How beloved ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ was born of a bandleader’s unlovable scheme

It would be hard to think of a masterpiece of the musical canon whose birth was as transparently steeped in bad faith as George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” To appreciate this work as it deserves — to love it as deeply and unreservedly as its rhythmic vigor, harmonic insouciance and profusion of melody beseech us to — means negotiating an array of dubious assumptions that were baked in from the start.

They concern the relationship between jazz and classical music, the distinction between “high” and “low” cultural traditions, and the racial component inherent in all of it. That’s a lot to disentangle in a piece of barely 20 minutes’ duration that may not want much more than to delight and enthrall its listeners.