Comment on how Gershwin has structured this piece of music. Where necessary, make reference to contributing factors.

Gershwin composed this piece for a symphony orchestra, plus taxi horns, saxophones and a celesta. For the New York premiere, he bought 4 taxi horns from Paris to use when displaying this work.

The piece is a true tone poem, inspired by extra-musical considerations -- the sights, sounds, and moods of Paris.  The opening section represents an American visitor strolling about Paris and absorbing the French atmosphere, which is followed by a rich blues, representing an episode of homesickness. But the American overcomes his spell of depression and once again revels in the sights and sounds of Paris.

The piece is light and jolly, and (as said above) represents Gershwin walking through the streets of the French capital. The composition is divided into two main parts and a shorter closing section, meaning that it is in a loose rondo (ABA) form:

• A represents Gershwin strolling through the streets of Paris
• B represents Gershwin feeling quite homesick. This is conveyed by a bit of blues/Americana.

The two main parts are approximately equal in duration (about 7 or 8 minutes each), and the shorter closing section is about 2 or 3 minutes in duration. 

There are 5 main melodies that are repeated throughout this work.These melodies are often repeated by other instruments, which causes a change in timbre. This also reinforces the idea of the two main sections of the piece. These main melodies are:

• "The walking theme" - heard at the very beginning.
• "The taxi-cab theme" - played by the Parisian taxi horns in figure 3. 
• "The can-can theme" - played in figure 11 
• " The  second walking theme" - played in figure 13
• "The night-time Blues theme" - played in figure 48.