Often called as "the finest transcriber of our time" and "the direct descendant of the golden age of the transcription," the pianist Earl Wild has transcribed seven Gershwin songs for piano solo as Seven Virtuoso Etudes. These songs are "Fascinating Rhythm," "Oh, Lady, Be Good!," "Somebody Loves Me," "The Man I Love," "Liza," "I Got Rhythm," and "Embraceable You." All except for "Embraceable You" were also transcribed by Gershwin for piano in George Gershwin's Song-book. This document provides a comparison study of Wild's Seven Virtuoso Etudes and Gershwin's own transcriptions in the Song-book based upon the same songs.
Chapter Two deals with Gershwin's life, early musical training, role as a composer, a pianist, and a songwriter, including his important works, major performances, and general background and style of songs. It concludes by discussing his improvisational skill, a brief history of the George Gershwin's Song-book, and influences and the style of the eighteen transcriptions in the Song-book.
Chapter Three explores Wild's biography, early musical and piano background, and long and prestigious music career, including his compositions, performances, and recordings. The chapter also concentrates on Wild's early influences in transcription and improvisation, motive for composing piano transcriptions of George Gershwin, and the background and characteristics of the transcriptions.
Chapter Four presents a historical survey of Gershwin's seven songs, an analysis with nine musical elements of the six selected piano transcriptions from George Gershwin's Song-book and Wild's transcriptions of Seven Virtuoso Etudes, including form, key, tempo, meter, rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, and articulation. The chapter concludes with a discussion of piano technique that Gershwin and Wild employed in their transcriptions in seven aspects including chordal patterns, rapid single-note passages, arpeggios, repeated note patterns, large skips, countermelody, and pedaling. The analysis of the elements and piano technique reveals differences and similarities in the transcriptions and keyboard technique of Gershwin and Wild.