Editing An American in Paris (section)

==Background==
Although the story is likely apocryphal,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Charles |url=https://archive.org/details/gershwinhislifem00sch_3az |title=George Gershwin: His Life and Music |date=1973 |isbn=0-672-51662-4 |url-access=registration|page=154|publisher=[[Bobbs-Merrill Company]]}}</ref> Gershwin is said to have been attracted by [[Maurice Ravel]]'s unusual chords, and Gershwin went on his first trip to Paris in 1926 ready to study with Ravel. After his initial student audition with Ravel turned into a sharing of musical theories, Ravel said he could not teach him, saying, "Why be a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?"<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Schiff |first=David |author-link=David Schiff |date=October 1, 1998 |title=Misunderstanding Gershwin |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/10/misunderstanding-gershwin/377252/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215222801/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/10/misunderstanding-gershwin/377252/ |archive-date=Dec 15, 2018 |access-date=December 11, 2018 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Gershwin strongly encouraged Ravel to come to the United States for a tour. To this end, upon his return to New York, Gershwin joined the efforts of Ravel's friend [[E. Robert Schmitz|Robert Schmitz]], a pianist Ravel had met during the war, to urge Ravel to tour the U.S. Schmitz was the head of Pro Musica, promoting Franco-American musical relations, and was able to offer Ravel a $10,000 fee for the tour, an enticement Gershwin knew would be important to Ravel.<ref name="Goss">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bolerolifeofmaur1940goss |title=Bolero: the life of Maurice Ravel |last=Goss |first=Madeleine |publisher=New York, H. Holt and Company |year=1940 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bolerolifeofmaur1940goss/page/216 216]–219}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=December 2018|reason=for Gershwin's involvement}}

Gershwin greeted Ravel in New York in March 1928 during a party held for Ravel's birthday by [[Éva Gauthier]].<ref name=Burton>{{Cite web |url=https://csosoundsandstories.org/fascinatin-rhythm-when-ravel-met-gershwin-in-jazz-age-new-york/ |title=Fascinatin' rhythm: When Ravel met Gershwin in Jazz Age New York |last=Burton |first=Louise |date=May 26, 2015 |website=CSO Sounds & Stories |publisher=[[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] |access-date=December 11, 2018 |archive-date=January 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121135409/https://csosoundsandstories.org/fascinatin-rhythm-when-ravel-met-gershwin-in-jazz-age-new-york/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Ravel's tour reignited Gershwin's desire to return to Paris, which he and his brother [[Ira Gershwin|Ira]] did after meeting Ravel.<ref name="Gerswhin.com" /> Ravel's high praise of Gershwin in an introductory letter to [[Nadia Boulanger]] caused Gershwin to seriously consider taking much more time to study abroad in Paris. Yet after he played for her, she told him she could not teach him. Boulanger gave Gershwin basically the same advice she gave all her accomplished master students: "What could I give you that you haven't already got?"<ref name="Spycket1992">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-VcUAeWQr0C&pg=PA71|title=Nadia Boulanger|author=Jérôme Spycket|publisher=Pendragon Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-945193-38-8|pages=71–73}}</ref><ref name="Pollack2007" /> This did not set Gershwin back, as his real intent abroad was to complete a new work based on Paris and perhaps a second rhapsody for piano and orchestra to follow his ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]''. Paris at this time hosted many expatriate writers, among them [[Ezra Pound]], [[W. B. Yeats]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] and artist [[Pablo Picasso]].<ref>LSRI Archives Oral Interview Anita Loos and Mary Anita Loos October 1979 re: letters and Ravel's telegram to Gershwin</ref>