Louis Moreau Gottschalk
(Wikipedia)
Bamboula
Our friend Byron Hanson is Archivist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan. He writes in response to the Gramophone article on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, which we excerpted recently:
In regard to the mention of Coleridge-Taylor's Bamboula introduced in orchestral performance by the NY Philharmonic in 1910:
Do
we all recognize that, while C-T's composition has a personality of its
own, the tune that is the basis of his piece is the same one that Louis
Moreau Gottschalk published as "Bamboula, danse de nêgres, Op.2"
before 1850 and that figures prominently in Hershy Kay's 1951 ballet Cakewalk?
My understanding is that Gottschalk's sources are
largely from the West Indies but I assume Coleridge-Taylor's would be
solely from Africa. If that assumption is false, please advise!
Thanks for all the good information you continue to offer, day in and day out!
Best regards,
Byron Hanson
Archivist
Interlochen Center for the Arts
www.interlochen.org
Comments by email:
Comments by email:
I suspect that Coleridge-Taylor and Gottschalk both
had a Caribbean source for the Bamboula, particularly since CT's awareness
of African music was second hand. Note might be made of the book by S.
Frederick Starr: Bamboula!; The life and times of Louis Moreau Gottschalk
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1995 -- Gottschalk was undeniably this
country's first music super star). A fourth use of the tune appears in Henry
F. Gilbert's The dance in the Place Congo, op. 15 (1908; rev. 1916), a
ballet first performed at the Metropolitan Opera House (recorded in 1977 by
Calvin Simmons conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic on New World Records
NW-228). Incidentally, much of Gottschalk's biography has led some to think
he was Black. He was not.
Dominique-René de Lerma
Thank you for this additional information, Dr. Lerma -- I
believe I may have heard the Henry Gilbert music performed in Rochester in the
early 1960s at one of Howard Hanson's American music festivals but I'm not
sure! I need to hear more of Coleridge-Taylor's work, and the attention he is
receiving with new recordings in this centennial year should provide the
opportunity!
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