Souvenir de Porto Rico

Score 38 pp. Parts 3-4 pp.

Romantic Work arranged here for Recorder Orchestra. Cottschalk was born on New Orleans. He travelled extensively and was an acclaimed pianist. He was quite taken with the music he heard Porto Rico and Havana, so much so that he composed a work, probably in 1857, entitled Souvenir de Porto Rico; Marche des gibaros, Op. 31 (RO250)."Gibaros" refers to the jíbaros, or Porto Rican peasantry, and is an antiquated way of writing this name.

The theme of the composition is a march tune which may be based on a Puerto Rican folk song form. Various Jazz elements (such as syncopation and quirky rhythmic motives) are clearly stated in this work which is very much in a Jazz style.

1. Souvenir de Porto Rico