Відео

Le Bananier is third in the cycle of four Louisiana Créole pieces written in France between 1848 and 1851. Bananier is based on the Créole tune En avan' Grenadie and this little piece literally took Paris by storm. The publisher, according to Gottschalk scholar Robert Offergeld, earned 250,000 Francs from sales of the piece before selling the rights for another 25,000. And that is but a partial...

La Moissonneuse, The Reaper, is a tone painting in the form of a mazurka that depicts a bucolic scene of peasants at harvest. A companion piece, La Glaneuse, The Gleaner, is lost. Such scenes were admired by the upper class French leaving one to wonder if their admiration ever led them to go to the fields and lend a hand. To learn more about Gottschalk visit - www.gottschalk-pianist.com/ Perfor...

Danse Ossianique is a re-write of one of Gottschalk's earliest compositions, Polka de salon (Opus 1). The title refers to Ossian, the Gallic poet but the piece in reality has nothing to do with the Ossian poems. James Macpherson published the poems in 1760 stating that he had translated them from ancient Gallic, however, the Ossian poems are now generally regarded as a hoax and were likely writ...

This 'Danse Cubaine' could easily be mistaken for Scott Joplin and illustrates how, in the opinion of some, Gottschalk paved the way for ragtime and even jazz. To learn more about Gottschalk visit - www.gottschalk-pianist.com/ Performance and content copyright © 2011 W.A. DeWitt

In 1859 Gottschalk performed an improvised tarantella with pianist Nicolás Ruiz Espadero and violinist José White at the Liceo Artístico y Literario in Havana. That extemporization would evolve over the years until it reached it's final form for piano and orchestra as the Grande Tarantelle, (Op 67) and during the last year of his life, it became Gottschalk's workhorse. When the composer died wi...

Written during his stay at Matouba on Guadeloupe, Souvenir de la Havane is one of Gottschalk's more masterful pieces and recalls his days in Cuba. To learn more about Gottschalk visit - www.gottschalk-pianist.com/ Performance and content copyright © 2011 W.A. DeWitt

Published in 1862 by Wm. Hall & Son, Suis Moi combines Chopinesque passages with Latin American dance tunes. To learn more about Gottschalk visit - www.gottschalk-pianist.com/ Performance and content copyright © 2011 W.A. DeWitt

Written in 1859 during his travels in the Caribbean, Ojos Criollos became one of Gottschalk's most popular pieces as he performed it throughout his US tours during the Civil War. To learn more about Gottschalk visit - www.gottschalk-pianist.com/ Performance and content copyright © 2011 W.A. DeWitt

Souvenir de Porto Rico was written during Gottschalk's stay in the Puerto Rican countryside in 1857 and is based on Si me dan pasteles, a tune sung during the Christmas season. The piece begins softly and gradually grows in volume and complexity reaching a climax at the mid point then fades away, imitating a group walking singers, hence the subtitle 'Marche des Gibaros'. A Gibaro or Jíbaro bein...

Gottschalk spent over a year touring Spain in 1851-52 and during that time 'collected' Spanish folk tunes that he would later work into his compositions. The songs used in Souvenirs d' Andalouisie are summarized in the subtitle, 'la caña, le fandango, et le jeleo de Jerez'. To learn more about Gottschalk visit - www.gottschalk-pianist.com/ Performance and content copyright © 2011 W.A. DeWitt

During the summer of 1848 Gottschalk found himself at the country home of Dr. Eugene Woillez outside of Paris. It was there that he wrote the first two of four pieces based on Louisiana Créole tunes, La Savane and Bamboula. He introduced these pieces into the salons of Paris in 1849 when he returned and Bamboula quickly became an underground sensation. In April of that year he performed it at a...