Scholar Ryan Raul Bañagale offered a lecture on the occasion of the 100th birthday of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, celebrated at the Library with a performance of the work by Simone Dinnerstein and the United States Air Force Band. Bañagale, an expert on Rhapsody in Blue who prepared the critical edition of the work’s original version, spoke about the origins of the iconic work and the contributions of Ferde Grofé and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, as well as Rhapsody in Blue’s import to the 1920s music scene in New York City. Bañagale also discusses Rhapsody in Blue in terms of cultural appropriation and the complicated legacy of the work.

For transcript and more information, visit https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11261