Louis Moreau Gottschalk and His Morte!! (She Is Dead): Lamentation

Abstract

During his short lifetime, Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-69) became renowned as a composer-pianist throughout much of Europe and the Western Hemisphere. His rise to fame on three continents was due to his superlative gifts of musical talent and intellect. Surprising, then, is the lack of information today about his solo piano piece Morte!!, composed while he toured in South America. This is even more puzzling because of the legend that Morte!! was the last work performed by the terminally ill pianist in Rio de Janeiro on November 25, 1869. Actually, it was the last complete work performed: Gottschalk had already played Morte!! and had begun his Tremolo when he was forced to desist, as documented by an eyewitness.' But the correct order has been reversed-perhaps for dramatic effect-in some surprisingly early accounts, including that of his own sister.2 This history alone might have awakened musicological interest in Morte!!, especially since 1951, when Francisco Curt Lange's biography of Gottschalk set the record straight. Morte!! (She Is Dead): Lamentation, op. 60, for piano, two hands, was published by William Hall & Son (New York, plate 6498) in 1869, by Oliver Ditson (Boston, same number), and by B. Schott (Mainz, plate 20228).3 Gottschalk dated his letter of transmittal of the composition to Hall October 24, 1869;4 the firm must have gone to press with it immediately to retain 1869 as year of issue. The action must also have been too swift for research to assign the correct opus number, which caused Hall's incorrect estimate, opus 55.5 In 1870, Schott published it as opus 60. The two-hand Morte!! was also published as opus 60 in