Composer; born 5 August 1890 in Vienna, died 3 October 1987 in Edinburgh.
Biography
Having studied composition with Eusebius Mandyczewskz in Vienna, Hans Gál went on to lecture at Vienna University for a decade from 1919. In his native Austria and in neighbouring Germany he was a successful composer, with many of his works for orchestra, opera, chamber groups and choir being widely performed. He became director of the Konservatorium Mainz in 1929 and returned to Vienna after being removed from his post by the Nazis in 1933. From there he was forced to emigrate in 1938, moving his family to the UK. Gál and found employment in Edinburgh through the help of British musicologist Sir Donald Tovey. In 1940 he was interned as an enemy alien in Huyton near Liverpool and on the Isle of Man, where he wrote his diary entitled Musik hinter Stacheldraht as well as the bilingual comic revue What a Life! After the war he moved back to Edinburgh where he became a highly respected professor at the University. He continued to compose until his death in 1987 and wrote more than half of his oevre in the UK. His music has enjoyed renewed interest in recent years, and much of it has been recorded.
Amongst some of his published monographs are those of Brahms, Wagner, Schubert and Verdi
Links and sources
Hans Gál dedicated website with detailed information on publishers and recordings
Hans Gál in the University of Hamburg online database of musicians persecuted during the Nazi Period
