Bridgewater Review Volume 2 | Issue 1 Article 10 Oct-1983 Cultural Commentary: Louis Moreau Gottschalk - America's Dashing Musical Ambassador Henry Santos Bridgewater State College Recommended Citation Santos, Henry (1983). Cultural Commentary: Louis Moreau Gottschalk - America's Dashing Musical Ambassador. Bridgewater Review, 2(1), 26-27. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol2/iss1/10 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Regensbutg... continued any of the Jews took up temporary CULTURAL COMMENTARY M residence in Standtamhof just across the Danube from where they attempted to negotiate permission to return. Eventually Louis Moreau Gottschalk: they succeeded, but their communal way of life was destroyed never to be restored. The Jews continued to live and carry on America's Dashing Musical Ambassador business in Regensburg largely because by Henry Santos they served necessary economic roles but Assistant Professor of Music always on sufferance and at the pleasure of the city government and the Christian n probably the greatest period of pian­ citizens. ists, Gottschalk was compared favor­ It is well known that the European anti­ I ably with such paradigms of piano Semitism which reached its murderous artistry as Chopin, Liszt and Thalberg. His culmination in the Nazi era had its roots in playing was described somewhat the Middle Ages. Perhaps less well known, extravagantly by contemporaries as however, is the fact that prejudice against resembling a "cascade of pearls," and the Jews was by no means universal during "glittering stardust": he had "the golden the medieval period, even in Germany. touch." The Romantic Period's emphasis on Between 1100 and 1350, the Jews of the subjective and emotional quality of Regensburg were not only tolerated, but were also granted the same protections music, coupled with a greater freedom of accorded to Christian citizens, often in form, molded Gottschalk's artistry. Berlioz defiance of papal edicts, emperors' decrees praised him as "one of a very small number and the exhortations of religious fanatics. of those who possess all the different Today we are experiencing a resurgence of elements of the sovereign power of the interest in the Third Reich, stimulated by pianist, all the attributes that environ him movies like Sophie's Choice and the with an irresistible prestige." Chopin also publication of Hitler's spurious diaries, as praised him: according to Gottschalk's well as by our continuing fascination with I.. M. (;OTTSCHAI.K sister, after hearing her brother's some of history's most evil men. But as we performance of Chopin's Concerto for ouis Moreau Gottschalk (1829 . recall the horrors of the Nazi period, we Piano and Orchestra in E Minor, the Polish should remember also the twentieth­ 1869), the first American pianist and composer proclaimed that Gottschalk century counterparts of the citizens of L composer to achieve international would become "king of the pianists." fame, can truly be described as a musical Regensburg, those Christians who hid Jews n addition to winning renown for his in their attics, helped them escape to ambassador. He toured France, piano virtuosity, Gottschalk also devel­ England, or even adopted Jewish children. Switzerland, Spain, the U.S., Canada, the West Indies and South America. But I oped a reputation as a composer. His In these Christians, as in their Regensburg ironically, although Gottschalk's piano works introduced Europeans to the forebears, the sense of justice overcame the compositions and piano virtuosity made a Afro-Caribbean rhythms of the New World. vicious prejudice around them, and they great impact abroad, his work received an Three of his most popular compositions, kept this humanitarian spirit alive in a dark unenthusiastic and in some cases hostile "Bamboula," "La Savanne" (Ballade age. reception from the musical establishment in Creole), and "Le Bananier," (Chanson his native country. ~'- ...~' ' . Negre) were based on New Orleans Negro ;t.~....:.,..~.1.:~ : r;.<; "' ....~ ...,"'~l·}r'»'-~:\. ~. '~:. '~~ffaf Gottschalk was born in New Orleans of folk tunes. According to the French - .' 'f.'/ Jewish and Creole parents and was reputed composer Hector Berlioz, "Everybody in . ,.\ii" I I.. iJ',t, ~ "',." ....... ~. ... to have been one-eighth Black. His Europe now knows 'Bamboula,' Le SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY keyboard talent was recognized early: he Bananier,' ... 