An American in Paris
An American in Paris is a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by American composer George Gershwin first performed in 1928. It was inspired by the time that Gershwin had spent in Paris and evokes the sights and energy of the French capital in the "Années folles".

Gershwin scored the piece for the standard instruments of the symphony orchestra plus celesta, saxophones, and automobile horns. He brought back four Parisian taxi horns for the New York premiere of the composition, which took place on December 13, 1928, in Carnegie Hall, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic. It was Damrosch who had commissioned Gershwin to write the Concerto in F following the success of "Rhapsody in Blue" (1924). He completed the orchestration on November 18, less than four weeks before the work's premiere. He collaborated on the original program notes with critic and composer Deems Taylor.
Q123829
George Gershwin
PER
Q90
Paris
LOC
Q17998202
Années folles
TIME
Q320341
celesta
Concept
Q200959
Carnegie Hall
LOC
Q725579
Walter Damrosch
PER
Q471154
New York Philharmonic
ORG
Q1317658
Concerto in F
MEDIA
Q722599
Rhapsody in Blue
MEDIA
Q284386
Deems Taylor
PER
Q853997
An American in Paris
MEDIA
1928-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1928
DATE
1928-12-13T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 13, 1928
DATE
+1924^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1924
NUMBER
+18^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
18
NUMBER
composer
publication date
date of first performance
notable work