His polymath proclivities were suited to his time and place. And we benefited, as well as the rest of the Western world. The most respected musical styles and honors at that time went to Europeans, anyway. It wasn’t really until the Louis Moreau Gottschalk mania took hold that American music was noticed in Europe, more for its titillating exoticism than anything.
(That language is too florid, but that’s what came out. I was tired.)
The following link is to Gottschalk’s book NOTES OF A PIANIST, published after his death by his sister. Very entertaining as well as revealing about life and customs of that period:
His polymath proclivities were suited to his time and place. And we benefited, as well as the rest of the Western world. The most respected musical styles and honors at that time went to Europeans, anyway. It wasn’t really until the Louis Moreau Gottschalk mania took hold that American music was noticed in Europe, more for its titillating exoticism than anything.
(That language is too florid, but that’s what came out. I was tired.)
The following link is to Gottschalk’s book NOTES OF A PIANIST, published after his death by his sister. Very entertaining as well as revealing about life and customs of that period:
https://archive.org/stream/notesapianist00gottgoog#page/n9/mode/2up