Nowadays many say that that the very first American ragtime composer was Louis Moreau Gottschalk.(17) Even though he preceded ragtime with about 50 years, his compositions were direct forerunners of the genre. Gottschalk was born in 1829 in New Orleans into a multi-ethnic family. He grew up in the French Quarter(18) and enthusiastically watched black slaves dance on Sundays in Congo Square (then Place Congo). The music was within hearing distance from the balcony of the Gottschalk house in Rampart Street (then rue des Remparts). These early memories of slave dance, the so-called ‘bamboula’ can be traced in Gottschalk's career. Most of his pieces are adaptations of this style and the styles he got acquainted with during his trips to Latin America. (See his work Bamboula - Danse des Négres, Op. 2. of 1845 in which he uses cakewalk rhythms.) Gottschalk was one of the most admired pianists after Liszt and their pianistic careers show many similarities. Gottschalk, like Liszt, was a child prodigy, playing the organ in a church at the age of seven. He was 12 when, following his teacher's advice, his father took him to Paris. The appearance of the young Gottschalk, just like that of Liszt, was sensational in Paris, because of his technical and improvisational skills. He studied in the class of Charles Stamaty, together with Saint-Saëns, among others. Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) predicted he would become the ‘king of pianists’, Camille Pleyel (1788-1855) mentioned him as the ‘successor to Chopin’ and his friend, Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) wrote: ‘Gottschalk is one of the few who are in possession of the indispensable elements of the versatile pianist.’ It is hard to imagine that Liszt, who was seldom in Paris those days, would not have heard of Gottschalk through letters or other channels as they had many common friends and acquaintances. Gottschalk heard Liszt play in Paris in the spring of 1844. Liszt so deeply influenced Europe and mainly Paris that Gottschalk must have been influenced by him, too. The new piano technique ‘created’ by Liszt, that resulted in changes mostly in fingering and position, is clearly present in Gottschalk's compositions as well as those runs, which became characteristic of romantic music since Chopin and Liszt. It is interesting that Gottschalk imitates the banjo's virtuoso pluckings with fast repetition in his already-mentioned salon-piece Le Banjo (Grotesque fantasie, American sketch) of 1854. This technique was possible due to the new mechanics of the Erard-pianos(19) of thirty years before. Liszt was an enthusiastic adherent and propagator of the Erard-pianos.(20) By the time of Gottschalk, these mechanical novelties were surely used by others as well. There are no data about Gottschalk's devotion to any certain brand but fast repetition was probably possible on all pianos by then.(21) Liszt, however, actively contributed to this and similar technical improvements, such as the strengthening of the wooden ‘sound-box’ of the piano to achieve greater dynamics.

Gottschalk toured Europe in 1851 and was especially successful in Spain where he received an Isabelle Cross from Queen Isabelle II that he always wore at his concerts until his death. (Just like Liszt who, in his virtuoso years, wore lots of his medals and decorations.) The visual and psychological effects of Gottschalk’s concerts were similar to the ones by Liszt. He made a hysterical impact on his audience consisting mostly of women. The enthusiasm was addressed not only to the piano virtuoso with incredible technique and to his exotic music but also to the handsome ‘Casanova’.(22)

Gottschalk returned to the United States and as the first American who was acknowledged in Europe, too, had great success. He used American and Carribean melodies in his compositions, almost exclusively, mostly of folk (black) origin. He wandered in the Carribean Isles from 1857, giving occasional concerts. Then he returned to the United States in 1862 where as an opponent of slavery, he backed the Northerners and played his black-style compositions at his concerts. He even set his three slaves free and the slaves of his family upon his father's death. This was similar to Liszt's espousal of the Hungarian cause, when he emphasized his Hungarianness not only in the West but also in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy even before the compromise of 1867.

Gottschalk was successful in the United States not only financially but in high society as well. He played in the White House for President Lincoln in 1864. His programme included, among others, his paraphrase entitled Union(23) in which he used patriotic melodies. According to the San Francisco Daily Alta California, from 1865 within three-and-a-half years he travelled 95 000 miles (about 152 000 km) by train, and gave 1100 concerts. At the end of his concerts he regularly improvised on the melody of Yankee Doodle.

It must be mentioned that Gottschalk spoke very unfavourably of Liszt in most cases and criticized his works although he himself often played Liszt compositions especially his Lucia di Lammermoor Paraphrase. He thought rather poorly of Liszt, saying ‘he invented nothing’.(24) He found Liszt’s stage behaviour absolutely ridiculous and preferred Chopin’s introversion to Liszt’s ‘showmanship’.(25) At the same time, Gottschalk seemed to imitate and surpass Liszt in every aspect (i.e. number of concerts and decorations, making his love affairs public). Later he not only played Liszt works but composed and dedicated his Mazeppa(26) to Liszt.

He was the Franz Liszt of the Americans, the first classical musician who had pop-star-like success of today by having been educated in Europe and playing compositions from black sources. Gottschalk spent his last years in South America and died in Rio de Janeiro in May 1869 while he was playing his own composition entitled Morte (Death).