(From the Mémorial des Pyrénées, Pau, 14 June, 1851, taken from the Courrier de la Gironde.
Gottschalk's execution astonishes, while, at the same time, it charms. Thus, while the right hand designs the theme and gives it all its contours, the other, as if it had winged fingers and with vertiginous rapidity, flies from one end of the key-board to the other, and groups around tiie melody showers of sparkling notes, deluges of arpeggios and of chromatic traits. It is a, veritable musical artificial firework, impossible to describe; but the melody is never lost under the transparent drapery which covers it; it always detaches itself with pearly neatness, and the last note is as pure, as velvety as the first.
J. Saint-Rieul Dupouy.
(From the Courrier de la Gironde, Bordeaux, 21 June, 1851.)
Mr. Gottschalk will leave at Bordeaux a profound souvenir as an artist and as a man, for the generosity of his heart is at least equal to his immense talent.
A. Boudin.
Mr. G. Barthélemon, speaking in the 'Ami des Arts' of Bordeaux, 20 July, 1851, of the concert for the poor, says, in his concluding remarks:—
May we be permitted to say in conclusion that Gottschalk, after having given to his audience the rich products of his genius, and to the poor the fruit of his receipts, gave to the charming young ladies of A de S C, etc., who were in the box of the General, the flowers he had just received. Oh, yes! we will tell it, for this trait, simple as it is, is that of a gallant man.
It is so rare to find all these qualities united in the same man: talent, modesty, bounty, and gallantry.
We also will join ourselves with those young persons who on Thursday evening applauded him with their pretty little white and delicate hands, and will say with them:—
Thanks, Gottschalk! you are on the way which leads to glory, to riches, to honour! you will be fêted by the great and the powerful!—you will be blessed by the poor!
(From l'Indicateur, Bordeaux, 20 July, 1851.)
The concert given by Mr. Gottschalk for the benefit of the poor has been as brilliant as could be wished for. This work of benevolence, prepared a long time in advance, has not been unfruitful to those for whom it was destined. All the most distinguished musicians and amateurs of Bordeaux took part in it with the most praiseworthy eagerness. The ladies particularly appeared in great numbers, and were not the least ornaments of this musical solemnity.
As the programme offered by Mr. Gottschalk was almost the same as that of the two preceding concerts, one cannot, without the risk of repeating one's self, follow it in all of its details; thus, to avoid the difficulty, let us say, that Mr. Gottschalk from one end of the concert to the other took up his position with so striking a superiority, that the applause, the