Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess: Vision and Impact
Prominent arts patron Otto Kahn, the Met’s chairman from 1908 to 1931, was intrigued by the Harlem Renaissance as well as the emerging generation of American artists. As a great admirer of George Gershwin, he had supported the celebrated 1924 premiere of Rhapsody in Blue. Determined to foster American composers at the Met, Kahn awarded Gershwin a contract to write an opera on the Yiddish drama The Dybbuk in 1929. When literary rights issues sank that plan, Gershwin turned to DuBose Heyward’s novella Porgy, which had first inspired him several years earlier. Heyward collaborated on the libretto for Gershwin’s opera, drawing on his wife, Dorothy’s, stage adaptation of Porgy, and encouraged the composer to immerse himself in the Carolina Low Country culture. Kahn pursued the idea of premiering Porgy and Bess at the Met, but engaging the predominantly Black company that Gershwin insisted upon—for a limited number of performances each season—proved impractical. Kahn’s resignation as chairman and death in 1934 ended any serious discussion of the opera at the Met for more than a decade.
Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess opened in Boston on September 30, 1935, and premiered on Broadway at New York’s Alvin Theatre on October 10. The social and musical impact of the highly anticipated new opera generated public enthusiasm but also mixed reviews and consternation about its stereotyping of Black society. At the same time, Gershwin’s requirement of an all-Black cast for future performances changed the landscape of operatic opportunity for African American singers. The new spotlight on Black talent also raised the level of national advocacy on their behalf aimed at Met management. Edward Johnson, General Manager from 1935 to 1950, resisted performing Porgy and Bess and disingenuously argued against engaging outstanding Black singers such as Dorothy Maynor and Marian Anderson based on their lack of grand opera experience. Nevertheless, the tide of history at the theater was about to change.
Otto Kahn, the Met, and Gershwin
“I have…suggested writing an American opera to some of our most popular composers, such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern … ”
—Otto Kahn, Metropolitan Opera Company Chairman, 1925
Longtime Met chairman Otto H. Kahn (1867–1934)—Wall Street financier, arts patron, and aficionado of Harlem life—encouraged Gershwin to act on his long-held dream of composing a full-length opera. Cultural critic Carl Van Vechten, a possible librettist, described Gershwin’s early concept for a scenario on Black life that was only strengthened when the composer read DuBose Heyward’s novella Porgy in 1926 and saw its stage adaptation the following year. Gershwin, however, turned to the Yiddish drama The Dybbuk when offered a Met contract in 1929.
Rose McClendon (Serena), Evelyn Ellis (Bess), and Frank Wilson (Porgy) in the Theatre Guild production of Porgy (1927), which Gershwin saw during its New York run (Photo by Vandamm Studio© Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
Gershwin in London, preparing for a 1925 song recital with Eva Gauthier (George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress)
Theater Guild announcement, Porgy (“A Folk Play”). (George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress)
Gershwin acknowledged his Met contract for The Dybbuk in 1929. (Met Archives)
Met chairman Otto H. Kahn moved easily in cosmopolitan social circles, including that of prominent social host Carl Van Vechten, with whom he shared a memorable Harlem evening. (Carl Van Vechten Papers, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Carl Van Vechten described Gershwin’s concept for an opera on Black life in 1924. (Sir Hugh Walpole Collection, Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library)
Creative Team and Process
Gershwin returned to the idea of setting Porgy—and considered Kahn’s offer to produce it at the Met—in the early 1930s. In 1933, he reflected: “I want to do a great deal of thinking about the thing and the gathering in of thematic material before the actual writing begins.” Apart from Gershwin’s memorable 1934 summer retreat to Folly Island, much of the drafting of the opera was accomplished through correspondence, until Ira Gershwin joined the team as lyricist. Heyward described their creative synergy to The Stage in 1935: “The brothers Gershwin, after their extraordinary fashion, would get at the piano, pound, wrangle, swear, burst into weird snatches of song, and eventually emerge with a polished lyric.”
