Bamboula, Op. 2, is a fantasy composition for piano written by American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk during a delirium of typhoid fever in the French town of Clermont-sur-l'Oise in the summer of 1848.[1] Dedicated "à sa Majesté Isabelle II, Reine des Espagnes",[2] it is the first of the so-called set of four "Louisiana Creole pieces" that Gottschalk composed between 1848 and 1851.

Musical analysis

According to the Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago, the term "bamboula" refers to "a kind of vigorous African-based dance with singing and drumming", possibly from the Southern Kikongo (Congo) language, in which it means "a word which transfers the force of external things into oneself"; and in the Jola languages "bombolong", "war dance" (Eastern Kikongo: "ignite").[3]

An early 1950 Haitian Vodou ritual recording by Harold Courlander, "Baboule Dance (three drums)", shows a traditional rhythmic drum pattern very similar to the specific rhythm found in Gottschalk's Bamboula.[4] This is evidence that the bamboula was an old dance based on a particular rhythm that Gottschalk heard in his youth; many African Americans in New Orleans had come from Haiti and reference the term "bamboula"; this rhythm can also be found in various Caribbean islands.

A 1954 biguine-style recording, "Bamboula", made in April 1954 (with added lyrics in creole French) by Abel Beauregard Et l'Orchestre Créole Matou from Guadeloupe, is a cover version based on Gottschalk's Bamboula.[4]

Being based on two Creole melodies (Musieu Bainjo and Quan' patate la cuite),[1][5] Bamboula was published with the subtitle Danse des nègres at the Bureau Central de la Musique on 22 April 1849 by Escudier (a Paris publisher); many unauthorized copies were issued in Europe shortly thereafter.[6][7] Its first concert performance occurred on the evening of 17 April 1849 at the Salle Pleyel during Gottschalk's second appearance as a professional pianist.[5][8]

The composition—written in the key of D-flat major, with a strongly rhythmically marked melody—is organized into three sections (AAB). The introduction begins with a concluding gesture in the bass range, mimicking a drum beat. The second is a transposition of the first theme, while the third is underlined by a heavily syncopated melody in the relative minor (B-flat minor). With a duple 2
4 time signature and an Allegro tempo marking, the composition features many shifting moods and virtuosic passages.

References

  1. 1 2 Starr, S. Frederick (2000). Louis Moreau Gottschalk. University of Illinois Press. p. 73. ISBN 0252068769.
  2. ↑ Chase, Gilbert (1992). America's Music: From the Pilgrims to the Present. University of Illinois Press. pp. 290. ISBN 0252062752. bamboula gottschalk.
  3. ↑ Winer, Lise (2009-01-16). Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago: On Historical Principles. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0-7735-7607-0.
  4. 1 2 "Editions, Galerie, Librairie Sonore et Vignobles Frémeaux & Associés". www.fremeaux.com. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  5. 1 2 All Music. "Bamboula, danse des nègres for piano, Op. 2, D. 13 (RO 20)". All music.com. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  6. ↑ Taruskin, Richard (2009). Music in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. pp. nn. ISBN 978-0195384833.
  7. ↑ Pruett, Laura Moore (2007). Louis Moreau Gottschalk, John Sullivan Dwight, and the Development of Musical Culture in the United States, 1853--1865. p. 32. ISBN 978-0549467342.
  8. ↑ Park, Jihyun (2009). Louis Moreau Gottschalk's Assimilation of African American Elements in Souvenir de Porto Rico (PDF). University of California. p. 19.
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