An American Original

Louis Moreau Gottshalk was truly an American original. Renowned for his virtuosity as a pianist, he was the first American to achieve international acclaim, performing throughout Europe, the US, Canada, the Caribbean and South America. He is also recognized as the first genuine American composer, rather than a copycat of the European classical tradition. For Gottschalk was the first to infuse the folk themes and rhythms of Creoles, African Americans, Caribbeans and South Americans into over 300 works appearing in classical music culture, some of which are even considered to be precursors of jazz. By the age of 21, Gottschalk was admired and appreciated in Europe more than any other American had ever been, lauded as both a virtuoso and as a pioneer in popular music.

Louis Moreau Gottschalk was born May 8, 1829, in New Orleans. His father, Edward Gottschalk, was a Jewish businessman from London, and his mother Aimée Marie Bruslé, was a Louisiana native of Haitian descent. He had six brothers and sisters – five of whom were born to his father from a mulatto mistress. He began playing the piano at the age of 5, displaying such extraordinary talent as a prodigy that he was invited to perform an informal public debut at the St. Charles Hotel by the age of 11. Billed as the ‘Young Creole’, Gottschalk chose to perform a popular Latin dance tune that he’d created a series of variations for. The charming piece was met enthusiastically by the audience, and it would foreshadow his later work and career.

In 1842, at the age of 13, Gottschalk left the United States and sailed to Europe. Both he and his father realized that classical training was needed to realize his musical aspirations. Filled with an abundance of confidance and self assurance about his talent and ambitions, the young teenager wrote his mother “I definitely expect that in two years or perhaps less I shall be earning a living on my own.”

Gottschalk landed in France, eager to study at the Paris Conservatoire. But the director there refused to even grant him even an audition – on the grounds he was an American. “America is only a country of steam engines,” he told Gottschalk, “Go home and become a mechanic”. But he remained in Paris and studied piano privately with Camille Stamaty, and composition with Pieree Maleden along with fellow students Camille Saint-Saens and Georges Bizet. After three years, and a number of salon recitals for wealthy Parisian art patrons, Gottschalk was invited to perform his musical debut at the Salle Pleyel, the most luxurious concert hall in the city. His audience that evening was socially distinguished, musically knowledgeable, and included Hector Berlioz and Frederic Chopin. After performing the demanding program that included a Liszt Fantasy and Chopin’s Concerto in E minor, Berlioz exclaimed Gottschalk’s playing “dazzles, astonishes”, and Chopin went to meet him backstage telling him “I predict you will become the king of pianists.” At the age of 16, with the success of his debut and the popularity of the exotic miniatures he composed, Gottschalk became a household name throughout France, directly compared to Chopin in his approach to the piano, and for synthesizing his music with the syncopated rhythms and melodies inspired by his Creole roots, just as Chopin drew upon his Polish heritage.

In fact, Gottschalk became the pianist of kings. He toured extensively throughout France and Switzerland performing for royal families – and being pursued by their women – as his reputation as a pianist, and a ladies man, grew. Chopin and Berlioz continued to extol his pianistic virtuosity, and Liszt championed him, engaging him to perform with his orchestras on many occasions. Queen Isabella of Spain became his patron, and he lived at her court for almost 18 months. During that time he performed frequently, and his compositions utilized distinctive Spanish harmonies and rhythm. But he was forced to leave abruptly, given just 24 hours to leave Spain, over a romantic indiscretion that finally gave rise to the Queens ire. It would not be the last time such a circumstance would arise in his life.

After staying in Europe for almost 11 years, Gottschalk decided to return to the United States. He arrived back in America in 1853, eager to recreate the financial and artistic success he had enjoyed in Europe. His debut in New York was a triumph, and was quickly followed by concerts in Philadelphia. He received lavish coverage in the press and was compared to Beethoven, with hundreds and even thousands turning out to watch him play. After enjoying an extensive stay in Cuba, his musical interests turned to Central and South America. But within a year his father died, leaving behind a considerable debt and his mother and six siblings to support. For three years, Gottshalk would give concerts on a daily basis, sometimes performing two or 3 times a day, and traveling more than ten thousand miles in a single tour.

