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Return to IndexGOTTSCHALK, Louis Moreau
b New Orleans, 8 May 1829
d Tijuca, Brazil, 18 December 1869, aged fortyHe was the son of a London-born merchant. Showing musical aptitude before the age of four, he was sent to Paris to study in 1842. He gave his first piano recital at fifteen and soon became a virtuoso; his piano compositions became extremely popular. His father's death in 1853 compelled him to work fiercely to support his six younger brothers and sisters, and he gave an enormous number of concerts. A scandal in 1867 with a girl student forced him to flee to South America, and he never returned to the USA. His strenuous concert tours eventually killed him.
His output included: two symphonies; a piano concerto and other works for piano and orchestra; eight chamber works (all lost); six operas (five of them lost); some songs with piano, and a great deal of piano music, much of it lost, and the rest at present unfashionable.