Born in New Orleans, Louis Gottschalk was the son of a father born in London, raised in Germany and of Spanish Jewish ancestry, and of a Creole mother. He studied in Paris and made an early reputation with his piano pieces, redolent of New Orleans. He won considerable fame as a pianist in Europe, though had less success on his return to America in 1853. He divided the following years between Central and South America and the United States, until compelled by a possible scandal to abandon the last of these. He died in Brazil in 1869.

Piano Music

A pianist himself, with a punishing schedule of concert tours, Gottschalk wrote a great deal of music for the piano, much of it influenced by his native New Orleans.

Orchestral Music

Gottschalk wrote two symphonies and a quantity of marches and dances.