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Cambo
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Post by Cambo »

This song has been covered, according to Wikipedia, over 25,000 times! It started life as an opera piece, but was adopted by popular music to become a jazz standard. For simplicities sake, I'll take the first version to become a pop success as the original:

Billie Holiday- Summertime

But I think the definitive, jaw dropping, gut punching version was delivered years later by Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin- Summertime
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Post by Menolly »

Cambo wrote:It started life as an opera piece, but was adopted by popular music to become a jazz standard.
hmm...

While the production of Porgy and Bess was written as an opera, the music was never meant to be classical. It was written as folk music, which can easily segue in to jazz.
[i]Porgy and Bess[/i] on Wikipedia wrote:Originally conceived by George Gershwin as an "American folk opera", Porgy and Bess premiered in New York in the fall of 1935 and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time. Gershwin chose the African-American musician Eva Jessye as the choral director for the opera. Gershwin explained why he called Porgy and Bess a folk opera in a 1935 New York Times article: "Porgy and Bess is a folk tale. Its people naturally would sing folk music. When I first began work in the music I decided against the use of original folk material because I wanted the music to be all of one piece. Therefore I wrote my own spirituals and folksongs. But they are still folk music – and therefore, being in operatic form, Porgy and Bess becomes a folk opera."
For me, that would be the equivalent of saying JC, Superstar or I Don't Know How to Love Him are operatic pieces, since they were both written for the rock opera, JC, Superstar. Or the song Day by Day from G-dspell. But I don't think of them that way, not even the original cast recordings of them.
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Cambo
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Post by Cambo »

Fair enough! I have no knowledge of the actual play, I just saw "opera" on the Wikipedia page and took their word for it :lol:
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Ananda
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Post by Ananda »

Cambo wrote:This song has been covered, according to Wikipedia, over 25,000 times! It started life as an opera piece, but was adopted by popular music to become a jazz standard. For simplicities sake, I'll take the first version to become a pop success as the original:

Billie Holiday- Summertime

But I think the definitive, jaw dropping, gut punching version was delivered years later by Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin- Summertime
Awww, that is from swedish tv.
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Cambo
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Post by Cambo »

You lucky sods. :P
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Post by Iolanthe »

The distinction is easy. Opera has no spoken words. Musicals (modern), operettas (not usually modern) have words and music. Gilbert & Sullivan wrote operettas, as did Sigmund Romberg (Desert Song, Student Prince etc.) et al. Why there is a distinction between musicals and operettas is probably an age thing. Porgy and Bess would be classed as a "Musical", like "Carousel", "Oklahoma" etc.

P & G is a beautiful musical. If you get the chance, Cambo, you should watch it. There are other very good songs "It ain't necessarily so", "I got plenty o' nothing" etc. And the music...........well it is Gershwin :Hail:
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Post by Menolly »

:goodpost:
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Post by sgt.null »

Cord - a favorite
Lenin, Marx
Marx, Lennon
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Post by Damelon »

Original:

My Sweet Lord

Cover, at A Concert for George by Billy Preston

My Sweet Lord
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Post by Damelon »

While I’m thinking about it

Original by Dave Loggins

Please Come To Boston

Cover by David Allen Coe

Please Come To Boston
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