| "Summertime" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Language | English |
| Released | 1935 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Composer(s) | George Gershwin |
| Lyricist(s) | DuBose Heyward Ira Gershwin |
"Summertime" is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, and Ira Gershwin.[1]
The song soon became a popular and much-recorded jazz standard, described as "without doubt ... one of the finest songs the composer ever wrote ... Gershwin's highly evocative writing brilliantly mixes elements of jazz and the song styles of African-Americans in the South-East United States from the early twentieth century".[2] Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim characterized Heyward's lyrics for "Summertime" and "My Man's Gone Now" as "the best lyrics in the musical theater".[3]