Louis Moreau Gottschalk was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 8, 1829, and it was said that he was a most beautiful and amiable child. When he was three years old he played a piece on the piano that he had heard his mother play. This so impressed the parents that a teacher named Letellier was called in to supervise the early studies of this remarkable child. When he was six, Louis also began to study the violin with a Mr.Ely.
First Public Concert
Gottschalk was eight years old when he gave his first public performance in aid of a violinist (Mr Miolau), who had recently fallen upon hard times. The concert was a rousing success, and Miolau and several of his colleagues from the opera went to the Gottschalk home after the concert to serenade the young child.
Studies in Europe with Halle and Stamaty
In May of 1842, after a successful farewell appearance in New Orleans, Louis departed for Europe where he was to attend a private school in Paris run by a Mr.Dussart. He began to study with Charles Halle (1819-1895), a conductor and teacher who was knighted in 1888, and after Halle left for England Louis studied with Camille Marie Stamaty , who had been a pupil of Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1785-1849) and Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).
It was said that Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) took an interest in Gottschalk and the two often appered in concert together. However, in 1847 Louis, who had been frail from birth, suffered a a breakdown from overwork and overexcitement, and was forced to retire from the concert stage for a time.
Compositions
While Gottschalk's compositions were extremely popular in his day, they were also often thought of as trivial and of no great importance. His "Last Hope" was one of the most famous piano pieces of the time and the "Pasquinade" was also very popular. He wrote many pieces for the piano among which are a series of variations and salon pieces such as "Le Bananier," "Souvenir de Porto Rico," "Bamboula," "The Dying Poet" and "The Banjo." Gottschalk was celebrated for his virtuoso interpretations of his own works, and usually programmed several at each concert.
Rio de Janeiro
On November 26, 1869, Gottschalk conducted his "Marche Solemne," which he had arranged for orchestra, at a major festival In Rio de Janeiro. He had been suffering from an attack of yellow fever and was still in a weakened condition. He was unable to finish the next concert and gradually declined in health. The end came on December 18,1869.
Louis Ferdinand Gottschalk, Louis Moreau's grandnephew, was born in St.Louis, Missouri, in 1864 and died in 1934. He was a pioneer of original movie scores and worked with the famed director D.W.Griffiths.
For further reading about remarkable concert pianists see Rudolf Firkusny, Andreas Thiel and Sara Davis Buechner.
Source
The Etude Music Magazine, 1924, The Etude Master Study Page.
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