Hans Gàl
5 August 1890
3 October 1987 (aged 97)
Austrian
Composer, pedagogue, musicologist, author
Music[edit]
Gál's style is rooted in the Austro-German musical tradition, but from the early 1920s he had developed his own musical language, to which he remained true throughout his long career. He never followed prevailing fashions, nor abandoned his belief in the importance of tonality.[17] Though his style cannot be derived from any single influence, one can nevertheless identify particular affinities, especially with the 18th century Viennese composers whose clarity, plasticity and playful humour are basic constituents. His works combine romantic intensity with emotional restraint, and the chromatic harmonies and extended tonality of the pre-serial early moderns with a Schubert-like love of melody, integrated with a polyphonic texture that derives from his lifelong engagement with the works of J. S. Bach. His output was considerable: over 150 published works in virtually all genres, including, in addition to his four operas,[18] four symphonies, four string quartets, two large-scale cantatas with orchestra, other orchestral works, chamber music, sets of 24 preludes and 24 fugues for piano, and vocal works of various kinds.[19]
Postwar neglect[edit]
Gál's music continued to appear regularly in concert in the years immediately following World War II thanks the advocacy of colleagues like Rudolf Schwarz and Otto Schmidtgen. As the years passed, and Gál's advocates ceased working, his music fell into near-complete neglect. This process was accelerated by a shift in the BBC's programming policy: from the 1960s onward, the national broadcaster explicitly favoured music from the avant-garde or twelve-tone schools.
21st-century revival[edit]
The beginning of the 21st century has seen a revival of interest in Gál's music. The Gál discography now includes the four symphonies (Kenneth Woods and the Orchestra of the Swan), the complete piano music (Leon McCawley), the complete string trios (Ensemble Epomeo), concertos and concertinos for violin, cello and piano (soloists Annette-Barbara Vogel, Matthew Sharp and Sarah Beth Briggs with conductor Kenneth Woods and the English Symphony Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia), the Cello Concerto (Antônio Meneses) and the complete string quartets (Edinburgh Quartet), as well as a number of chamber works. Recent releases include the first of Gál's operas, Das Lied der Nacht.
Gál was BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week in May 2014.[20]
Since 2016, the Exilarte Center at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna has preserved the composer's musical estate as well as comprehensive private and professional correspondence with publishers, radio stations, colleagues, and friends.[21]