Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) He was born to a Jewish businessman from London and a white Haitian Creole in New Orleans, where he was exposed to a wide variety of musical traditions. He had six brothers and sisters. His family lived for a time in a tiny cottage at Royal and Esplanade in the Vieux Carré. Louis later moved in with relatives at 518 Conti Street; his Grandmother Buslé and his nurse Sally had both been born in Saint-Domingue (later known as Haiti). Gottschalk played the piano from an early age and was soon recognized as a wunderkind by the New Orleans bourgeois establishment. In 1840, he gave his informal public debut at the new St. Charles Hotel. Only two years later at the age of 13, Gottschalk left the United States and sailed to Europe, as he and his father realized a classical training was required to fulfill his musical ambitions. The Paris Conservatoire, however, initially rejected his application on the grounds of his nationality. His examiner commented that "America is a country of steam engines". Gottschalk gradually gained access to the musical establishment through family friends. After Gottschalk returned to the United States in 1853, he traveled extensively; a lengthy trip to Cuba in 1854 marking the beginning of a series of trips to Central and South America. By the 1860s, Gottschalk had established himself as the foremost pianist in the New World.
Although born and reared in New Orleans, he was a supporter of the Union cause during the American Civil War. He returned to his native city only occasionally for concerts, but Gottschalk always introduced himself as a New Orleans native. In 1865, he was forced to leave the United States because of a scandalous affair with a student at the Oakland Female Seminary. Gottschalk chose to travel to South America, where he continued to give frequent concerts. During one of these concerts, in Rio de Janeiro in 1869, he collapsed from having contracted malaria. Just before his collapse, he had finished playing his romantic piece
Morte!! (interpreted as "she is dead"), although the actual collapse occurred just as he started to play his celebrated piece
Tremolo. Gottschalk never recovered from the collapse. Three weeks later, at the age of 40, he died at his hotel in Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, probably from an overdose of quinine. In 1870 his remains were returned to the United States and were interred at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. His burial spot was originally marked by a magnificent monument, which has eroded over the years. Gottschalk's music was very popular during his lifetime, and his earliest compositions created a sensation in Europe. Early pieces like
Le Bananier and
Bamboula were based on Gottschalk's memories of the music he heard during his youth in Louisiana. In this context, some of Gottschalk's work, such as the 13 minute opera
Escenas campestres, retains a wonderfully innocent sweetness and charm.
AnswersEscenas campestres (1860)
ópera en un acto.
Me sorprendió gratamente escuchar ópera que desconocía en castellano.