Gottschalk concert — a Rivertown revival

Museum celebrates 150th anniversary of composer's concert|

Louis Moreau Gottschalk was the super star musician of his day, creating works of art that played and preyed on the listener’s emotions. Time has diluted this effect little, making the Petaluma Museum Association’s “Gottschalk in Petaluma - 150 Year Commemorative Concert” the music event of the year. On July 27, 1865, Gottschalk played a single concert in Petaluma, in the Argus-Courier’s building, located at the corner of Petaluma Boulevard North (known as Main Street back then) and Washington Street, where present day Thai Issan restaurant is located.

When Gottschalk visited California’s premiere river port city 150 years ago, the world was ushering in the modern era: 1865 saw the first antiseptic surgery, the first speed limit (10 mph), and Otto Von Bismarck was unifying Germany into the powerful empire we would face during both World Wars. Along with the ratification of the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, our nation was proud to have its first African American Ph.D., first African American Army major, and first African American lawyer to practice in front of the Supreme Court. But even with the end of the Civil War in sight, the U.S. also suffered major tragedies in early 1865. Within days of President Lincoln’s assassination, the Mississippi River steamboat SS Sultana exploded and sank, killing 1,800 Union POWs traveling home (300 more than would perish on the Titanic.)

The U.S. witnessed its first train robbery, its first true western showdown (Wild Bill Hickok), and its first underground oil pipeline, all in 1865. Significant U.S. patents issued that year included liquid soap, the billiard ball and the coffee percolator. In the art world Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony,” Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and Twain’s “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” were making headlines. And the teenage de Young brothers started what would later be renamed the San Francisco Chronicle, publishing a review of one of Gottschalk’s California performances by none other than Mark Twain.

Gottschalk himself was born in 1829 in New Orleans. At age 12, his parents sent Gottschalk to Paris to study music because he had eclipsed the tutelage available to him locally. Shortly after arriving, Gottschalk wowed European crowds with his original compositions, which were deeply rooted in the culture of his childhood New Orleans, the music capital of our burgeoning country. The Mémorial des Pyrénées proclaimed, “Gottschalk’s execution astonishes, while, at the same time, it charms. …the last note is as pure, as velvety as the first.”

Gottschalk was also a composer ahead of his time. Considered the grandfather of ragtime and jazz, hints of those genres appear in his works, a good 50 years before either was a recognized style of music.

Gottschalk’s return to the U.S. met with mixed reviews, even though he was famous throughout the Western world. A fundamental shift in musical appetites was on the horizon, but the old guard felt that truly great performers should only play the master works of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. Plenty of pianists were available for that, so Gottschalk continued to play original works, often delighting the crowd with performances with as many as 30 pianos, eventually becoming the first true American-born musical superstar.

In 1865, Horace Greeley advised readers to “Go west, young man,” which is exactly what Gottschalk did via a steam ship around Cape Horn, because the railroad hadn’t yet connected the east and west coasts. His journals from this period were lost so a promotional ad placed in the Petaluma Argus-Courier is the only surviving trace of his visit. Shortly after that concert, Gottschalk left the country for South America amid rumors of a scandal with a 20-year-old student from the Oakland Female Seminary. Local papers later admitted that Gottschalk was likely only guilty of poor judgment and a recently discovered Gottschalk letter explains his regret at leaving California under such circumstances.

On Dec. 18, 1869, after collapsing during a performance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Gottschalk died from the effects of a burst appendix, at age 40, after touring South America for four years. Gottschalk was the mid-1800s equivalent of a rock star, but he had lived a meager life. In fact, most of his earnings went to support his mother and siblings after his father’s passing, and he often played benefit concerts wherever he visited.

Monday’s concert at the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum will feature pianists Marilyn Thompson and Antonio Iturrioz, accomplished in their own rights, but also both great admirers of Gottschalk. In honor of the master’s penchant for multi-player compositions, Thompson and Iturrioz will perform the world premiere of a four-hand version of Gottschalk’s “The Last Hope.”

In the year 2165 A.D., Petalumans will look back on the 150th anniversary concert as a true milestone in the 21st century rediscovery of Gottschalk’s music. With museum retrofit plans in the works, Petalumans should even be able to replicate this concert so that they, too, can experience Gottschalk in a venue as significant as our “Carnegie Hall of the West.”

(Special thanks to the Green Music Center’s Larry Lobel, for introducing me to Gottschalk’s music, and for his insight into and enthusiasm for bringing Gottschalk back into the public ear, where Gottschalk belongs.)

(Contact Houston Porter at argus@arguscourier.com)

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