Composer and pianist. Born to immigrant Jewish parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., Gershwin had one of the meteoric careers in the history of American music. Beginning as a “Tin Pan Alley” tunester, he burst into serious music with a performance of his Rhapsody in Blue in 1924. After this critical success, Gershwin continued to compose for the popular stage, usually with his brother Ira. To the end of his life, however, he experimented with classic musical forms. His last work, Porgy and Bess, a “folk opera” whose score draws heavily on Negro spirituals, blues, and jazz motifs, has been acclaimed as a masterpiece throughout the world.