Composer : | Gottschalk, Louis Moreau (1829 - 1869) | ||
Instrumentation : | Piano solo | ||
Style : | Hymn - Sacred | ||
Arranger : | Zisi, Matthew | ||
Publisher : | |||
Copyright : | Copyright © Matthew Zisi | ||
Added by crosby3145, 25 Feb 2018 Holy Ghost, with Light Divine I originally intended to include a Robert Schumann hymn in this classical collection, but when I looked up the only one in Great Hymns of the Faith, I found out it was only eight measures long. That was far too short to give it its own arrangement, so I instead arranged this one, the only one in that hymnal by another classical composer—Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Not a lot of people have heard of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, which is unfortunate, because he is one of the greatest American composers of all-time—better even than Aaron Copeland and Samuel Barber! Born in New Orleans in 1929, Gottschalk completed his musical education at the Paris Conservatoire. He was one of those virtuoso pianists that toured the world in the 1800s, and when he was in Paris, Chopin and Liszt were both impressed by his playing. If there is any doubt as to his ability, a look at some of his music will quickly confirm he was good—he had to be, to be able to play it! Gottschalk gave several concerts in major cities around the United States—one of his pieces, Union, is a virtuoso arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner, Hail Columbia!, and Yankee Doodle. Many of his compositions are for piano—such as one of his most famous, The Banjo, which seeks to imitate you-can-guess-which instrument. Like Liszt, he also wrote orchestral music, and Hershy Kay made a popular orchestration of his Cakewalk Suite. His music has a remarkable ability—like Liszt’s—to put a smile on your face as you listen to it, and it really deserves to get played more often than it does. As a side note, I met a relative of Gottschalk a few years ago at Virginia Tech University—a student named Mason. He’s followed in his relative’s footsteps, as he was studying piano at the time, and he’s also extremely talented. He played The Dying Poet (LMG’s opus 110) for me, so I can actually say I’ve heard Gottschalk play Gottschalk—a rare occurrence, considering the more famous one died before the recording era. As far as hymns are concerned, Gottschalk’s certainly not a name you’ll find much in hymnals. One of his tunes was used for Holy Ghost with Light Divine. The words (by Andrew Reed) are a prayer to the Holy Ghost to do what the Bible says it will do for us—cheer us, take away our guilt (as God has paid our debt), and help us to keep the One True God as the object our worship. The quite, reverie-style tune by Gottschalk fits the words like a glove, and I think you’ll find this arrangement very enjoyable—as well as much easier than most of Gottschalk’s originals. Enjoy! |
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