Alexandre Goria - Mazurka No.1, Op.5

Goria (1823-1860) was a French virtuoso pianist and composer recognised among amateurs enthusiasts for his numerous salon pieces of different styles, which enjoyed great success at their time. Alexandre Goria was born in Paris and admitted as a student at the age of seven to the Conservatoire de Paris on 15 November 1830. He had for piano teachers Adolphe-Francois Laurent (1796–1867), teacher of Jules Massenet, and Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmerman, teacher of Charles-Valentin Alkan and Cesar Franck, following a course of harmony under the direction of Victor Dourlen shortly thereafter. He was in very good terms with Carl Czerny when he lived in Vienna for some time, and was also a very close friend of the American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk who dedicated his composition Le Bananier to him. His totally forgotten music deserves to be rediscovered in 2021.