FASCINATING RHYTHM: The Collaboration of George and...

FASCINATING RHYTHM: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin by Deena Rosenberg (Plume: $15; 516 pp., illustrated). Rosenberg offers a meticulous, balanced study of the extraordinary partnership that produced some of the most popular and durable songs in the history of the American musical theater. She analyzes the music and the lyrics with equal care, noting the influence of jazz and Debussy on the former and of W. S. Gilbert on the latter. This noteworthy study is marred only by occasional lapses into hero-worship: Does Rosenberg really believe these songs are “more widely known than the novels, films and paintings of their period?”