Blue Monday is 23-year-old Gershwin's first attempt at jazz opera. His aim was to create a work that, through its brevity and accessible musical language, would entertain people who had never been to the opera house before. The two famous Italian verist one-act operas Mascagni's The Honour of the Parastas and Leoncavallo's The Bajazzos are considered to be his most important examples. Although the musical language is very different, the plot is similar, with ordinary people whose own pettiness leads them to a tragic end.