Gershwin's Final Resting Place

Gershwin's  Final Resting Place

By: Ethan Fouks

The piano in this picture in the Library of Congress belonged to George Gershwin and according to his brother Ira was the one he used to write his later music up until his untimely death at the age of 38. His brother who survived him continue to create music for many years after his death alone. I find myself wondering how he felt after his brother died, did he ever fell a pang of sadness every time he wrote music without him or composed pieces they would have made together? The feeling of his brothers spirit must have been near by throughout the rest of his musical career and especially when in close proximity to the piano. It feels odd that such influential people who when mentioned we picture them in the 1930's died a half a century apart.

The exhibit in the Library of Congress does them justice by discussing there early life there music careers stat witch surprisingly was developed separately in the beginning and they didn't become a group till they were both well known and respected musicians. It then goes on to discuss there numerous prosperous years of collaboration and there stints on Broadway that would become world famous and are still respected and preformed to this day in theaters and orchestras around the world.It then talks about the last years of George's life and there is a section about there final works together. It then discusses how Ira functioned without him and his continued music career alone for the first time in many years. It then briefly talks about Ira's later life including his donations to the library and eventually his own death. They worked together in a way that is incredibly close and was able to produce some of the greatest musics of there generation. The two brothers had an incredible music talent that they utilized throughout there lives and the world is lucky that it got to experience there incredible sounds then and can continue to here them to this day.