Gottschalk: Variations on the Portuguese National Anthem
The year 1869 did not end well, for death struck without warning. Louis was playing a concert at Rio de Janeiro when he collapsed between pieces. Three weeks later, a week before Christmas, acute peritonitis took him down. The most likely culprit was his appendix. He was buried in Brooklyn. Vandals wrecked his monument in 1959, but it was fixed only last month.
Today, Gottschalk is remembered as a footnote in American music. But he and Stephen Foster, whom I will cover next, laid the groundwork for Scott Joplin, who in turn paved the way for George Gershwin. It was the first small step in the establishment of American music.