Clara Gottschalk Peterson


Clara Gottschalk Peterson was an American pianist, composer, and editor. She was the sister of virtuoso pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk, editing a collection of his writings and working to preserve his memory after his death. She is remembered as "a staunch protector of her brother's music in its original form", as well as "a composer of considerable ability" in her own right.

Early life

Clara Gottschalk was born in 1837 in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of the seven children of London-born Edward Gottschalk and Aimée. The Gottschalk and Bruslé families were slave owners, and the children were raised in part by a nurse named Sally, who the Bruslés had taken with them as chattel from Saint-Domingue, and from whom they heard Creole legends and lullabies. Their maternal grandmother was also from Saint-Domingue, and between the two women its music "was a constant and vital presence in the Gottschalks' family circle".
In 1847, Aimée left her husband and moved with six of the children to Paris, France, where Louis Moreau was already studying music. Aimée was "reputed to have believed that all the Gottschalk children would be musically gifted", and although not all of them went on to be as acclaimed as Louis Moreau, "all did perform publicly and/ or compose at one time or another". The youngest brother, Louis Gaston Gottschalk, was an eminent opera singer and vocal teacher. Clara and Blanche were both professional pianists, and Celestine and Augusta also performed.

As pianist

Clara gave recitals on piano and introduced her brother's compositions to her audiences.

''Creole Songs''

In 1902, Clara published Creole Songs from New Orleans in the Negro Dialect. Transcribed from memory, she stated in the collection's introduction that:
Dr. Dvořák has claimed that there is in time to be a native school of American music based upon the primitive musical utterances of the Indian and the negro among us. Then truly these melodies of the Louisiana negroes, which, quaintly merry or full of a very tender pathos, have served to rock whole generations of Southern children, are historical documents of some interest to the student and lover of music.
The influence of the songs gathered by Clara on Louis Moreau Gottschalk's compositions was also noted, with some being based on them directly.

Death

Clara Gottschalk Peterson died at her home in Asbury Park, New Jersey on 25 July 1910. The New York Times noted that her house had been:
for many years the gathering place of Asbury Park's musicians, and even during the past Winter, despite her failing health, she gave musicales at which she played her brother's compositions.
She was survived by two step-children and her sister, Celestine Gottschalk, with whom she had lived for a number of years.

Selected compositions

As composer

The pixies' merry-making: petite caprice de genre, op. 11 A dream Fleur des champs: bluette musicale, op. 14 Creole Songs from New Orleans in the Negro Dialect
  • # Quan' mo té dan' gran' chimain
  • # Mouché Mazireau
  • # Po' pitie Mamzé Zizi
  • # Zélim to quitté la plaine
  • # En avan' grènadié
  • # Ou Som Souroucou
  • # Salangadou
  • # Quan' patate la cuite
  • # Une deusse troisse
  • # Gardé piti milat' la
  • # Neg' pa' capab' marché
  • # Papa va a la rivièreStaccato polka
  • ''In sylvan glade''

As editor

  • ''Marguerite, Op. 76''