In 1857 Gottshalk concertized throughout the Caribbean with a famous operatic diva, which allowed him to again explore the possibilities of Cuban music. During that time he wrote some of his finest piano music and composed his first symphony, A Night in the Tropics, steeped in the syncopations of habanera rhythms. Throughout 1850’s, in order to earn a living, Gottshalk continued touring the United States and Canada at a feverish pace, living the life of a rock star, yet becoming a musical vagabond. With the stresses of providing financial support and constant traveling and performing, the quality of his work deteriorated – along with concert attendance. Initially admired for creating truly American music and performing his own works, some critics thought his music didn’t reach the European ideal, and accused him as irreverant for his reluctance to perform the classics.

For Gottshalk, the emotional and mental stress he was experiencing in both his career and personal life affected his health and mental stamina to such an extent that suddenly, in 1860, he dropped out of sight. For more than a year, “seized with a profound disgust of the world and of myself, tired, discouraged, suspecting men (and women),” Gottschalk was scarcely heard from, and occasionally a notice of his death appeared in American newspapers. Gottschalk spent most of this time roaming about the Antilles, “giving a concert whenever the night overtook me.” Often, Gottschalk’s audience was only a lone, half-mad mulatto who thought himself to be the Pope’s brother. For almost three years he drifted from island to island, giving occasional concerts, but spending much of his time playing and composing in isolation.

Low on funds, and persuaded by a sizeable contract, Gottschalk returned to the US and resumed touring in 1862. By then Gottschalk had established himself as the best known pianist in the New World, purely the result of his tremendous hard work and extensive touring. At one point he did as many as 85 concerts (all at different locations) in just four and a half months. As the Civil War broke out, he swore his oath of allegiance to to the Federal government as a Unionist who detested the institution of slavery. A Southerner by birth, he always introduced himself as a New Orleans native, though he only visited the city for concerts. His heroic piano composition “L’Union,” a paraphrase of national tunes dedicated to Gen. George McClellan, Commander of the Army of the Potomac, was accepted as an anthem of the Federal cause.

Gottschalk resumed concertizing at a furious rate, and again, it took a toll on him. Always repeating the same program of minor Gottschalk showpieces wherever he went became a dreadful burden. “I have become stupid with it,” he wrote in his diary, “The sight of a piano sets my hair on end like the victim in the presence of the wheel on which he is about to be tortured.” During the summer of 1865, he enjoyed his last success in America with performances in San Francisco. His concerts were well attended and he was honored with a gold medal, as “the first musician in America.” But the success was short lived.

Another scandal – this time involving a young lady attending the Oakland Female Seminary – forced him to board the first steamer available, leaving his pianos behind, which carried him to South America. Even though his friends eventually cleared Gottschalk’s name, he never returned to the United States. For almost 6 years, he travelled extensively to countries like Cuba, which was followed by trips to Central and South America. His concerts were tremendously successful all over South America, sometimes taking the form of monster concerts, involving up to 650 performers. He also organized enormous festivals, and the largest was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on November 24, 1869. His ‘Marche Triomphale’ aroused tremendous enthusiasm among the crowd. Soon after performing his romantic masterpiece ‘Morte’ (inferred as ‘she is dead’), and before he could finish the next concert, he collapsed. Down by Malaria, his health condition already weak, Gottschalk never recovered. Three weeks later, on December 18, 1869, he passed away at the age of 40, in his hotel. His remains were buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York in United States.

Gottschalk was a pioneer in incorporating nationalistic and folkloristic elements into serious concert music. Wherever Gottschalk traveled, he drew on themes native to that region. He introduced to the world to the captivating rhythms of the Caribbean, Creole folk melody and other distinctive American themes, as well as composing music based on popular forms, such as the polka, waltz, mazurka, and march. His technical exploitation of the piano, formidable by any standard, set him apart from his contemporaries. As an ambassador for Classical music, he championed public education and a pan-American model of civic life and culture.

While the impact of Gottschalk’s music will be debated for years to come, his music radiates great emotional power, technical mastery and charm. Listen! Clearly, he was an American original.

