136 Fitzgerald, 20.

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When Gatsby finally shows Daisy his home, the moment that the entire novel has

been building up to, his state of utter distress is illustrated in the scattered sentences of his

dialogue interrupted by his random physical movements of frustration:

“‘She didn’t like it,’ he insisted. ‘She didn’t have a good time…I feel far away from her…It’s hard to make her understand.’

‘You mean about the dance?’

‘The dance? …Old sport, the dance is unimportant…’

‘And she doesn’t understand,’ he said despairingly. ‘She used to be able to understand. We’d sit for hours –‘

He broke off and began to walk up and down a desolate path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and crushed flowers.’

‘I wouldn’t ask too much of her,’ I ventured. ‘You can’t repeat the past.’

‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’

He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.

‘I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,’ he said, nodding determinedly. ‘She’ll see.’’137

These small instances of tension and unrest and similar to Gershwin’s use of rhythmic

magnetism throughout Concerto in F. Each line Fitzgerald writes has some kind of

unease, whether it is through the physical gestures of characters or the unrest of their

emotions, comparable to the moments of jam-packed tension in the first movement and

the lack of resolution of rhythmic magnetism in the second movement. Part of the

expressive nature of The Great Gatsby is the sharp contrast of terseness with lyricism in

the language. It is a representation of all that the human soul and human experience is

137Fitzgerald, 117.

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capable of – how even beneath the most superficial of surfaces is a heart capable of

poignant longing, undeniable determination, and powerful love.

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Chapter 10

Synthesis and Conclusion

The Jazz Age was a unique time in American history; we in the modern day can

only imagine what it was like to live in an era filled with such reckless abandonment and

spontaneous excitement. It was an hour of endless possibilities reminiscent of a jazz

improvisation, but the chaos and noise of it also allowed it to be a period of self-delusion.

Artists like F. Scott Fitzgerald and George Gershwin shined bright under the glittering

lights of the era, enchanting all with their fascinating character and charming lifestyles.

However, even the brightest stars eventually fade, and even the most luminous of talents

eventually become a thing of the past. Through all of its glory and splendor, the Jazz Age

eventually had to come to an end, and the idea of the American dream was never the

same again.

In The Great Gatsby, there is one particular passage in which Fitzgerald attempts

to pinpoint what makes something specifically “American:” “[Gatsby] was balancing

himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so

peculiarly American – that comes, I suppose, with the absence of lifting work or rigid

sitting in youth and, even more, with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic games.

This quality was continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of

restlessness.”138 Fitzgerald’s description of what makes something “peculiarly American”

can certainly apply to Concerto in F and The Great Gatsby: both works contain qualities

138 Fitzgerald, 68.

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which seem “formless” and “sporadic,” and the feeling of “restlessness” certainly is

pertinent.

On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of a hopeless man pursuing a love

from his past with great determination and vitality. However, beneath the surface, the

novel carries much more weight. It is about the tantalizing beauty of our dreams which

are ultimately impossible; it is about the tension between “old money” and “new money;”

it is about American history. Ultimately, The Great Gatsby is a novel about the death of

the idealism of a young nation during a corrupt period in its history, one whose prospects

once looked so optimistic and promising.

While there is no way for the moral implications of The Great Gatsby to be

translated into Concerto in F, the two works do share many formal and stylistic

similarities. First of all, the formal structure in Concerto in F is similar to the chronology

of the plot in The Great Gatsby. Both works contain features of multiply-directed linear

time, a concept that music theorist Jonathan Kramer came up with. While both works are

teleological in some sense, the work as a whole is made up of scattered fragments, and it

is the responsibility of the listener/reader to make sense of these pieces after

listening/reading the work in its entirety. Second of all, Fitzgerald’s use of syntax can be

compared to how the effects of Steve Larson’s concepts of melodic gravity, rhythmic

inertia, and rhythmic magnetism appear in the Gershwin concerto.

Although The Great Gatsby and Concerto in F are both products of the Jazz Age,

there is one crucial difference between the two works: while The Great Gatsby ends on

the pessimistic note with the death of dreams and the impossibility to bring back lost

time, Concerto in F ends on the opposite note: with the cyclic return of a past grandiose

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theme. In other words, Concerto in F ends on a triumphant note; through all of the

sporadic changes in lighting and scenery in the first movement, the aimless wandering of

the second movement, and the cyclic returns of past themes throughout the agitated third

movement, the concerto achieves the goal that eluded Gatsby – it brought back the past,

but in even larger grandeur and radiance. The Great Gatsby, on the other hand, ends with

the realization that no matter how much we idealize the past, our real lives will never live

up to our imagined glories of it.

The plot of The Great Gatsby concludes with Nick deciding to return to the

Midwest. Similar to many other Americans during the Jazz Age, while he is fascinated

with the possibilities of the era, he is ultimately disgusted and disturbed at the corruption

and greed that lie beneath the shining lights. In returning back to the Midwest, Nick too is

attempting to bring back some sort of lost time. He desires to return to an America of

older times, one that was prompted by moral codes and noble ideas. As readers, we know

that such an America does not exist, and it probably never did exist. However, it is the

search for meaning and the desire to bring back a grandiose time the way it plays out in

the Gershwin concerto that makes the characters in The Great Gatsby so enduring.

Through study of the masterpieces of Gershwin and Fitzgerald, the beautiful dreamers

and flappers of an ephemeral time have found a way to live on forever.

100

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