Editing Rhapsody in Blue (section)

=== Cultural zeitgeist ===
{{CSS image crop|Image=Krazy Kat LOC npcc.04658.jpg|bSize=500|cWidth=300|cHeight=200|oTop=125|oLeft=90|Location=right|Description=Gershwin's work has been cited by writers and scholars as embodying the [[Jazz Age]]'s [[zeitgeist]] with its [[flapper]]s and [[speakeasies]]. ''Above:'' Patrons and a flapper await the opening of a speakeasy in 1921.}}
{{Further|Jazz Age}}
With the debut of ''Rhapsody in Blue'', Gershwin inaugurated a new era in America's musical history.{{sfn|Goldberg|1958|p=154}} He established his reputation as one of the eminent composers of the [[Jazz Age]], and his composition eventually became one of the most popular of all concert works.{{sfn|Schiff|1997|loc=Book jacket}} In the ''[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]]'' magazine, Frederic D. Schwarz posits that the famous opening clarinet [[glissando]] has become as instantly recognizable to concert audiences as the opening of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]].{{sfn|Schwarz|1999}}

According to critic Orrin Howard of the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]], Gershwin's rhapsody made an indelible mark "on the fraternity of serious composers and performers—many of whom were present at the premiere—and on Gershwin himself, for its enthusiastic reception encouraged him to other and more serious projects."{{sfn|Howard|2003}} Howard posits that the work's legacy is best understood as embodying the cultural [[zeitgeist]] of the Jazz Age: {{Blockquote|Beginning with that incomparable, flamboyant clarinet solo, ''Rhapsody'' is irresistible still, with its syncopated rhythmic vibrancy, its abandoned, impudent flair that tells more about the [[Roaring Twenties]] than could a thousand words, and its genuine melodic beauty colored a deep, jazzy blue by the flatted sevenths and thirds that had their origins in the [[Slave Songs of the United States|African-American slave songs]].{{sfn|Howard|2003}}}}

Although Gershwin's rhapsody is "by no means a definitive example of jazz in the Jazz Age",{{sfn|Sisk|2016}} music historians such as James Ciment and [[Floyd Levin]] have similarly concurred that it is the key composition that encapsulates the spirit of the era.{{sfn|Ciment|2015|p=265}}{{sfn|Levin|2002|p=73}} As early as 1927, writer [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] opined that ''Rhapsody in Blue'' idealized the youthful zeitgeist of the Jazz Age.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|2004|p=93}} In subsequent decades, both the latter era and Fitzgerald's related literary works have been often culturally linked by critics and scholars with Gershwin's composition.{{sfn|Teachout|1992}} In 1941, social historian [[Peter Quennell]] opined that Fitzgerald's novel ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' embodied "the sadness and the remote jauntiness of a Gershwin tune."{{sfn|Mizener|1960}} Accordingly, director [[Baz Luhrmann]] used ''Rhapsody in Blue'' as a dramatic [[leitmotif]] for the character of [[Jay Gatsby]] in his 2013 film ''[[The Great Gatsby (2013 film)|The Great Gatsby]]'', a cinematic adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel.{{sfn|Levy|2019}}{{sfn|Bañagale|2014|pp=156–157}}

Various writers, such as the American playwright and journalist [[Terry Teachout]], have likened Gershwin himself to the character of Gatsby due to his attempt to transcend his lower-class background, his abrupt meteoric success, and his early death while in his thirties.{{sfn|Teachout|1992}}