Joseph Gungl

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Joseph Gungl (December 1, 1810 - January 31, 1889), was a Hungarian composer and conductor.

He was born at Zsámbék in Hungary. After working as a school-teacher in Buda, and learning the elements of music from the school-choirmaster, he became first oboist at Graz, and, at twenty-five, bandmaster of the 4th Regiment of Austrian Artillery. His first composition, a Hungarian march, written in 1836, attracted some notice, and in 1843 he was able to establish an orchestra in Berlin. With this band he travelled far, even (in 1849) to America. It is worth recording that Mendelssohn's complete Midsummer Night's Dream music is said to have been first played by Gungl's orchestra. In 1853 he became bandmaster to the 23rd Infantry Regiment at Brno, but in 1864 he lived at Munich, and in 1876 at Frankfurt, after (in 1873) having conducted with great success a series of promenade concerts at Covent Garden, London. From Frankfort Gungl went to Weimar to live with his daughter, a well-known German opera singer, and died there.

Gungl's dances number over 300, perhaps the most popular being the Amoretten, Hydropaten, Casino and Dreams on the Ocean waltzes; In Stiller Mitternacht polka, and Blue Violets mazurka. His Hungarian march was transcribed by Franz Liszt. His music is characterized by the same-easy flowing melodies and well-marked rhythm that distinguish the dances of Strauss, to whom alone he can be ranked second in this kind of composition.