''Souvenir de Porto Rico'', Op. 31, is a musical composition for piano by American composer

Louis Moreau Gottschalk Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States. Life and car ...

written from 1857 during a tour in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. Dedicated to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

piano virtuoso and salon music composer Ernest Henry Lubeck, and published in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

circa 1860 with the subtitle of ''Marche des Gibaros,'' it is based on the Christmas folk song ''Si me dan pasteles, denmelos calientes,'' performed by local peasants known as

Jíbaro Jivaro or Jibaro, also spelled Hivaro or Hibaro, may refer to: * Jíbaro (Puerto Rico), mountain-dwelling peasants in Puerto Rico * Jíbaro music, a Puerto Rican musical genre * Jivaroan peoples The Jivaroan peoples are the indigenous peoples ...

s. The piece makes use of

Latin-American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethn ...

and

Afro-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

melodies and rhythms almost fifty years before early

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

would popularize its use.Teachout, Terry, ''Our Gottschalk'', Commentary Magazine, 2008
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History

''Souvenir de Porto Rico'' was written in the last trimester of 1857, when of Gottschalk's stay at the sugar plantation of English-born Mr. Cornelius Cartwright, in Plazuela.Plazuela is located just outside the village of Barceloneta, around thirty miles west of San Juan, in the northern coast of

. At the time, Gottschalk was on vacation with singer

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her la ...

and her father. He would decide not to leave Puerto Rico, but instead remain there for weeks. During this period he composed a number of additional pieces after the local musical styles. Gottschalk would say about the setting where he composed the piece: " wasperched upon the edge of a crater, ndmy cabin overlooked the whole country. Every evening I moved my piano out upon the terrace, and played for myself alone, everything that the scene opened up before me inspired. It was there that I composed 'Marche des Gibaros.'""Souvenir de Porto Rico, marche des gibaros for piano, Op. 31, D. 147 (RO 250)"
Classical Work Reviews. All Media Guide, 2006. Answers.com, 14 Feb. 2008

Musical analysis

The piece in E♭ minor, set in two-four time with an initial

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of ''Moderato ma con moto'', consists of a repetition of two specific themes. The "A" theme, borrowed from a Puerto Rican folk song, is introduced ''piano'' or softly. The "B" theme, marked ''maliconico'' (melancholy) in the score, provides contrast by switching to a higher register and a major mode. Both themes are accompanied by a traditional march rhythm, the pattern being long, long, short, short, long. Gottschalk then subjects the two themes to seven variations. Each variation is louder and more rhythmically complex than the previous until the fifth variation. At this point, the piece reaches its climax, and the following variations return to a softer and less dense version of the two themes. In his variations of the "A" theme, Gottschalk makes use of four Afro-Caribbean rhythms he learned during his time in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. These rhythms consist of a ''tresillo,'' a pattern of three unequal notes, two ''cinquillos,'' patterns of five unequal notes, and the ''habanera,'' a rhythmic dance he had heard in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. Additionally, he varies both themes with examples of typical European

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

style. He couples the syncopation of Latin rhythms with the virtuosic lines of his European background.

Notes

References

Sources

* Jackson, Richard, ''Piano Music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk''. Dover Publication Inc. 1973

External links

*
''Souvenir de Porto Rico''
Performed by Amiram Rigai on

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{{Authority control 1857 compositions Solo piano compositions by Louis Moreau Gottschalk Piano compositions in the Romantic era Compositions in E-flat minor