Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Oscar Levant: Pianist, Gershwinite, Middlebrow Media Star, Caleb Taylor Boyd

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following George Gershwin’s death in 1937, his friend and fellow pianist Oscar Levant (1906-1972) constructed a multifaceted professional career across many forms of modern media that not only helped him build and maintain his popular status as a Gershwinite, but also helped establish Gershwin’s piano music in the American concert hall canon. For nearly twenty years, Levant – more often than any other pianist – performed Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F in concert halls, in outdoor stadia, on radio, and in films. He first came to national attention in 1938 as a regular panelist on the radio …