Dorothy and DuBose Heyward (DuBose Heyward Papers, South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston)
Ira Gershwin’s recollections on the relationship of George Gershwin, Otto Kahn, and the Metropolitan Opera (September 1967) (George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress)
George Gershwin, sketches for Strawberry Woman and Crab Man, Porgy and Bess. (George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress)
Henry Botkin, Gershwin’s Folly Island Cottage (1934). Original watercolor on paper. (George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress)
George Gershwin and his cousin, artist Henry Botkin, at Folly Island (summer 1934) (George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress)
George Biddle, Fish Cat Alley (1930). Original watercolor and ink on paper. (© The estate of George Biddle, courtesy D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc)
George Biddle, Church Street Amusements. Original watercolor and ink on paper. (Gibbes Museum of Art. © The estate of George Biddle)
Elizabeth O’Neil Verner, Close Neighbors. Original lithograph. (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
Cabbage Row, Charleston, after its abandonment (1928) (Photo by George Johnson, courtesy The Charleston Museum)
World Premiere of Porgy and Bess
Warren Coleman (Crown) and Anne Wiggins Brown (Bess), Alvin Theatre, New York (1935) (Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
John Bubbles (Sportin’ Life) and Anne Wiggins Brown (Bess), Alvin Theatre, New York (1935) (Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
Todd Duncan (Porgy) and Anne Wiggins Brown (Bess), Alvin Theatre, New York (1935) (Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
Creative Team
Conductor Alexander Smallens (1889–1972). Carl Van Vechten photograph (contemporary print reproduction). (Beinecke Library©VanVechtenTrust)
Choral director Eva Jessye (1895–1992) (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
Director Rouben Mamoulian (1897–1987) (George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress)
Porgy and Bess World Premiere Cast
Todd Duncan (Porgy) (Photo by Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
Anne Wiggins Brown (Bess) (J. Rosamond Johnson Papers, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University)
Ruby Elzy (Serena) (Photo: J. Abresch. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
Abbie Mitchell (Clara) (Photo by Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
Georgette Harvey (Maria) (Photo by Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts / Museum of the City of New York)
John W. Bubbles (Sportin’ Life) (Photo by Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
Edward Matthews (Jake) (Photo by Vandamm Studio© Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
Porgy and Bess World Premiere Stage Scenes
Gershwin curtain call with Porgy and Bess cast, Colonial Theatre, Boston (September 30, 1935) (Richard H. Tucker, Jr., Theatrical Photographs, Robert A. Wachsman Papers, Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University, courtesy Julia Tucker)
Kyra Markham, Backstage at Porgy and Bess (1936). Original lithograph. (Smithsonian Museum of American Art)
Scenes from Porgy and Bess (1935) (New York photos by Vandamm Studio © Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Boston photos by Richard H. Tucker, Jr. Theatrical Photographs, Robert A. Wachsman Papers, Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University.)
“Met Head Writes Off Fine Singers”
—The Washington Post, 1947
New generations of Black talent achieved national and international visibility throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Yet the Metropolitan’s General Manager, Edward Johnson, continued to exclude them from the Met stage, arguing that concert success did not necessarily transfer to opera. As a young tenor, Johnson had sung extensively in Italy under the name Edoardo di Giovanni to disguise his Canadian origins.
General Manager Edward Johnson maintained in 1938 that Porgy and Bess was too “intimate” a work for the Met. Met chairman Paul D. Cravath’s 1940 suggestion to Johnson for a Porgy and Bess featuring internationally renowned African American singers was unsuccessful. (Met Archives)
Washington Post critic Paul Hume joined a growing cohort of post–World War II advocates for democracy in the nation’s performing arts institutions (1947). (© 1947 The Washington Post. All rights reserved. Used under license.)
Soprano Dorothy Maynor sang at the White House with Todd Duncan in 1935 and was promoted by Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood in 1939. Carl Van Vechten photograph. Original 35mm color slide. (Beinecke Library © VanVechtenTrust)
Soprano Caterina Jarboro sang operatic roles across Europe in the 1930s but did not receive a Met audition until 1950. Promotional flyer c. 1940. (Met Archives)
The First Black Artists Arrive at the Met
Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess: Vision and Impact
Rudolf Bing and a New Direction for the Met