Summertime is the first song to have achieved the honor of having 1,000 versions in the SHS database! The song has its origins in the novel, "Porgy" written by DuBose Heyward and published in 1925. The novel concerned a crippled beggar named Porgy living in the black ghetto in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1920s. Heywood's wife, Dorothy, began working on an adaptation of the novel for the stage almost immediately on the book's publication. DuBose and Dorothy Heywood's stage adaptation -- which was not a musical -- premiered on Broadway on October 10, 1927, running for 367 performances. The play differed in several significant respects from the play.
Although George Gershwin was already in discussions with Heywood about turning the novel into an opera before the Heywards' stage adaptation was completed, the libretto for what became "Porgy and Bess" is based on the Heywards' play, rather than the DuBose novel. Gershwin's vision was to create an "American folk opera", and his "Porgy and Bess" opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City on October 10, 1935, exactly eight years after the Broadway premiere of "Porgy". "Porgy and Bess" was not particularly popular with audiences when it first ran and it closed after just 124 performances. Today, "Porgy and Bess' is considered a masterpiece and is far better known than "Porgy" in both its novel and play forms.
"Summertime" is an aria and the first song in "Porgy and Bess". It was initially sung as a lullaby by the character Clara in the play. The song is then sung in part several times throughout the production. "Summertime" became a favorite of jazz musicians shortly after its appearance in "Porgy and Bess". The first artist to chart with the song was Billie Holiday in 1936. Love of this song is not restricted to jazz musicians by any means, and it has been a popular piece and oft recorded by blues, folk, rock, pop and classical performers.
Thus far, nearly all of the vocal cover versions of "Summertime" in the SHS database have been in English. We know that many more recordings of the work have been sung in languages other than English than the few that are currently included in the database. We are actively encouraging our members to submit vocal versions of "Summertime" in languages other than English. One problem we have had that has retarded the number of non-English language versions of the song in the database has been a general inability to confirm the authors of non-English lyrics for the song. We would greatly appreciate any assistance that our members may be able to provide in locating non-English vocal adaptations of "Summertime" and source information for the author of the non-English lyrics. With your help, "Summertime" may ultimately account for 2000 or more versions in the database.
Let us know what your favorite version of "Summertime" is.
Last edit: 2014-02-25 06:45:34 UTC by Bastien
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