Hyperion Records

Gottschalk spent his formative years in Europe. He left his native New Orleans at the age of twelve in May 1841 and did not return to the United States until January 1853 when he was fêted as a celebrity. Yet, despite a healthy string of concerts, by the end of that year he was sixteen thousand dollars in debt, an unsuccessful tour of New England only adding to his financial plight. To add to his misery, in October his father died.

To commemorate this sad event he revised a Marche funèbre that he had written some years earlier (‘for a careful exposition of these two variant editions’, notes Starr, ‘see Doyle, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, D-90, D-90a, D-90b, D-90c’). The source of its inspiration is obvious, its key the predictable B flat minor, yet its powerful central (G minor) section and some surprising harmonic progressions make it an effective example of its type.

In December 1853, Gottschalk retreated to his birthplace and thence to Cuba where, for the next three years, he struggled to rebuild his life.

from notes by Jeremy Nicholas © 2003