"Chopin, as is well known, transferred the national traits of Poland to his mazurkas and polonaises, and Mr. Gottschalk has endeavored to reproduce in [his] works...the characteristic traits of the dances of the West Indies." Thus Louis Moreau Gottschalk, speaking of himself in third person, described the manner in which his compositions drew inspiration from sources as seemingly disparate as the classical traditions of Europe, the vibrant culture of his native Creole background, and the variety of music and dance traditions he encountered during his many and far-flung travels as a touring virtuoso pianist—America's first, in fact. This synthesis is exemplified in one of his most popular piano pieces, Ojos Criollos, Op. 37. Composed in 1859 while the composer was in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, Ojos Criollos (Creole eyes), or as it was originally titled, "Danse Cubaine," is a rather straightforward realization of a "contradanza" rendered for two- or four-hand piano. The piece seems to have been featured frequently on concerts Gottschalk gave throughout the world, so it is not unlikely that the lively syncopated rhythms featured in the piece presaged and perhaps influenced the wave of exoticist fancy that spread throughout the Western classical arts later in the nineteenth century. In fact, some scholars have suggested that Gottschalk's music from this period helped pave the way for jazz music. One of Scott Joplin's biographers insisted that Ojos Criollos would have been a repertory piece for one of Joplin's early teachers, the work's syncopated rhythms and lively textures contributing to the birth of American ragtime music. At any rate, the contradanza feel of Ojos Criollos was an audience favorite, especially for those listeners familiar with the style's origins. In fact, a concert given in Havana in 1862 is purported to have featured a special and especially lively (if less nimble) arrangement of Ojos Criollos scored for no less than 39 pianists.

© Jeremy Grimshaw, Rovi