Gaul Harvey B(artlett)
Gaul Harvey B(artlett)
Gaul, Harvey B(artlett), American organist, conductor, music critic, and composer; b. N.Y., April 11, 1881; d. Pittsburgh, Dec. 1, 1945. He studied organ, harmony, and composition with George Lejeune in N.Y., then with Dudley Buck (1895). After further studies with Alfred R. Gaul in Birmingham and Philip Ames in Durham (1906), he went to Paris to complete his training with Widor, Guilmant, and Decaux (organ) at the Cons, and with d’Indy (composition and orchestration) at the Schola Cantorum (1909–10). He was asst. organist at St. John’s Chapel in N.Y. (1899–1901), and then organist and choirmaster at the Emmanuel Church in Cleveland (1901–09); also wrote music criticism for the Cleveland News. In 1910 he settled in Pittsburgh as organist of Calvary Church; served as music critic (1914–34) and arts ed. (1929–34) of the Post-Gazette) then conducted the Pittsburgh Civic String Orch. (1936–45) and the Savoyard Opera Co. (1939–45) and taught at the Univ. of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Inst. of Technology. Gaul wrote more than 500 works, becoming best known for his church and organ music. He was also the author of a study of Stephen Foster, The Minstrel of the Alleghenies (Pittsburgh, 1952).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire