Gershwin in the Heartland: Critical and Public Reception of the 1934 Leo Reisman Tour

Schneider talks about the month-long concert tour of George Gershwin and the Leo Reisman Orchestra in the eastern half of the US in 1934. Accordingly, this tour enabled Gershwin to assess his stance in the greater American musical landscape and take the pulse of his reception by critics and audiences across the country. It is also noted that by 1934, the issue of Gershwin as Great American Composer, the contested boundaries of popular and classical music, and the definition of jazz had been hashed out over the last decade by the press of the urban East, but, as Gershwin discovered, these topics still burned in the nation's heartland.