Re: Rhapsody in Blue, Does it have Klezmer Origins?

[Ernie Gruner / Cathy Dowden <erniegru...>]

Please could someone explain to me the relationship between klezmer and
yiddish?

Are they / Were they always linked ?

Were there klezmer musicians in Europe who did not speak yiddish? where?

My understanding is that klezmer was jewish eastern european instrumental
music, and that yiddish is a language which happens to be spoken in most if
not all of the areas where klezmer was played. Is my confusion based on
time and geographical changes and definitions?

I suspect this may be a can of worms. However I keep hearing or reading
different bits of evidence and hope that this forum may provide more
information and perhaps a resolution.

thankyou
Ernie

At 10:51 9/03/98 -0500, you wrote:
>As I show in my forthcoming book "Klezmer! A History of Yiddish Music in
>America" The famous opening of "Rhapsody in Blue" with its characteristic
>"klezmer" glissando, was not of Gershwin's making. The original Gershwin idea
>(and the music on the stands played by the Whiteman orchestra) had not, the
>famous "cry" 
>
>
Ernie Gruner
KALEIDOSCOPE MUSIC
Phone: 03 9386 7108   Fax: 03 9386 0947     Mobile: 0418 549 631
2 Cole Crescent, East Coburg 3058, Victoria,  AUSTRALIA   (Melbourne)
E-mail: erniegru (at) mira(dot)net
INTERNATIONAL: Phone 61 3 9386 7108   Fax 61 3 9386 0947

Performing with and/or Managing:
JUGULARITY...KALINKA...KLEZMERITIS....HOWLIN' WIND..MonashStringQuartet,
 & various jazz, celtic, folk, classical ensembles.    Solo
violin/fiddle.........