When I'm In My Normal Mood, Music

Upper Berth, Lower Berth, That's The Difference Between Talent And Genius.

Not Many Composers Have Ideas. Far More Of Them Know How To Use Strange Instruments Which Do Not Require Ideas.

Porgy Is...an Interesting Example Of What Can Be Done By Talent In Spite Of A Bad Setup. With A Libretto That Should Never Have Been Accepted On A Subject That Should Never Have Been Chosen, A Man Who Should Never Have Attempted It Has Written A Work That Has A Considerable Power.

Gershwin's Melodic Gift Was Phenomenal. His Songs Contain The Essence Of New York In The 1920s And Have Deservedly Become Classics Of Their Kind, Part Of The 20th-century Folk-song Tradition In The Sense That They Are Popular Music Which Has Been Spread By Oral Tradition (for Many Must Have Sung A Gershwin Song Without Having Any Idea Who Wrote It).

Gershwin's Tragedy Was Not That He Failed To Cross The Tracks, But Rather That He Did, And Once There In His New Habitat, Was Deprived Of The Chance To Plunge His Roots Firmly Into The New Soil.