Page:Notes of a Pianist.djvu/72

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54
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

music, as in all other things, is novelty; and we have also been as much charmed by the melodious ecrin of the American artist, as we already have been by the chants of the Muezzin, and the reveries under the palms which Felicien David and Ernest Reyer have noted with their souvenirs of the East.

At his last concert, Gottschalk had the applause of the whole hall. They often cried encore, and the young artist yielded himself without affectation, and with, the most perfect courtesy, to the demands of his audience.




CHAPTER VI.


Gottschalk returned from Switzerland in October. Shortly after his arrival in Paris he received an invitation from the Queen of Spain, to whom he had dedicated 'le Bamboula,' to visit Madrid. His fame as an artist had reached her ears, and she was desirous of hearing him. During the winter he gave several concerts in Paris. At this period his father arrived from New Orleans on a visit to his family. It was very touching to see the pride and happiness of the father at beholding the success of his much loved son for whom he had made so many sacrifices. After several months passed together Gottschalk set out for Madrid in company with his father, who traveled with him as far as Bordeaux, where they parted, Gottschalk agreeing to meet his father in the United States the following spring. The newspapers of the south of France had all heralded his coming, and he was welcomed with the greatest enthusiasm. After leaving Bordeaux he visited Pau, Tarbes, Bayonne, and other places of note. His fame had preceded him, and every additional concert seemed only to increase it. Not only was he admired as an artist and composer, but as a philanthropist and as one of the most charitable and generous of men. Concerts were given for the benefit of the poor, and donations made to hospitals.

While at Bordeaux Mgr. Donnet, Cardinal Archbishop of Bordeaux, gave him a grand dinner, at which many bishops and other dignitaries of the church were present. As conveying the best idea of the impression he made and