Uncommon ALS of a social nature

GOTTSCHALK, LOUIS M. (1829-1869). American composer and piano virtuoso. ALS. (“LGottschalk”). 1p. 8vo. N.p., N.d. (Friday evening). In French with translation. To “my dear doctor and friend.”

A friend of mine has just come to see my brother with Dr. Gardner, who said he was one of your friends. Dr. Gardner asked me what time you would be coming tomorrow morning and I told him it would probably be around 11:00 a.m. He then expressed a desire to meet you here at that time. I know that I am probably asking a lot of you, but I do know how good-natured and obliging you are, and I am quite sure you will forgive me and have pity on me...

A piano prodigy, Gottschalk’s early influences included Creole music, African rhythms of Congo Square and French operas, all fashionable in the New Orleans of his day. Instantly popular after his 1840 debut, he studied in Paris at age 13 where Chopin numbered among his many admirers. “Gottschalk made his formal début as a professional pianist in the Salle Pleyel on 17 April 1849, in a recital featuring a group of his ‘Creole’ compositions, then the rage of Paris. The critics were captivated by his virtuosity and compared his approach to Chopin; as a composer, he was hailed as the first eloquent and authentic musical spokesman of the New World,” (The New Grove Dictionary). He toured widely throughout Europe and the Americas but in 1853, upon the death of his father, “was forced to increase the frequency of his concerts to earn enough money to support his six younger brothers and sisters,” (ibid.). Gottschalk spent the years between 1857 and 1862 in the Caribbean and South America barely performing until financial pressures drove him to embark on a U.S. tour in 1862. “In four and a half months Gottschalk traveled 15,000 miles by rail and gave 85 recitals, a brutal pace which he maintained for more than three years,” (ibid.). His orchestral and piano works include La Nuit des Tropiques, Montevideo, The Dying Poet, The Banjo, and The Last Hope. Gottschalk’s “sensitivity to esoterica enabled him to forecast, with uncanny prescience, American musical developments which did not actually take place until the end of the 19^th century… Much of Gottschalk’s music, both published and unpublished, is lost although manuscripts have been found since the 1930s,” (ibid.). Written on lined paper mounted to a stiff board. In very good condition and particularly uncommon in letter form.

Item #14296

Price: $1,500

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