When Gottschalk plays pieces in an habanera rhythm, sometimes it sounds almost like ragtime. Almost, but not quite, because there is one thing missing.

When Scott Joplin plays ragtime, you can hear the habanera rhythm in the right hand. But all the while, the left hand plays in a strict march rhythm (oom-pah, oom-pah...). The march accompaniment against the syncopation in the habanera has the effect of heightening all the contrasts and hi-lighting the syncopated notes.

That's what's missing in Gottschalk--he plays the habanera rhythm with both hands, so we don't get the contrasts; we don't get ragtime.

Definition of ragtime: March in the left hand accompanying an habanera in the right hand.

"You take a white right hand and a black left hand and what do you got? Son, you got rock 'n' roll!"
-- Sam Phillips

"You take a white left hand and a black right hand and what do you got? Son, you got ragtime!"
-- pinhed

or a latino right hand

At about 2:30, this Gottschalk number just about turns into Scott Joplin (but you have to put up with ballet and stuff).

Dr. John played an arrangement of this on his album "Going Back to New Orleans."

Here's Dr. John's record. The Gottschalk piece is played in an arrangement with strings: