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Porgy and Bess: Vocal Score by George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward | Complete Opera Vocal Score Sheet Music for Singers with Songs Including Summertime, I Loves You, Porgy, and It Ain't Necessarily So

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(Vocal Score). Titles include: Jasbo Brown Blues * Summertime * A Woman Is a Sometime Thing * Here Come de Honey Man * They Pass by Singin' * Oh Little Stars * Gone, Gone, Gone * Overflow * My Man's Gone Now * Leavin' for the Promise' Lan' * It Take a Long Pull to Get There * I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' * Buzzard Song * Bess, You Is My Woman * Oh, I Can't Sit Down * I Ain't Got No Shame * It Ain't Necessarily So * What You Want Wid Bess? * Oh, Doctor Jesus * Strawberry Woman * Crab Man * I Loves You, Porgy * Oh, Hev'nly Father * Oh, de Lawd Shake de Heavens * Oh, Dere's Somebody Knockin' at de Do' * A Red Headed Woman * Clara, Clara * There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York * Good Mornin', Sistuh! * Oh, Bess, Oh Where's My Bess * Oh Lawd * I'm on My Way.

570 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

67 people want to read

About the author

George Gershwin

1,222 books14 followers
George Gershwin (26 September, 1898 - 11 July, 1937) was an American composer. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin. George Gershwin composed songs both for Broadway and for the classical concert hall. He also wrote popular songs with success. He died young from a brain tumour at age 38.

Many of his compositions have been used on television and in numerous films, and many became jazz standards. The jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald recorded many of the Gershwins' songs on her 1959 Gershwin Songbook (arranged by Nelson Riddle).

Countless singers and musicians have recorded Gershwin songs, including Louis Armstrong, Al Jolson, Bobby Darin, Art Tatum, Bing Crosby, Janis Joplin, John Coltrane, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Madonna, Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, Marni Nixon, Natalie Cole, Nina Simone, Maureen McGovern, John Fahey, and Sting.

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Cristina.
66 reviews
September 19, 2013


In this legendary Gershwin opera set among the black residents of a fishing village in 1912 South Carolina, Bess - a woman with a disreputable history - tries to break free from her brutish lover Crown after he becomes wanted for murder. The only person willing to overlook her past and offer her shelter is the crippled Porgy. Their relationship is threatened by the disapproval of the townspeople, the presence of her old drug supplier Sportin' Life - and the threatened return of Crown.
Profile Image for Kaia Scott.
87 reviews6 followers
January 30, 2024
I watched the 2020 version along with reading the script. A really good musical with really intense themes and multifaceted characters. Oh Porgy and Bess. A beautiful and tragic depiction of black love. What really happens at the end, who knows. But I like to think Porgy found his girl.
Profile Image for Susan Molloy.
Author 153 books89 followers
March 24, 2023
"Porgy and Bess" is an English-language opera by George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play "Porgy," itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel, "Porgy." The novel, set in the 1920s, tells the story of Porgy, a crippled street beggar who lives in the tenements of Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1920s. The story was created into a play, and in 1959, a movie.

I like the way the story flows, and the music for its smoothness and composition. The lyrics are sentimental.

💥 🎵 Recommended.
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Profile Image for Andrew.
176 reviews39 followers
May 31, 2012
A wonderful story, but a kind of muddled. Some of the best lyrics you will ever read in your life.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews