America can not be said, as yet, to have attained a national school. We had one genius who might be called self-instructed—viz., Louis Moreau Gottschalk. All of our composers since have been German educated, or educated under teachers who themselves were German taught, and as yet our music is little more than a slightly modified German production, although our composers are beginning to show as much originality and force as the better class of the writers of any country.
Selecting only those names the most prominent in the several countries, and more particularly the composers who have distinguished themselves in pianoforte music, the following seem, on the whole, the most worthy of our attention:
In Germany—Brahms, Dvorak, Raff, D'Albert, Nicode, Moszkowski, Jensen, Reinecke, Paderewski, and Scharwenka.
In Russia—Rubinstein, Henselt, Tschaikowsky, Balakirew, Glazounow, and Karganoff.
In France—Stephen Heller, Saint-Saëns, Pierne, Faure, Widor, Guyrand, and Benoit.
In Scandinavia—Grieg, Gade, Svendsen, Kjerulf, and Meyer-Helmund.
In America—Gottschalk, Mason, Wollenhaupt, Foote, Chadwick, MacDowell, and others.