Hans Gal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hans Gal (August 5, 1890 - October 3, 1987) was an Austrian composer, teacher and pianist.

Hans Gal was born in the small village of Brunn am Gebirge, just outside of Vienna. He was trained in that metropolis at the New Vienna Conservatory where he taught for some time. While a student he won the K. und K (Royal and Imperial) State Prize for composition. In 1928, he won the Columbia Schubert Centenniary Prize for his Sinfonietta. The next year, with the support of such important musicians as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss and others, he obtained the directorship of the Mainz Conservatory. Gal composed in nearly every genre and his operas, which included Der Artz der Sobeide, Die Heilige Ente and Das Lied der Nacht,were particularly popular during the 1920's. Upon Hitler's rise to power, Gal was forced to leave Germany and eventually emigrated to Britain, teaching at the Edinburgh Music Conservatory for many years.

Gal's style, not surprisingly, was rooted in the Austro-German musical tradition of the late 19th century and in his early years, he was influenced by Brahms. However by the end of the First World War, he developed his own musical language. He did not embrace the Second Vienna School or twelve tone music. His later music generally is polyphonic in structure but does not eschew traditional melody. Many of his works are tonally complex while at the same time offer lyric episodes of great beauty.

Beside opera, Gal wrote many orchestral as well as chamber music works, which many regard among his finest efforts. Wilhelm Altmann, the eminent chamber music critic, writes about Gal's first string quartet, composed in 1916, in his Handbuch für Streichquartettspieler (Handbook for String Quartet Players)as follows: "Those who enjoy Brahms' music should pay great attention to this work although this is not to say that it is merely a copy of Brahms' style. While the Quartet is somewhat in the style of Brahms, it is also indebted to Schubert and to the general musical milieu of 19th century Vienna ...the entire work is very finely written and shows good understanding of quartet style."

[edit] References

Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. London: Macmillan 1980. ISBN 0333231112.
Cobbett, Walter Willson. Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, London: Oxford University Press. With a preface by W. H. Hadow. 1963 2nd edition.
Altmann, Wilhelm. Handbuch für Streichquartettspieler. Wilhemshaven : Heinrichshofen’s Verlag. 1972-1974.
Some of the information on this page appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission has been granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.