- Gottschalk completed this Grande tarantelle late in his career, when he was based in South America. He worked on this piece from 1858-64.1
- In 1864, Gottschalk performed a tarantella for piano and orchestra at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and that performance may have been the premiere of this work. It’s hard to tell because Gottschalk performed several works entitled “Tarantella” around that period, all for different instrumental combinations, and none of their performance scores survive. It’s also mysterious because Gottschalk had a habit of never performing a piece the same way twice – even if he’d published it.2
- The piece wasn’t published until around 1874 in Paris.3 It is possible that the published version (which appeared after the composer’s death) is a mere suggestion of the various virtuosic versions that Gottschalk himself played.4
Sources
- Irving Lowens and S. Frederick Starr, “Gottschalk, Louis Moreau,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 19, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011530.
- S. Frederick Starr, Louis Moreau Gottschalk (Urbana: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 405.
- Lowens and S. Frederick Starr, “Gottschalk, Louis Moreau,” Grove Music Online.
- Irving Lowens and S. Frederick Starr, “Gottschalk, Louis Moreau,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 19, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011530.
Cut IDs
20149 42830 43608