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Notes of a Pianist
Notes of a Pianist chronicles the life of one of the most remarkable musical minds of the American experience, the great nineteenth-century New Orleans-born composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). An important cultural and historical work, the book recounts Gottschalk's experiences as he traveled and performed throughout the last decade of his life.
Born to an English-Jewish father and a Haitian mother, Gottschalk is remembered as one of the great New Orleans musicians and composers, his music a combination of the classical tradition in which he was trained, and the New Orleans tradition into which he was born. His art form took him far outside the boundaries of Louisiana, however. While still a child, he studied piano in Paris and gave a concert at the Salle Pleyel, after which Frédéric Chopin is said to have "Give me your hand, my child; I predict that you will become the king of pianists." Gottschalk returned to the United States in 1853, and later lived in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and South America, during which time he kept-sometimes sporadically, sometimes daily--the notebooks that formed the basis of Notes of a Pianist .
Published for the first time in 1881, the book continues to resonate with American cultural and musical life. Notes of a Pianist demonstrates Gottschalk's importance not only as a reporter of the musical life and tastes of Americans during the Civil War, but also as a forefather of Louisiana's rich musical culture.
Born to an English-Jewish father and a Haitian mother, Gottschalk is remembered as one of the great New Orleans musicians and composers, his music a combination of the classical tradition in which he was trained, and the New Orleans tradition into which he was born. His art form took him far outside the boundaries of Louisiana, however. While still a child, he studied piano in Paris and gave a concert at the Salle Pleyel, after which Frédéric Chopin is said to have "Give me your hand, my child; I predict that you will become the king of pianists." Gottschalk returned to the United States in 1853, and later lived in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and South America, during which time he kept-sometimes sporadically, sometimes daily--the notebooks that formed the basis of Notes of a Pianist .
Published for the first time in 1881, the book continues to resonate with American cultural and musical life. Notes of a Pianist demonstrates Gottschalk's importance not only as a reporter of the musical life and tastes of Americans during the Civil War, but also as a forefather of Louisiana's rich musical culture.
504 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1881
About the author
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
145 books1 followerLouis Moreau Gottschalk was a composer best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 29, 2021
This book is less about being a pianist and more about travelling through the United States, Canada, and South America in the 1860's. As Gottschalk's diary, it has its interests, including getting caught in the middle of the American Civil War, a civil war in Peru, and first-hand recollections of President Lincoln attending his concerts, but very little about music. Moments of astute observations on music and humanity are tainted by the racism, sexism, and classism you would expect from a rich American educated in Paris travelling through "uncivilized" parts of the world at that point in history. I was glad that I got through the overly effusive introduction to get into Gottschalk's own words, but in the end, wished that I'd set it down to read something else. Mixed review; wouldn't highly recommend.
October 19, 2025
Remarkable reading, not as known as others but one of the most incredible travelling-musicians books ive read
February 21, 2021
This is one of those texts you wish everyone would read.
Gottschalk was funny, wrote exceptionally well, had plenty to say, had a good mind, a hatred of fanaticism and bigotry, and a deep passion for - and an understanding of - music.
He doesn't wax lyrical about this or that composer, about this or that piece, but he reflects on music and musical feeling constantly, as well as on his life as an itinerant pianist. He also reflects on audiences, and their sense of what music means.
He was on the road a lot, travelling in often very poor conditions, playing every night, getting up at dawn, travelling for hours, playing, repeat: a gigging musician like today's, except with horses, steam trains and unheated hotels.
With him, we travel through 19th-Century America, a country of small towns and puritan habits, when San Francisco was only 20 years old and the Civil War was raging.
His observations of that country, and of others (South America, Canada), are often remarkable for their openness, clarity of mind and absence of prejudice. Again: he is very, very funny ('The preacher was evidently intent on emitting the greatest number of words with the smallest possible number of ideas.').
But he is also melancholy, reflective, at times depressed and rather fed up with the whole thing, and that he expresses superbly well too ('The other day in the car, I took refuge in the baggage car, seated on the case of my piano, alongside of which, O human frailty! were two other cases also inclosing instruments, now mute, since the principle that made them vibrate, under a skillful touch, like a keyboard, has left them. They were the bodies of two young soldiers killed in one of the recent battles').
