Summertime (arr Custer)

From Wind Repertory Project
George Gershwin

George Gershwin (arr. Calvin Custer)


Subtitle: From Porgy and Bess


General Info

Year: 1934 / 1995
Duration: c. 3:10
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Publishing Co.
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $70.00; (digital) - $70.00   |   Score Only (print) - $7.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

  • Bells
  • Drum Set
  • Tambourine
  • Triangle


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Summertime is one of those special, memorable melodies that finds its way into everyone's lives and is so evident of the genius that is Gershwin. Calvin Custer's silken scoring for concert band serves as a smooth crowd pleaser.

- Program Note from publisher


Summertime is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, although the song is also co-credited to Ira Gershwin by ASCAP.

Gershwin began composing the song in December 1933, attempting to create his own spiritual in the style of the African American folk music of the period. Gershwin had completed setting DuBose Heyward's poem to music by February 1934, and spent the next 20 months completing and orchestrating the score of the opera.

The song is sung several times throughout Porgy and Bess. Its lyrics are the first words heard in act 1 of the opera, following the communal "wa-do-wa". It is sung by Clara as a lullaby.

The song soon became a popular and much recorded jazz standard, described as "without doubt ... one of the finest songs the composer ever wrote ... Gershwin's highly evocative writing brilliantly mixes elements of jazz and the song styles of blacks in the southeast United States from the early twentieth century". The song is recognized as one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music, with more than 33,000 covers by groups and solo performers.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Cedar Falls (Iowa) Municipal Band (Dennis A. Downs, conductor) - 21 June 2022
  • Patrick Henry High School (Roanoke, Va.) Symphonic Band (Alexander Schmitt, conductor) - 26 April 2018
  • Arkansas (Farmington) Winds Community Concert Band (Chal Ragsdale, conductor) – 29 April 2017
  • Mesquite (Tex.) Community Band (Stephen Shoop, conductor) – 4 March 2017


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources