Gottschalk, Joplin & Litolff (who?)

Tomi Hayashi raised the question of possible influence on Scott Joplin
by the music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a theory which has been
dismissed out of hand by various folk.

Although it's probably impossible to settle this, absent new information
contemporary to the two composers, I wouldn't be too sure about that.
Joplin was an educated man, certainly about music.  He was familiar
with serious music.

Gottschalk was a hugely popular concert performer in demand in many
countries.  He concertized frequently and with great success.  His
music -- like Joplin, later forgotten before today's wonderful revivals
-- was enormously popular in his own time.  Any sizable stack of
concert pieces from that era will probably include one or more
Gottschalk items.

They would have sold even more copies, except many of his most
spectacular works are difficult to master, to say the least.  They
would have been well beyond the capability of many musicians, certainly
the average home pianist.  Gottschalk was clearly blessed with a strong
ego.  Like many other composers, he loved to write music which he could
play with brilliance and elan, but which he knew many other performers,
even seasoned concert pianists, could not.

It's obvious that this challenged other artists to come up to his
standard.  Consider how Paganini and several of his peers enormously
raised the level of violin virtuosity with their compositions and
performances.  And can't we be glad of this phenomenon of "one
upmanship" among such artists!

The question of influence vis-a-vis Joplin and Gottschalk parallels a
similar inquiry prompted by music only recently familiar to me, by a
third outstanding composer.  A local classical music station recently
played a piano performance of what I instantly identified as being a
Gottschalk work.  But I was wrong.

To any Gottschalk or Joplin fan, I recommend it.  It is the second
movement "Scherzo", marked Presto, from Concerto Symphonique No. 4
in D Minor, Op.  102 by Henry Charles Litolff.  There are several fine
recordings of this work, both just the Scherzo, which is of primary
interest here, and of the entire Concerto, in itself a lovely
composition.  I for one would like to know more about Litolff, of whose
identity and work I previously had been unaware.  And I'd like to know
if there are more Gottschalk-like works beside the Scherzo.

The dates for the three are below.  They were contemporaries.  Litolff
fortunately lived far longer than either Gottschalk or Joplin.  Imagine
the repertoire we could admire and enjoy had they survived as long as
Litolff!

  Henry Charles Litolff    (1818-1891)
  Louis Moreau Gottschalk  (1829-1869)
  Scott Joplin             (1868-1917)

I look forward to more information about these three incredible gents
and their musical legacies!

Lee Munsick
Appomattox County, Virginia USA