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50 free Rhapsody in Blue trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Rhapsody in Blue trivia quiz covers the 1924 piece that made George Gershwin a serious composer and gave the Jazz Age its theme tune. The easy questions cover the composer, the bandleader who commissioned it, the instrument that opens it, the airline that has used it since 1987 and the Disney film that animated it. From there the quiz moves through the frantic story of how it was written: the newspaper article that announced it before Gershwin had agreed, the train to Boston, the five-week deadline, the brother who found the title in a Whistler exhibition and the arranger who scored it in about ten days. The hard end covers the premiere and the afterlife: the broken ventilation at Aeolian Hall, the improvised piano solo the orchestra waited on for a nod, the critics who called it formless, the million-selling Victor recording, Arthur Fiedler's first unabridged version, Oscar Levant, Michael Tilson Thomas and the 1925 piano roll, the 84 pianists at the 1984 Olympics, Deodato's disco single and the day it entered the public domain. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entries for Rhapsody in Blue and George Gershwin before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Our classical music, jazz and 1920s quizzes are natural next stops.
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Q 01Who composed Rhapsody in Blue?
George Gershwin
He also played the piano at the premiere, partly improvising his own solo.
Q 02In what year did Rhapsody in Blue premiere?
1924
The concert was held on Lincoln's Birthday, February 12, on a snowy Tuesday afternoon.
Q 03Which bandleader commissioned Rhapsody in Blue?
Paul Whiteman
He later made it his band's theme song, opening his radio shows with the slogan 'Everything new but the Rhapsody in Blue'.
Q 04Which instrument plays the famous opening glissando of Rhapsody in Blue?
Clarinet
One critic called the opening as instantly recognisable as the start of Beethoven's Fifth.
Q 05How did the opening glissando come about?
Whiteman's clarinetist stretched the notes as a joke
Ross Gorman's jazzy gag on the written 17-note scale delighted Gershwin, who asked him to keep it in.
Q 06At which New York venue was Rhapsody in Blue premiered?
Aeolian Hall
The ventilation system broke down and some of the audience left before Gershwin walked on.
Q 07What was the title of the concert at which Rhapsody in Blue was first performed?
An Experiment in Modern Music
The program listed 26 separate movements in sections with titles like 'True Form of Jazz'.
Q 08How did Gershwin first learn that he was expected to write a concerto for Whiteman's concert?
A newspaper article his brother read aloud over billiards
The New-York Tribune piece of January 4 caught Ira's eye at the Ambassador Billiard Parlor on Broadway.
Q 09How much time did Gershwin have to compose the piece once he agreed?
About 5 weeks
He began on January 7, according to the date on the original two-piano manuscript.
Q 10On a train journey to which city did Gershwin say the thematic seeds of the piece began to germinate?
Boston
He credited the steely rhythms and 'rattle-ty bang' of the train for the plot of the piece.
Q 11What working title did Gershwin use for the piece while composing it?
American Rhapsody
Ira came up with the final title a few weeks later.
Q 12Ira Gershwin suggested the final title after visiting an exhibition of paintings by which artist?
James McNeill Whistler
Whistler's titles, such as Nocturne in Black and Gold and Arrangement in Grey and Black, gave him the idea.
Q 13Who orchestrated Rhapsody in Blue for the premiere and again in 1926 and 1942?
Ferde Grofe
Whiteman's arranger finished the score on February 4, eight days before the premiere.
Q 21Which conductor and orchestra made the first unabridged recording of Rhapsody in Blue in 1935?
Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
Puerto Rican pianist Jesus Maria Sanroma was the soloist and it ran nearly 14 minutes.
Q 22Which pianist and friend of Gershwin recorded the piece with Eugene Ormandy in 1945, sparking a revival?
Oscar Levant
He tried to replicate Gershwin's own idiomatic playing; the album was one of the year's best sellers.
Q 23Which conductor first recorded the original jazz-band version in 1976, using Gershwin's piano roll?
Michael Tilson Thomas
Q 14How many musicians were in Whiteman's band for the original scoring?
23
Ross Gorman alone covered oboe, heckelphone and a rack of reeds.
Q 15How did the orchestra know when the partly improvised piano solo was ending at the premiere?
Gershwin nodded
He did not write the solo piano part down until after the concert, so nobody knows exactly what was played.
Q 16Which of these composers is recorded as being in the audience at the premiere?
Victor Herbert
Walter Damrosch, Carl Van Vechten and stride pianist Willie 'the Lion' Smith were there too.
Q 17Which critic called the piece 'derivative', 'stale' and 'inexpressive' in the New-York Tribune?
Lawrence Gilman
He was a Wagner devotee who later savaged Porgy and Bess; Olin Downes in the Times was far kinder.
Q 18Which critic conceded that the piece had 'made an honest woman out of jazz'?
Samuel Chotzinoff of the New York World
Henrietta Strauss said Gershwin had added a new chapter to American musical history.
Q 19By the end of 1927, how many copies had Whiteman's recording of Rhapsody in Blue sold?
A million
The band had performed the piece around 84 times by then.
Q 20Why does Gershwin's first recording with Whiteman's orchestra sound hurried?
It had to fit on two sides of a 12-inch record
The acoustic recording of June 10 that year runs 8 minutes 59 seconds with much of the rubato lost.
Until then the 1942 symphonic arrangement had been the concert-hall standard.
Q 24Which airline has used Rhapsody in Blue in its advertising and safety videos since 1987?
United Airlines
It also plays in the Terminal 1 underground walkway at Chicago O'Hare.
Q 25Which 1979 Woody Allen film opens with a montage of New York scenes set to Rhapsody in Blue?
Manhattan
The rendition was conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Q 26How many pianists played Rhapsody in Blue at once at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics opening?
84
The number matched the year, on a stadium floor full of grand pianos.
Q 27Which Disney film set Rhapsody in Blue to a New York segment drawn in Al Hirschfeld's style?
Fantasia 2000
The 1999 film revisited the concept of the 1940 original with new pieces.
Q 28On what date did Rhapsody in Blue enter the public domain in the United States?
January 1, 2020
Individual recordings may still be under copyright; the earliest recordings followed in 2025.
Q 29Which Brazilian jazz-rock artist's 1973 reinterpretation hit No. 41 despite critics calling it 'mangled'?
Eumir Deodato
Richard Clayderman recorded a similarly abridged disco arrangement in 1978.
Q 30Which two pianists performed Rhapsody in Blue together at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008?
Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang
Lang Lang has said the piece makes him see the Empire State Building.