O Ma Charmante, Epargnez-Moi! (Oh, my charmer, spare me) in many ways captures the essence of the musical personality of its creator, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the first American to make an international reputation as a virtuoso concert pianist and composer of piano music. His works soaked up the often exotic manner of the Creole music from his native Louisiana. By the time he had written this piece Gottschalk had already drawn considerable attention with the popular-styled, enormously successful pair, Last Hope and Tournament Galop, both from 1854.

O Ma Charmante opens with a lovely serene melody whose character is both forlorn and serene. The theme soon turns somewhat exotic, taking on an almost salon-like character in its mixture of the sweetly nocturnal and the sonically glossy. There later appears a dreamy childlike variant, charming in its seeming innocence, cute in its deftly conceived upper-register sonorities. Lasting about three minutes, this richly tuneful piece will appeal to those with an interest both in American keyboard and folk music.

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