The text is peppered with ideas about Art, about the artistic life ('I lament that the man of genius is, sometimes, from his private character unworthy of the sentiments his writings inspire, but do not forget that he dies while his works live (…) Rembrandt was a miser. Are his lights and shadows less marvelous? Was he a miser of his palette?').
Superb.
Gottschalk was funny, wrote exceptionally well, had plenty to say, had a good mind, a hatred of fanaticism and bigotry, and a deep passion for - and an understanding of - music.
He doesn't wax lyrical about this or that composer, about this or that piece, but he reflects on music and musical feeling constantly, as well as on his life as an itinerant pianist. He also reflects on audiences, and their sense of what music means.
He was on the road a lot, travelling in often very poor conditions, playing every night, getting up at dawn, travelling for hours, playing, repeat: a gigging musician like today's, except with horses, steam trains and unheated hotels.
With him, we travel through 19th-Century America, a country of small towns and puritan habits, when San Francisco was only 20 years old and the Civil War was raging.
His observations of that country, and of others (South America, Canada), are often remarkable for their openness, clarity of mind and absence of prejudice. Again: he is very, very funny ('The preacher was evidently intent on emitting the greatest number of words with the smallest possible number of ideas.').
But he is also melancholy, reflective, at times depressed and rather fed up with the whole thing, and that he expresses superbly well too ('The other day in the car, I took refuge in the baggage car, seated on the case of my piano, alongside of which, O human frailty! were two other cases also inclosing instruments, now mute, since the principle that made them vibrate, under a skillful touch, like a keyboard, has left them. They were the bodies of two young soldiers killed in one of the recent battles').
The text is peppered with ideas about Art, about the artistic life ('I lament that the man of genius is, sometimes, from his private character unworthy of the sentiments his writings inspire, but do not forget that he dies while his works live (…) Rembrandt was a miser. Are his lights and shadows less marvelous? Was he a miser of his palette?').
Superb.
December 26, 2019
A treasure
This book is an invaluable document. Gottschalk was a concert pianist who was born in New Orleans, spent his boyhood in the Carribean, and went, while still a boy, to Paris to study piano. He met there many noted musicians including Chopin. These memoirs consist of notes he made as a touring pianist giving concerts and recitals throughout America, north of the Mason Dixon line, during the Civil War. He made stops in numerous places, from Boston to St. Louis, and then the west coast, down through central and South America. He has colorful and impassioned things to say about travel, his accommodations, audiences, food, politics, religion, and many vivid and charming descriptions of places, events, and people. Written in a lively and engaging style, I found it a great pleasure to read. This books offers a unique view of its time from a man with a rare combination of American and European, Tropical and Northern (and Southern!) perspective. I read this on Kindle, and there are some errors due to automated transcription, like the word 'ears' appearing as 'oars' but they are comparatively few, and did not distract me from reading. Well worth the time, and the very low price.
This book is an invaluable document. Gottschalk was a concert pianist who was born in New Orleans, spent his boyhood in the Carribean, and went, while still a boy, to Paris to study piano. He met there many noted musicians including Chopin. These memoirs consist of notes he made as a touring pianist giving concerts and recitals throughout America, north of the Mason Dixon line, during the Civil War. He made stops in numerous places, from Boston to St. Louis, and then the west coast, down through central and South America. He has colorful and impassioned things to say about travel, his accommodations, audiences, food, politics, religion, and many vivid and charming descriptions of places, events, and people. Written in a lively and engaging style, I found it a great pleasure to read. This books offers a unique view of its time from a man with a rare combination of American and European, Tropical and Northern (and Southern!) perspective. I read this on Kindle, and there are some errors due to automated transcription, like the word 'ears' appearing as 'oars' but they are comparatively few, and did not distract me from reading. Well worth the time, and the very low price.
November 9, 2020
I am so disappointed about this. I had read great things about Gottschalk, as a pioneering, original American composer for piano. I bought his music and enjoyed it. And then he had to talk about his view of women. That we should not be anything but dainty and subservient. That he doesn’t like when we assert our rights. After reading halfway through and now having a magnificent female Vice President elect, I am officially throwing this trash away.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews