ompletion of Swanee. Al Jolson heard Swanee and added it to his touring show. Swanee became a tremendously famous hit with the public selling over a million copies during its first year. Porgy and Bess, completed in 1935, proved to be one of Gershwin's most famous works. Porgy and Bess was a drama of Black America written in a folk manner for black singers. The opera was first publicly staged on September 30th of that year in Boston, Massachusetts. It gained great popularity regardless of the press' reviews. Rhapsody in Blue was completed by Gershwin in 1924. This proved to be a milestone in his career. Gershwin wrote this piece primarily for its production by Paul Whiteman and his jazz band. This piece of music had a classical form in which Gershwin applied the jazz idiom. Gershwin wrote on his greatest operas in 1922, called Blue Monday. This piece was written for an African-American opera called George White's Scandals. After only one single performance in New York, it was withdrawn due it seriousness being out of place in it's context and misunderstood. Blue Monday was later retitled 135th Street. Many years after Gershwin's death, Blue Monday was revived at a omprehensive festival during 1970 given to Gershwin in Miami, Florida. Here, Blue Monday's popularity was made. ...
