The Banjo (Gottschalk)

After taking the piece through a major overhaul, Gottschalk submitted it for publication in 1854 as his Opus 15.

The accuracy of Gottschalk's banjo imitations in the piece makes it a unique record of the sound of pre-Civil War African-American banjo playing, and it contains evidence of techniques not found in other sources, including combinations of "downstroking" and "up-picking" found in West African plucked lute performance.

[2] The Banjo, written in two-four time in the key of F-sharp major, begins with a variant of the ending theme doubled in octaves.

Then the piece explores a strikingly West African-style series of variations on a basic repeating phrase.

When the melody from the introduction comes back in, it barely has time to establish itself before a difficult passage in sixteenths takes over.