The grand old man of Turkish music

A. Adnan Saygun (September 7, 1907 – January 6, 1991), was a key figure in Turkish music history.  He was a prolific composer of five symphonies, five operas, two piano concertos, and a range of chamber and choral works. As a musicologist, he accompanied Bartok to Anatolia (Asia Minor) in 1936 to collect and transcribe Turkish folk music, and continued his research as Inspector of the Halkevieri. As a young student he began writing about music, and in high school he created a “Musiki Lügati”, (Dictionary of Music) by translating the music-related articles from the French La Grande Encyclopedie. He would later serve at the National Library, and form Ses ve Tel Birligi, an organization to increase awareness of Western classical music through concerts and recitals. He dedicated his work to the people of his country, stating that “Reflecting on Anatolia lies at the heart of my music.” 

Born in Izmir, a port on the Aegean Sea, as a child Saygun’s interest in music was sparked as a child  listening to European music performed by Ottoman military bands and various other chamber music ensembles. Entering elementary school at the age of 4, he started playing the piano and the oud, (the short necked fretless lute), and began studying composition and theory in high school. He did not grow up in a musical family however – his father was a mathematics teacher and a scholar of religions and literature, who preferred that his son would pursue a self supporting career. Never the less, at the age of 19, Saygun was appointed as a high school music teacher and two years later he received a grant to study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and the composer Vincent d’Indy. There, he was able to pursue his interests in Western art, the music of Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, and was introduced to late Romanticism and French Impressionism. He began to play the organ in order to be more acquainted with the music of the church – the foundation of Christian culture. In 1931 Saygun completed his first large composition for orchestra, Op 1 Divertissement, utilizing highly chromatic, atmospheric textures, and included the saxophone and darbuka, (goblet drum) in the score. The piece won Saygun an award in composition and was enthusiastically received in performances in Paris, Poland and the Soviet Union.

That same year he returned to Turkey with an appointment to the Ankara State Conservatory, newly established by then Prime Minister Atatürk to adopt Western practices in music education, and help foster a Turkish national musical style. The position allowed Saygun to continue his work as a composer, ethnomusicologist, and composition teacher, and led to the commissions ofhis operas Özsoy and Taşbebek, the first two Turkish operas. He was appointed conductor of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra, and had become the musical symbol of his country. During that decade he would collaborate with Bartok, compose a variety of chamber music works, songs, choral pieces, and write for the piano – most notably Inci’s Book, a collection of imaginative, short solo piano pieces, possibly one of the most under appreciated works in the piano literature. But a period of inactivity followed, the result of needing medical treatment for his ear and the death of Ataturk. But when his oratorio Yunous Emre premiered in 1947, Saygun’s international fame flourished, fueling his creative energies that lasted for the rest of his life. The hour long work sets the poems of the mystic Anatolian poet using Turkish modes and folk melodies, and features four vocal soloists a full chorus and orchestra. It’s been performed world wide, translated into five languages, with Leopold Stokowski and the NBC Symphony Orchestra performing the English version at the United Nations.

Saygun went on to write three new operas, five symphonies, two piano concertos as well as concertos for the violin, viola, and cello, plus a wealth of chamber music, choral music, and his most poignant works for piano. He attained even greater international acclaim when the premiere of his second string quartet was performed in New York by the Juiliard String Quartet. Notable orchestras throughout the world performed his music, including the NBC Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie and numerous others. HIs music continues to live  today in a series of recordings commemorating his 100th birthday, and through performances by esteemed musicians, most notably, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

I chose to begin my first solo album, World Keys – a cultural voyage around the globe – in Turkey, with Saygun’s last published work. Ten Sketches on Aksak Rhythms is a joyful exploration of these distinctive Turkish folk rhythms that are considered to be the foundation of the Turkish national musical style. Aksak rhythm is a combination of binary and ternary time units, (2+3, 3+2), an asymmetrical progression that produces a sense of irregularity to the listener. The motif that Saygun uses in his piece is based on the pentatonic scale used in the folk music of Turkey. The abstract approach taken by Saygun to these elements translates the folk music tradition into contemporary piano repertoire. This brief piece is a playful, virtuosic romp around the keyboard, that also illuminates the essence and aspirations that lie at the heart of A. Adman Saygun, and his music.  Many consider him to be one of the most important composers of the 20th Century for his synthesis of Romanticism, Western modernism, and Turkish folk song.

I think he’s best remembered just as The Times described him – “the grand old man of Turkish music, who was to his country what Jean Sibelius is to Finland, what Manuel de Falla is to Spain, and what Bela Bartok is to Hungary”.