Gershwin had more practical advice, for he, too, was the son of Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants trying to make a living writing music in 1920s America: Change your name to something American-sounding and write popular music. Gershwin’s young charge, still a little green yet, harbored dreams of becoming a classical composer after all, he’d studied under the great Reinhold Glière in Kiev. Dukelsky, five years Gershwin’s junior, had been classically trained at the Kiev Conservatory, where the classical pianist and composer Vladimir Horowitz was a classmate. in 1921, a new friend and would-be mentor convinced Dukelsky to change his surname to Duke.

Perhaps that’s why, shortly after he arrived in the U.S. The 1954 edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians claims, in its entry for Dukelsky, that his grandmother was a descendent of Georgian royals (if you’re thinking peaches and Hank Aaron, you’ve got the wrong Georgia). But you’d earn extra credit for knowing that before George Gershwin was George Gershwin, he was born in a Brooklyn tenement to Lithuanian and Ukrainian Jews and named for his paternal grandfather-you guessed it-Jacob Gershowitz. Here’s a clue: ever heard “I Got Rhythm”? That’s George Gershwin, you say? Well, you’d be correct. No, he’s not your periodontist at least that’s not the Jacob Gershowitz I’m referring to. Let’s play a little game: How much do you really know about your favorite Tin Pan Alley composers?įirst, a relatively easy one: Jacob Gershowitz.

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