'La Savanne' and twenty began taking piano lessons at the age of Bromberger, Siegmar. Die Juden In Regensburg other ingenious fantasies in which the bis zur Mille des 14.Jahrhunderts. Berlin, three, and at seven he substituted for his nonchalant grace of tropical melody 1934. teacher as organist at St. Louis Cathedral in assuages so agreeably our restless and New Orleans. When he was only twelve, the Elbogen, Ismar. Geschichte der Juden in insatiable passion for novelty." Deutschland. Berlin, 1935. child prodigy left New Orleans to go to Paris Gottschalk returned home and travelled for further study. Gemeiner, Karl Theodor. Reichsstadt by stage coach and railroad car throughout regensburgische Chronik. 4 vol. n Paris, Gottschalk was introduced to the United States and Canada. He was the Regensburg, 1800-24. the leading composers and writers of the first concert pianist of international stature Grau, Wilhelm. Antisemitismus im spaeten day. He studied piano with Sir Charles to perform in many small towns in the East, MittelaJter; das Ende der Regensburger I Judengemeinde, 1450·1519. Munich, 1934. Halle, who founded the Halle Orchestra in middle and far West. Manchester, England, as well as with Gottschalk's kind of recital was some­ Janner, Ferdinand. Geschichte der Bischoele Camille Stamity, a pupil of Kalkbrenner and what different from those of our own von Regensburg. 3 vol. Regensburg, 1883, Felix Mendelssohn, and Camille Saint­ day. The program was highly varied, and 84,84. Saens. With Pierre Maleden he studied often included a few opera selections, a Weiner, Meir. Regesten zur Geschichte der composition. In the salons of Paris he movement from a concerto, a symphony, a Juden in Deutschland Waehrend des pecame acquainted not only with other play, a juggler, and some piano solos. As Mittelalters. Hannover, 1862. musicians, such as Chopin, Berlioz, Gottschalk was the visiting artist, he was Widemann, Josef, ed. Regensburger Offenbach and Bizet, but also with writers expected to include the local talent on the Urkundenbuch. Monumenta Boica, Vol. like Hugo, Dumas Pere, Gautier and program. If a work pleased the.audience, the LIII. Munich, 1912. Lamartine. artist was expected to repeat it .. many 26 times. It was understood that all the profits of the evening went to In the West Indies and South America, however, no critic like the artist, and if he triumphed, he might be crowned on stage with Dwight existed, and Gottschalk's influence on the musical life of a laurel wreath. those countries was enormous. He performed his opera Another type of program which delighted audiences was the transciptions and arrangements of native songs and dances to the multiple piano program. For these events, the stage held delight of audiences who were desCribed as "primitif" and anywhere from two to forty pianos and gave the local amateursan "ardente." The pianist's compositions were the inspiration ofsuch opportunity to play. In Rio de Janeiro in 1869, the Anglo-Brazilian composers as Ignacio Cervantes (1847-1905) of Cuba and Juan Times reported a concert that included the NationalHymn played Morel Campos (1852-1891) of Puerto Rico. These Afro-American by forty young ladies on thirty-five pianos. and Afro-Cuban elements were later to evolve and be developed by such diverse Black American composers as Scott Joplin (1868­ 1911), Thomas Turpin (1873-1922), Duke Ellington (1899-1974), ottschalk participated in some of these large-scale concerts. T. J. Anderson (1928 - present), and Hale Smith (1925 - present), During a visit to Rio de Janiero, he was given command of to name only a few. G the Army, Navy and National Guard bands. Eight hundred performers were under his baton. According to Gottschalk's Commenting onthe arts in society, Harold Cruse, author of The journal, the group comprised "eighty-two snare drums, fifty-five Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, states "the cultural arts are the strings, sixteen bass drums, six flutes, eleven piccolos, sixty-five mirror of the spiritual condition ofa nation and the use of a nation's clarinets, sixty trumpets, sixty trombones, fifty-five saxhorns, fifty social ingredients in its art reveals a great deal about how a nation tubas and French horns -- assembled into nine bands of the looks at itself." The fact that Louis Gottschalk and his music had National Guard, four of the Imperial Navy, one of the Army, one of to go to Europe and SouthAmerica for recognition is an indication the War Arsenal, and an orchestraofseventy 'professore' and two of the failure of American society to accept music not recognized German orchestras." Gottschalk instrumentated fifteen thousand as in the classical tradition. Even in our own times, the musical pages of music, working with eleven copyists right up to the descendants of Gottschalk have had difficulty gaining acceptance performance. However, only by repeating the program two days from the establishment. In 1965, for example, the Pulitzer Prize later, at reduced prices, could he hope to gain from this