Louis Moreau Gottschalk was arguably the first composer of global music. Born in New Orleans in 1829 of Haitian ancestry, he was exposed from an early age to the rich Caribbean and Creole cultures that thrived in this cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic city. It is said that his grandmother and his nurse Sally--both born in Saint Domingue--sang to him the native tunes that he soon learned in the piano and that later resurfaced in his unique compositions. He made his musical debut at age eleven, playing a Latin dance tune at the Hotel St. Charles (Fernández, 17).

He later went to study in Spain and France, where his considerable talents and charismatic personality earned him the attention and friendship of major composers like Manuel de Falla, Georges Bizet, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. He traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean and lived for prolonged periods of time in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Martinique in the 1850's and 60's before settling in Brazil, where he died.

Gottschalk based numerous classical compositions on the danza (see Module Two), which by the 1850's had developed into concert music mainly played on the piano. Around mid-century, vocals were added to the danza, which then became known as the habanera, a very influential form that inspired classical composers of the Gottschalk circle such as Bizet, Ravel and Debussy. Later, the habanera mixed with Argentina's indigenous milonga, giving rise to the tango, which inspired the compositions of the great Astor Piazzolla.

Audio: L.M. Gottschalk, "Escenas Campestres (Cuban Country Scenes)"

Audio: Georges Bizet, Habanera from "Carmen"

Answer the following questions:

a. How does Gottschalk's concept of "world music" conflict with musical nationalism?

b. How do you think the ideas of Romanticism contributed to France's warm reception of Gottschalk's music, which had been hardly noticed in his own country?

c. Name the elements of Cuban and Puerto Rican music that Gottschalk incorcorated in his compositions.