Cuban Overture

Gershwin spent two weeks in Havana in February 1932 and came back with the rhythms and the percussion instruments that became this piece, which he wrote that summer under the title Rumba. It was first played on 16 August 1932 at Lewisohn Stadium in New York, at an all-Gershwin concert conducted by Albert Coates before an audience of some eighteen thousand. He renamed it Cuban Overture for a performance that November, and specified that the claves, bongos, gourd and maracas be placed at the front of the orchestra, in front of the conductor.