Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May
8, 1829 – December 18, 1869)
was an American composer
and pianist, best known as a
virtuoso performer of his own
romantic piano works. He
spent most of his working
career outside of the United
States.
Gottschalk was born to a
Jewish businessman from
London and a Creole in New
Orleans, where he was
exposed to a variety of musical
traditions. He had six brothers
and sisters, five of whom were
half-siblings by his father's
mulatto mistress.His family
lived for a time in a tiny
cottage at Royal and Esplanade
in the Vieux Carré. Louis later
moved in with relatives at 518
Conti Street; his maternal
grandmother Buslé and his
nurse Sally had both been born
in Saint-Domingue (known
later as Haiti). Gottschalk
played the piano from an early
age and was soon recognized
as a wunderkind by the New
Orleans bourgeois
establishment. During 1840, he
gave his informal public debut
at the new St. Charles Hotel.